SPRINGFIELD, Vt. The Vermont Department of Health sent a team on Jan. 29 to investigate vaccine storage at Springfield Hospital and found that 860 doses of the Moderna vaccine were stored at slightly too warm a temperature.The manufacturer.
Pandemic highlights the link between work barriers, child care
February 9, 2021
‘I never envisioned myself being the stay-at-home-mom type,’ says Renee Epler who worked for over 10 years as a nurse in critical care at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, then in the emergency department at Springfield Hospital until the coronavirus pandemic began. She’s shown here with her 10-year-old daughter Autymn. (Valley News/James M. Patterson)
Renée Epler has been a nurse for 24 years. During that time, she’s worked in hospital settings ranging from critical care to oncology, emergency departments and operating rooms.
But around Thanksgiving, after months of working to arrange her schedule, using vacation time and finding extended family to help with child care, the 51-year-old Epler decided to step away from her full-time job and shift to per diem status at Springfield Hospital in Springfield, Vt.
The COVID-19 economy has kept an outsized number of women out of the workforce
“I never envisioned myself being the stay-at-home-mom type,” said Renee Epler, who worked for more than 10 years as a nurse in critical care at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, then in the emergency department at Springfield (Vt.) Hospital until the coronavirus pandemic began. She now takes per diem work at the hospital so she can be home to help her daughter Autymn, 10, who is on an individualized education program, with her schoolwork three days a week. Epler and Autymn sat down to work on math together at home in Springfield late last month. James M. Patterson / Valley News
Almost as soon as we found out, it was taken away, she said. Jane Trepanier, a shared living provider who lives in West Rutland, had a similar reaction after losing a January 27 vaccination date at Rutland Regional Medical Center. Here I was, all set. I thought I was in, she said. It upset me. It took an emotional toll. State officials have tried to chalk up the canceled appointments to a miscommunication, even though the health department sent hospitals a note last week explicitly asking them to temporarily pause with the 1A group clinic planning. At press conferences last week, Human Services Secretary Mike Smith implied that hospitals misinterpreted the guidance. Yet his own health department had confirmed to
By Jim Leach
Feb 1, 2021 12:00 PM
One of Springfield’s two main hospitals began in a refurbished home on the corner of 5
th and North Grand. In 1897, Springfield had only St. John’s Hospital to treat a community of around 40,000 people. So Springfield Hospital and Training School was established in that home, offering 12 patient beds.
The hospital continued to grow in the 20
th Century, with two new wings added and eventually a capacity of 100 beds. But by 1940, even that capacity was being exceeded regularly. Plans were made for a new larger facility at First and Miller. On January 28, 1942, ground was broken for the new Memorial Hospital. When it opened 20 months later, it could accommodate 270 patients. Memorial Hospital would continue to grow, and in 1974 it would be renamed Memorial Medical Center.