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Newport leaders warn cuts at North Country Hospital would erode regional recovery and economic plans
Summary
Newport community leaders told the Commerce committee that proposals in a regional review report could prompt service reductions at North Country Hospital, and they urged the state to affirm support for rural health services to protect workforce and housing investments.
Rick Uffert Chase, director of Newport Downtown Development, told lawmakers that community members and local leaders are united in opposition to service reductions at North Country Hospital and that uncertainty about the hospital’s future is already affecting recruitment.
Chase said the community is "totally united" across political and economic lines in the belief that losing hospital services would threaten Newport's ability to function as the economic hub of the northern Northeast Kingdom. He said prospective residents have told him they will not move to the area if they doubt long-term access to health care.
Committee members referenced the regional review (referred to in testimony as the "Wyman/Weiman Report") and encouraged Newport leaders to engage with the Green Mountain Care Board; one committee member reported conversations suggesting the board disagreed with parts of the report and that board officials had told the committee they did not support a hospital closure.
Why it matters: Presenters told the committee that reductions in local hospital services would hamper recruitment of workers, depress housing demand and imperil other community revitalization efforts already underway in Newport.
