Addison County WIB - Vermont Business Magazine

The Addison County Workforce Investment Board, or WIB, is a valuable resource that many local businesses don't even know they have. That is about to change. New resources in the workforce development arena will bring opportunities to businesses and workers alike. The Next Generation Commission recommended additional resources for this vital effort and the VT Legislature appropriated the requested funds. In Addison County several efforts will be pursued.

The WIB, in collaboration with The Adult Technical Education program at the Hannaford Career Center, plans to offer the following programs:

An Adult Driving School- In order to remove one of the major barriers to employment, we will provide both classroom and behind-the-wheel training for adults without a valid VT license.

Certification-level welding courses leading to this valuable skill and credential.

Industrial Maintenance Certificate-Since it is difficult to fill vacant positions in this skilled field, we will provide training to grow our own workforce from the ranks of current employees.

Other priorities as defined by an employer survey conducted by the WIB will include customer service training and good basic skills development.

Another WIB mission is to facilitate local employers securing Worforce Education Training Fund (WETF) grants. In this past year Helen Porter Healthcare & Rehab secured a grant to train LNA's, a significant workforce need for them, and Exetechs from Cornwall secured a grant to train custom software developers.

The WIB serves as an advisory group to both Adult Technical Education and Cooperative Education at the Hannaford Career Center. In this capacity, the WIB can exert influence on programming at the secondary and post secondary level leading to a better trained workforce. A good example of this is the WIB support for the development of a Health Careers program at the HCC. All Addison County employers recognize the great need for employees in all facets of this field. A partnership with Porter Medical Center is bringing much needed clinical opportunities and resources to this fledgling program.

The WIB has supported Middlebury's participation in the Creative Communities program. An umbrella organization, ArtsConnect, has formed and plans to place information of upcoming arts and cultural events on every pillow in every inn, motel, or B& B in the Middlebury area. Additional patronage from visitors will help increase the economic impact of our arts and cultural efforts.

News from the Vermont state Board of Nursing.(Specialty Organizations) - Vermont Nurse Connection

This is the second article in a series introducing the members of the Board of Nursing. The full Board consists of ten members: four registered nurses, an advanced practice registered nurse, two licensed practical nurses, a licensed nursing assistant, and two public members. Currently the officers of the Board are Ellen Leff, Chair; Jeanine Carr, Vice-chair; and De-Ann Welch, Secretary. Profiles of Ellen Leff, RN and Jeanine Carr, RN were included in the first article. This article features Donarae Metcalf, LPN; Deborah Robinson, RN; Alan Weiss, public member; and De-Ann Welch, LPN.

Donarae Metcalf is serving her second term on the Board as an LPN member, having been reappointed by Governor Douglas in 2008. She graduated from the Thompson School in 1995. Her career in long term care began at Berlin Health & Rehabilitation Center, first as an LNA. Now she is the staff development coordinator and primary instructor of the nursing assistant education program there. Ms. Metcalf lives in Chelsea and actively participates in her community, serving on many committees and organizations. Prior to becoming a nurse, she worked as an Orange County Deputy, a substitute teacher, and assistant to the special education coordinator at the Chelsea Public School. She and her husband have three grown children and five grandchildren.

Deborah Robinson was appointed to the Board in 2007 as an RN member. She is a professor of nursing and department chair at Vermont Technical College and has taught practical nursing since 1989. She teaches a wide range of nursing courses and clinical experiences. Ms. Robinson obtained her undergraduate degree in nursing from the University of Vermont and her MSN from the University of Phoenix. She resides in South Barre with her family and continues to practice per diem at Central Vermont Medical Center where she worked for the first six years of her nursing career as a staff nurse, charge nurse, and in-service instructor. Ms. Robinson is a member of the Vermont State Nurses Association and Sigma Theta Tau, Kappa Tau Chapter. She has also been active with the Spaulding High School Alumni Association and the Policy and Curriculum Committee.

Alan Weiss is currently serving his second term as a public member on the Board of Nursing. He serves on the Board's Practice Committee which is tasked with reviewing and developing Position Statements. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Weiss had a range of interesting career and volunteer experiences which cumulatively inform his service on the Board of Nursing. He was Director of Continuing and Adult Education at Norwich University. Mr. Weiss held positions on several health care related boards including the Vermont Medical Society, the Vermont State Nurses Foundation, and the Vermont Dental Board and its Tooth Fairy Program. Also of note were his two terms as a Representative in the Vermont State Legislature. His in-depth knowledge of parliamentary procedure is a particularly beneficial asset to the Board.

Updates for the Vermont Board of Nursing.(Specialty Organizations) - Vermont Nurse Connection

At the February 9, 2009 Board of Nursing meeting, the new slate of Board officers was elected. The newly elected officers are Ellen Leff, MS, RN, Chair; Jeanine Carr, PhD, RN, Vice-chair; and DeAnn Welch, LPN, Secretary. The full Board consists of ten members: 4 RNs, 1 APRN, 2 LPNs, 1 LNA, and 2 public members, and beginning in this issue, we will introduce members of the Board with brief profiles.

Linda Rice, has been the APRN member for 2 terms (10 years) and will soon be completing her illustrious tenure on the Board when the new APRN member is appointed. During the past year she has served as Board Chair and prior to that, she was the Vice-Chair for a number of years. She has worked tirelessly, well-representing Vermont, on the National Council of State Boards of Nursing's Advanced Practice Task Force. This group produced a bold and comprehensive document last year: Consensus Model for APRN Regulation: Licensure, Accreditation, Certification, and Education. Ms. Rice earned her MSN at University of Massachusetts Amherst, and practices at the Brattleboro Retreat where she is Vice President of Admissions and Evaluation. Her keen perspective and insight are much appreciated--as well as her dedicated travel to Montpelier through every kind of weather event! At the February 2009 Board meeting, she was presented with a plaque from the Secretary of State, Deb Markowitz, honoring her for her years of dedicated service.

Ellen Williams Leff, recently elected as Board chair, previously served as Vice-chair for a year. She completed her first 5-year term on the Board and is eligible for reappointment by the governor. Ms. Leff has enjoyed a wide-ranging nursing career in terms of specialties, staff and management positions, and geographical locations. Her nursing career began in Honolulu, Hawaii after graduating from nursing school at UVM. Upon returning to Vermont, she worked at Fletcher Allen Health Care in gynecology, pediatrics, newborn, and maternity settings for several years. She has worked in home health for more than ten years and is currently the Director of Adult Home Care for the Visiting Nurse Association of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties in Colchester.

In addition to her BS in professional nursing, Ms. Leff holds an MS in administration from St. Michael's College. She has been an active member in a variety of professional organizations, and received awards for Excellence in Nursing Practice and Nurse of the Year from the Kappa Tau Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau and the Vermont State Nurses Association, respectively. She has published nursing articles, presented at professional conferences, and has participated in many community service organizations.

Jeanine M. Carr was appointed to the Board in January 2008 as an RN member and was recently elected Vice-chair. She is an associate professor at the University of Vermont where she teaches in both the graduate and undergraduate nursing programs. Her PhD in Nursing Science is from the University of South Carolina, the state where she also earned her BSN and MSN degrees. Dr. Carr's illustrious nursing career began in Vermont where she was granted an Associate Degree from Castleton State College and where she held her first nursing position at Central Vermont Medical Center.

Highlights of her professional career include an Award for Excellence in Nursing Research from the Kappa Tau Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau; author and co-author of several refereed articles, primarily on family vigilance; recipient and investigator of numerous research awards and grants; co-presenter of 'Shaping the Future of Vermont's Nursing Workforce' at the 2007 VONL Leadership Summit; and membership on many professional and community service committees and organizations.

Butler, Josephine - Encyclopedia of Modern Europe: Europe 1789-1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire

BUTLER, JOSEPHINE

BUTLER, JOSEPHINE (1828–1906), British feminist activist.

Josephine Butler was born on 13 April 1828 at Milfield Hill, Glendale, Northumberland, the fourth daughter and seventh of ten children of John Grey (1785–1868), an enlightened agricultural expert, and his wife Hannah Eliza (née Annett; 1794–1860). The Greys were a prominent but progressive family, connected to the Whig aristocracy of Georgian England. John embraced antislavery, the repeal of the Corn Laws, and philanthropic reforms and encouraged his children to take a lively interest in current affairs. The Greys nominally attended St. Andrew's Anglican Church, Corbridge, but family prayers and bible readings, influenced by Hannah's Moravian roots, were much more important.

In January 1852, Josephine married George Butler (1819–1890), a classicist at Durham University. They moved to Oxford, where George was appointed public examiner. The son of the dean of Peterborough, George shared his new wife's deep faith, and was ordained into the Anglican ministry in 1854 although he continued his academic career. Butler's first child, George, was born in October 1882, and the young family lived an enjoyable if financially restrained life, although Butler found some aspects of Oxford life repressive, particularly the lack of female companionship. In reaction to the misogyny she perceived around her, she took her first 'rescue' case, offering a position to a young woman incarcerated in Newgate Gaol for infanticide.

In 1857, respiratory illness forced Butler to leave the damp Oxford air. George had failed to secure a university appointment, so he accepted the vice principalship of Cheltenham College and moved his wife and two sons there. Another son and a daughter Evangeline Mary (Eva) were born in Cheltenham, but the family's time there ended in tragedy when Eva died in a fall as she rushed to greet her parents on their return home. Devastated, George sought a new location for his wife and sons. The family moved to Liverpool in 1866, when George became headmaster of Liverpool College.

Butler, still deeply depressed, lost herself in the work of seeking 'other hearts which ached night and day, and with more reason than mine' (1892, p. 182). Encouraged by a local radical Baptist minister Charles Birrell, she began visiting the city's notorious Brownlow Hill workhouse and talking and praying with the women who worked in its oakum sheds. She welcomed some of the more disadvantaged inmates into her home, which did little to endear the new headmaster's wife to many of the college's parents. Undaunted, Butler involved herself in a series of feminist campaigns alongside prominent northern radicals. At the invitation of Anne Clough (1820–1892), later the founder and first principal of Newnham College, she joined the North of England Council for the Higher Education of Women, becoming its president. Through the council, Butler met Elizabeth Wolstoneholme and joined with her and Lydia Ernestine Becker (1827–1890) to work in Manchester for the Married Women's Property Committee as well as the National Society for Women's Suffrage. Along with campaigning, Butler began to publish. The Education and Employment of Women appeared in 1868 followed by an edited collection, Woman's Work and Woman's Culture, in 1869.

The same year, Butler began the work for which she is best known, leading the Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts (LNA). The acts of 1864, 1866, and 1869 outraged feminists. Aimed at curtailing venereal disease in the British armed forces, they applied only to women and permitted punitive measures against prostitutes. The campaign against the acts ended in victory in 1886 but at great personal cost to Butler, who had been virulently ridiculed and even physically attacked during her speaking tours.

Butler extended her concerns to child prostitution and toured Europe speaking and gathering information. Helped by W. T. Stead (1849–1912) of the Pall Mall Gazette, which ran a series of shocking articles on the procuration of young girls, she raised public awareness to the extent that the British Parliament raised the age of consent from thirteen to sixteen. The indelicate nature of much of her work shocked certain sections of Victorian society and attracted heavy criticism to her husband. When George resigned in 1882 the couple faced an uncertain financial future, and were helped by an annuity fund established by friends who realized the sacrifices both the Butlers had made for Josephine's work.

George was appointed canon of Winchester, and Josephine spent much of the next decade nursing him through increasing ill health. After his death in 1890 she took on some public work and edited the paper The Storm Bell for the LNA. She died in 1906.

See alsoFeminism.

bibliography

Primary Sources

Butler, Josephine. Recollections of George Butler. Bristol, U.K., 1892.

——. Personal Reminiscences of a Great Crusade. London, 1896.

Secondary Sources

Caine, Barbara. Victorian Feminists. Oxford, U.K., 1992.

Jordan, Jane. Josephine Butler. London, 2001.

The Telegraph, Nashua, N.H., business people. - Telegraph (Nashua, NH)

Aug. 22--DENISE POISSON: Citizens Bank recently honored employees with 25 or more years of service at a 'Brick Dedication' ceremony at its headquarters in Providence.

Denise Poisson, teller manager in Manchester and at the Nashua Main Street branch, received a brick engraved with her name that will be placed in the plaza outside One Citizens Plaza as a permanent part of Citizens Bank's history.

SUSAN ELSASS, THOMAS TELLER, KATHLEEN FITZPATRICK, NICHOLAS BERTOZZI AND RICK MINSHULL: At a recent service awards luncheon, more than two dozen Daniel Webster College employees were honored for their years of service to the college, with five recognized with special gifts for their 25 years of service: Nicholas Bertozzi of Hollis, chairman, associate professor, engineering, mathematics, and science; Susan Elsass of Nashua, vice president for Student Affairs and dean of students; Kathleen Fitzpatrick of Nashua, director of experiential education, pre-law advisor, instructor, social science and humanities; Rick Minshull of Milford, assistant director of flight operation; and Thomas Teller of Westford, Mass., professor, aviation.

DONNA SHNEIDER: Home Health & Hospice Care has announced the recent hiring of Donna Shneider, R.N., B.S., to fill the position of community liaison.

As community liaison, Shneider will function as a resource to patients, family members, physicians, discharge planners, and other health-care professionals. While the general responsibility of this position is to coordinate the delivery of homecare and hospice services, Shneider will provide assistance to the community in planning for hospice care in the patient's home, in extended care facilities, and in HHHC's Community Hospice House.

Shneider received her R.N. from Bunker Hill and her Bachelor of Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She was employed for 10 years as a nurse at Lowell General Hospital, and she also has 10 years of experience in home care marketing and sales.

WAYNE CROSWELL: Wayne Croswell, president of software supplier ASA Tire Systems in Nashua, has been elected secretary for the Tire Industry Association The election took place June 29, during the TIA board of directors meeting in Toronto. Croswell begins his position as secretary Oct. 29.

Croswell has been with ASA Tire Systems for 30 years, where he started his career immediately following earning his Bachelor of Science in computer science from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. He began as programmer and advanced through the ranks to become vice president of operations in 1987. He then moved to Seattle to become regional vice president and general manager of ASA Tire Systems with the acquisition of Computers Northwest. In early 1993, he moved back to New England to become the general manager of ASA Tire Systems. He became president in 1996 and ASA International Ltd. Corporate Group vice president in 2002.

Croswell currently serves as chairman of TIA's member services and benefits committee and also serves on the public relations and marketing committee, strategic planning and bylaws committee, and on the State Association Executives Council.

KEVIN DINAPOLI AND CHARLES DYAC: The first graduating class of the New England Polygraph Institute held its commencement June 27 at the Arthur D. Kehas Criminal Justice Training Facility and Campus.

Twelve New Hampshire police officers received their certificates after attending the 11-week intensified course to become polygraph examiners.

The program, which is based on the Canadian Police College program, consists of 11 weeks of classroom and practical instruction as well as continuous examination and evaluation of the students by the professional faculty of the school.

The first graduating class included the following students: Sgt. Kevin DiNapoli and Detective Sgt. Charles Dyac, both of the Hudson Police Department.

Upon completion of their internship over the next 12 months, these officers will be fully certified by the New England Polygraph Institute as Polygraph Examiners.

RENATTO MCKENZIE: Renatto McKenzie has been chosen as Greenbriar Terrace's Licensed Nursing Assistant of the Year. McKenzie has been working at Greenbriar for more than a year on the subacute unit and has made quite an impact.

According to Betty Barowski, director of nursing, McKenzie was nominated as LNA of the Year because of his commitment to providing quality care to the residents at Greenbriar. On top of caring for patients everyday, he is also the driving force behind establishing a restorative nursing program on his unit. He makes time during his day to walk with residents and helps them to maintain their current level of functional mobility.

McKenzie recently attended the LNA recognition event held at the Statehouse in Concord.

HUGH PHILLIS: Hugh R. Phillis, DMD, an orthodontist practicing in Nashua, has been elected to represent the Northeastern Society of Orthodontists on the American Association of Orthodontists' board of trustees.

Phillis earned his dental degree at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, where he was the first summa cum laude graduate in 55 years. He also completed his orthodontic education at Tufts.

Phillis is a diplomat of The American Board of Orthodontics. He is a fellow of both the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists.

Among his offices were presidencies of the Greater Nashua Dental Society, the New Hampshire Association of Orthodontists and NESO. Phillis is a member of numerous professional organizations including the AAO, the AAO Foundation, the Eastern Component of the Edward H. Angle Society of Orthodontists, the American Dental Association, NESO, the New Hampshire Association of Orthodontists, the New Hampshire Dental Association and the Greater Nashua Dental Society.

Locally, Phillis is a member of the Nashua Rotary Club. He has been a coach for the Nashua Youth Soccer League and served on the Nashua Symphony advisory board. Phillis co-founded the Nashua Spina Bifida Support Group. He also co-founded and served as secretary for the Spina Bifida Association of New Hampshire.

Phillis lives in Nashua with his wife, Mary Elizabeth.

To see more of The Telegraph, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.nashuatelegraph.com

Copyright (c) 2007, The Telegraph, Nashua, N.H.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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Agreements/contracts: Jericho to provide key components for NHIN. - Medical Device Daily

A Medical Device Daily Staff Report

Jericho Systems (Dallas) said it is one of only eight civilian companies selected to provide key components of the new Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) that facilitates the exchange of clinical data between the Department of Defense (DoD), Veterans Administration (VA), and private healthcare providers.

In April 2009, President Obama tasked the DoD and VA with creating a fully interoperable Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) system and announced that the VLER 'will ultimately contain administrative and medical information from the day an individual enters military service throughout their military career and after they leave the military.'

The VLER is being implemented using NHIN standards and functionality. Jericho's Policy Decision Point (PDP), part of Jericho's EnterSpace Decisioning Service, is a key component of the NHIN architecture.

'Basing the VLER on NHIN technologies and standards will allow the VA and DoD to partner with private healthcare providers and other Federal agencies to promote faster, better and safer care,' said Brynn Mow, CEO of Jericho Systems. 'Patients will benefit from the improved quality and efficiency of electronic health records, while enjoying the added peace-of-mind of knowing and approving exactly who has access to which portions of their personal medical information.'

In other agreements/contracts news:

* Eurotech (Columbia, Maryland), a supplier of embedded technologies, products, and systems, reported multiple contracts with DynaVox (Pittsburgh) to deliver the Catalyst LP and Catalyst Module embedded computers for the DynaVox V, Vmax and Xpress alternative augmentative communication (AAC) devices. The combined value of these contracts is nearly $4.2 million.

DynaVox's speech-generating devices help those living with conditions such as autism, ALS, cerebral palsy, stroke, traumatic brain injury or Down syndrome communicate with their loved ones and participate in the educational classroom and in work settings.

* Roche (Basel, Switzerland) and Exiqon (Penzberg, Germany) reported joining marketing forces for Roche Applied Science's RealTime ready assays and Exiqon's miRCURY LNA Universal RT microRNA qPCR system. A bundle of measures like webinars and seminars and linked internet appearances are planned to promote the joint offer. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Exiqon says its miRCURY LNA Universal RT microRNA PCR system offers a combination of performance and ease-of-use on the microRNA real-time PCR market.

* deCODE genetics (Reykjavik, Iceland) and ARUP Laboratories (Salt Lake City) reported a partnership through which ARUP will offer deCODE's DNA-based prostate cancer risk assessment test to its clients.

Under the terms of the nonexclusive agreement, ARUP will integrate deCODE ProstateCancer into the portfolio of tests it offers to academic medical centers, public and private healthcare providers, and major hospitals across the U.S. ARUP's clients will order the test, submit samples and receive results through ARUP, with deCODE conducting the genetic analysis in its CAP and CLIA-certified laboratory.

deCODE ProstateCancer measures 25 common single-letter variations, or SNPs, in the sequence of the human genome that are associated with the risk of prostate cancer. The risk conferred by these common SNPs is independent of family history, and does not correlate with benign prostatic hyperplasia (a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate). The test can identify approximately 15% of men in the general population who are at double the average risk of prostate cancer, as well as 5% who have triple the average risk.

* The University of Tennessee Medical Center (UT Medical Center; Knoxville) will use the Premier (Charlotte, North Carolina) healthcare alliance's SafetyConnect patient safety program complete with the Duke Infection Control Outreach Network's (DICON) online educational modules. DICON, a collaboration of the Duke University School of Medicine and 39 community hospitals, provides physician and nurse educational tools designed to engage and empower hospital personnel to take an active role in reducing healthcare-associated infections. SafetyConnect includes a comprehensive offering of data analytics and software, performance improvement support services and collaborative knowledge sharing opportunities to improve ongoing infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship efforts.

* Medical Device Consultants (MDC; North Attleboro, Massachusetts), a regulatory consulting and contract research organization (CRO) serving the medical device and diagnostics industry, reported a strategic partnership with Clinical Development & Support Services (CDSS; Cheshire, UK).

Notes from the Board of Nursing Program Coordinator.(Specialty Organizations) - Vermont Nurse Connection

LNA Education Programs: Among the things you didn't learn in school may be that there are 45 Board of Nursing approved Licensed Nursing Assistant (LNA) education programs in Vermont. The programs can be found throughout the state in a variety of settings--from hospitals, long term care facilities (LTCF), and home health agencies, to career and technical centers.

Both RNs and LPNs may serve as classroom and clinical instructors as long as they possess the following qualifications: two years of experience as a nurse, experience teaching adult learners, at least one year of relevant clinical experience, and an unencumbered Vermont nursing license. LNA courses must be at least 80 hours and include a minimum of 30 hours of supervised clinical experience. Programs must have oversight by an RN. Each program has an on-site review by a Board of Nursing staff representative prior to starting, after one year of operation, and then at 2-year intervals.

For the list of currently approved LNA education programs, go to the Office of Professional Regulation website: www.vtprofessionals.org, open the drop down menu and then click on Nursing.

In addition to programs looking for faculty (LPNs & RNs), another LNA education-related role for RNs is serving as a licensing exam observer for the test vendor. Contact Elizabeth Hansen, RN at 802-828-2819 if you are interested in more information.

Clinical Teaching Excellence Award: Annette 'Annie' Parker, MSN, RN, LNA Program Administrator at Fletcher Allen, was one of five recipients of the Clinical Teaching Excellence Award. The recognition was bestowed on her at the Vermont Organization of Nurse Leaders conference in Killington on April 10th and 11th. She received a well-deserved day at the spa which she reports having thoroughly enjoyed. Congratulations, Annie!!

Gold Star Employers: On May 6th the Gold Star Employer Conference, sponsored by the Vermont Health care Association, was held in Burlington. The Gold Star Program was developed to recognize nursing homes that use Best Practices for the recruitment and retention of caregivers, especially direct care staff. Of the 18 facilities awarded the Gold Star designation, 11 have approved LNA programs. Congratulations to the creative and hardworking staff at:

    Bennington Health & Rehabilitation, Burlington Health &    Rehabilitation, Centers for Living, Eden Park of Brattleboro,    Franklin County Rehab, Green Mountain Nursing Home, Greensboro    Nursing Home, Mountain View Center, Mt. Ascutney Hospital & Health    Center, Starr Farm Nursing Center, and Vernon Green! 

LNA Temporary Permit: The 90-day temporary permits issued when LNA students successfully complete their education programs are no longer printed on Board of Nursing letterhead. They are printed on regular license stock with the notation 'Temporary Permit' and an expiration date.

'Look at Me:' The Northeast Health Care Quality Foundation has a wonderful DVD available called 'Look at Me.' It's just a few minutes long and it's inspirational for helping students (or staff!) see the whole person, not solely the elderly resident. Let me know if you'd like me to send it to you on loan, or contact NHCQF, Louise Fitzpatrick, at 800-772-0151 to see if they still have some available free of charge.

LNA Test Observer Opportunities: If you are an RN with at least one year of long term care experience, how would you like to try something new on a parttime basis? D&S Diversified Technologies is the LNA exam vendor for Vermont and they are looking for more skills test observers. These contracted positions are very flexible and you'll get to learn and apply skills in the LNA education assessment arena. D&S conducts new test observer workshops periodically so if you are interested in exploring the possibilities, please contact Jess or Jenny at their toll-free number: 1-877-851-2355.