For more detailed information and coordination, please contact our Community HealthWorkers for assistance.
General
- Community Connections will take the time to talk with you to determine which social and community services you need, and then help connect you to the right people at the right services. They know who to call to get you an appointment, health information, legal services, or a place to live.
- Northeast Kingdom Community Action (NEKCA) provides direct program activities, referrals, advocacy, and education in a non-judgmental manner to people and communities in the Northeast Kingdom.
- Vermont 2-1-1 is the number you dial to find out about hundreds of important community resources, like emergency food and shelter, disability services, counseling, senior services, healthcare, child care, drug and alcohol programs, legal assistance, transportation needs, educational and volunteer opportunities, and much more.
Community Walking Programs
- Northern Counties offers community group walking programs, free for community members to attend. Join our medical teams for a socially paced walk offered at the St. Johnsbury Community Health Center, Concord Health Center, Danville Health Center and Hardwick Area Health Center. For a full list of programs and schedules, please call Jen Grant, Community Health Lead at (802) 748-9405 ext. 1026.
NEK Council on Aging
- The Northeast Kingdom Council on Aging is a community-based, non-profit organization working to support older adults (age 60+) and their family caregivers to live healthy, active, independent, and productive lives. They serve residents in the counties of Caledonia, Orleans, and Essex. They offer over an extensive wellness program that includes Tai Chi, Line Dancing, Bone Builders, and the Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program for strengthening and improved balance.
Domestic and Sexual Violence
- Department for Children and Families child abuse reporting.
- Department of Disabilities, Aging & Independent Living Adult Protective Services program is to protect vulnerable adults whose health and welfare may be adversely affected by abuse, neglect or exploitation; raise public awareness of adult abuse issues; and educate mandatory reporters about their reporting responsibilities.
- Umbrella is a private, nonprofit organization serving Caledonia and southern Essex Counties in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont which offers supportive programming in two areas: The Domestic and Sexual Violence Program and Kingdom Child Care Connection.
End of Life and Palliative Care
- Start the Conversation is Vermont’s End of Life and Palliative Care resource center.
- The Vermont Department of Health is the lead agency for the Patient Choice and Control at End of Life (Act 39) legislation.
- The Vermont Ethics Network is a useful resource for understanding the Physician Aid in Dying legislation which passed in May 2013.
Health Education, Advocacy and Policy
- The Vermont Department of Public Safety manages the Medical Marijuana Registry which is part of S. 76, An Act Relating to Marijuana Use by Persons with Severe Illness. This piece of legislation creates an exemption in state law from criminal penalties for the use of marijuana to alleviate the symptoms or effects of a debilitating medical condition as long as it is done in compliance with 18 V.S.A. Chapter 86. The law also creates a registry of individuals who are eligible to receive this exemption.
- The Northeastern Vermont Area Health Education Center is part of a statewide network made up of academic and community partners working together to improve the distribution, diversity, supply and quality of the health care workforce in Vermont.
- UVM Extension (St. Johnsbury Office) offers a vast outreach program for our friends across the state. Present in a dozen Vermont communities, Extension provides timely, research-based information and education for the families, communities and businesses of Vermont like the Expanded Food & Nutrition Education Program.
- The Vermont Department of Health (VDH) is the state’s lead agency for public health policy and advocacy. Public health is the system that works to protect and promote the health of citizens. It is the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging healthy life and promoting physical and mental health. VDH runs the WIC, Ladies First and Environmental Safety programs, among others.
Hospitals and Emergency Care
- The Barton Ambulance Squad, Inc. is a non-profit ambulance service which provides intermediate level emergency medical services to Barton Village and portions of Barton Town, the Town of Westmore and the Town of Albany.
- CALEX provides paramedic level emergency, non-emergency and specialty care transports for the towns of St. Johnsbury, Barnet, Concord, Waterford, Kirby and Victory.
- Copley Hospital is a not-for-profit, critical access hospital located in Morrisville, VT.
- Lamoille Ambulance Service provides all seven levels of ground ambulance transport, including BLS (Basic Life Support) and ALS (Advanced Life Support) ambulance transportation for residents in Vermont.
- Newport Ambulance Service/Northern EMS provides ambulatory services to residents of Lamoille and Orleans Counties. North Country Hospital is a 25 bed, critical access, private, nonprofit, acute care community hospital located in Newport, VT.
- Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (NVRH) is a community, not for profit, acute care, critical access hospital located in St. Johnsbury, VT.
Housing
- RuralEdge (formerly Gilman Housing Association) is a rural regional housing non-profit organization committed to breaking the cycle of poverty in the Northeast Kingdom by providing caring and quality housing and community development, property management, financial services and education all to attain economic, social, and environmental sustainability.
Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Tobacco Cessation
- BAART substance abuse treatment program offers reliable and accessible drug treatment services for the growing number of addictions to prescription medications and opiates.
- Northeast Kingdom Human Services (NKHS) provides responsive and efficient community-based, consumer-sensitive, mental health, substance abuse, and developmental services to the residents of the Northeast Kingdom.
- The 802 Quits/Vermont Quit Network provides free resources, including FREE nicotine replacement gum, patches or lozenges, online support, and a quit coach when you decide to quit smoking.
Insurance and Health Care Reform
- The Affordable Care Act (ACA), is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The ACA aims to increase the quality, affordability, and rate of health insurance coverage for Americans, and reduce the costs of health care for individuals and the government.
- Green Mountain Care is a family of low-cost and free health coverage programs for Vermonters and is offered by the state of Vermont and its partners. Programs include Dr. Dynasaur, VHAP, and Catamount Health as well as other affordable health care programs.
- The Vermont Blueprint for Health is a vision, a plan and a statewide partnership to improve health and the health care system for Vermonters and is organized around a medical home model through which coordinated care is provided by an interdisciplinary community health team (CHT) that supports the patient’s primary care physician (PCP).
Vermont Health Connect is the new way for Vermonters to find health coverage that fits their needs and budget. Vermont Health Connect is a marketplace where individuals, families and small businesses can make side-by-side comparisons of private health plans and find financial help to pay for care. Vermont Health Connect is also for individuals and families in Vermont to find out about and enroll in public health coverage.
Transportation
- Rural Community Transportation (RCT) is a transportation brokerage that uses all modes of transportation including buses, cars, taxis, vans, and volunteer drivers. They service a wide range of passengers through several programs as well as providing rides to the general public. As the Medicaid/Reach Up broker for Caledonia, Orleans, Essex, and Lamoille counties, RCT coordinates medical trips for Medicaid eligible residents.
- Click here for a Commonly Used Health Care Terms and Acronyms handbook from Vermont Health Care Resources/Snelling Center for Government.
