LEBANON — A $250,000 grant to the University of Vermont and Norwich University also could help large food purchasers in the Upper Valley such as Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center to source more food from local producers.
The grant from the Boston-based Henry P. Kendall Foundation, announced last week, is intended to be an investment in processing infrastructure to improve capacity and efficiency at the Hardwick, Vt.-based food processor the Vermont Food Venture Center, which already sells processed vegetables from local growers to Upper Valley institutions such as Lebanon’s DHMC. The grant also includes the food service company Sodexo and the Massachusetts-based food distributor Pioneer Valley Growers Association.
Of the 100,000 pounds of vegetables DHMC uses each year, about half currently comes from area producers through the venture center, said Deborah Keane, DHMC’s director of food and nutrition services. That includes pre-cut potatoes, carrots, beets and shredded cabbage.
That means the potential is there for DHMC to purchase another 50,000 pounds locally if “they can come up with a facility (to) do more processing,” Keane said.
NEW LONDON — Kevin Finn, a Massachusetts-based college administrator, has been named dean of the School of Nursing & Health Sciences and director of clinical partnerships at Colby-Sawyer College, beginning in late January, according to a news release.
He has more than a decade of administrative, teaching and research experience, and was most recently the associate dean for the School of Health Sciences at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass.
At Colby-Sawyer, Finn will lead the existing nursing and allied health programs and develop new ones. He also will conduct academic and strategic planning for the school, including that related to Colby-Sawyer’s commitment to liberal arts education and its partnership with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health.
“It is an exciting time for Colby-Sawyer College as we look to enhance the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health partnership and expand the academic programs in health sciences and nursing to align with the needs of the healthcare field,” Finn said in the release.
Finn holds a doctorate in curriculum and teaching from Boston University, master’s degree from Fairfield (Conn.) University and bachelor’s in sports medicine from Merrimack. He is a certified and licensed athletic trainer, certified strength and conditioning specialist and fellow for the American College of Sports Medicine.
RANDOLPH — The American Association of Nurse Practitioners has recognized a family nurse practitioner at Gifford Medical Center with the 2020 Nurse Practitioner State Award for Excellence award, according to a news release from the hospital.
Megan O’Brien, who is a member of the hospitalist team at Gifford in Randolph, will be honored for her achievement in June 2020 during the AANP National Conference in New Orleans.
O’Brien “is a leader in teamwork and, for example, has been instrumental in enhancing multidisciplinary bedside rounds on our unit so that our providers, therapists, care managers, social workers and nurses are optimizing coordination of patient care,” said Michelle Wade, president of the Vermont Nurse Practitioners Association who works with O’Brien at Gifford and nominated her for the award.
O’Brien joined the Gifford staff in 2009. She earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate-level nursing degrees from the University of Vermont as well as an additional specialty degree for hospitalist medicine from the University of Pennsylvania. She is board certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Health Care and Rehabilitation Services honored the former executive director of the Upper Valley Haven for her work to support the mental health, substance abuse and developmental disability needs of the community at its annual meeting last month.
Sara Kobylenski, who is now a strategic consultant for the Couch Family Foundation, received the community mental health agency’s James Bartley Community Partnership Award at the agency’s annual meeting on Nov. 6.
“Sara understands the power of partnership and that great things are not accomplished alone. She has brought that value of collaboration to life, and we are so fortunate to have Sara as a leader in our community,” HCRS CEO George Karabakakis, said in a news release.
In addition to her work at the Haven, Kobylenski’s more than 30-year career has included being director of Casey Family Services and Springfield Family Services’ supervisor.
Also at its annual meeting last month, HCRS celebrated its implementation of a new electronic medical record, presenting an annual encore award to the EMR project team, which led the effort.
Three guest speakers, all of whom have received services through HCRS, described their challenges with mental illness or disabilities and the ways HCRS supported them in their recovery.
Karabakakis and Chief Human Resources Officer Anne Bilodeau handed out 45 staff awards for years of service totaling 560 years.
— Compiled by Nora Doyle-Burr