Jane Stetson at a PCW Sponsored event in Lyme, NH on February 26th
Dear PCW Members,
What a winter! Before the distraction of melting snow and warmer weather takes over, I wanted to share with you what PCW has been working on since the New Year.
It should come as no surprise to you that at our January Executive Committee meeting, we voted to undertake Healthy Aging as a focus for 2015. This includes supporting educational events, participating in Dartmouth Hitchcock’s Advance Care Planning Program Honoring Care Decisions, and in facilitating community conversations about Advance Care Planning. In conjunction with these efforts, we also voted to expand PCW’s regional connectivity by hosting meetings with various NH and VT community leaders to make introductions, establish relationships and, most importantly, learn how PCW can support the health and wellness efforts important to these different communities.
We have held successful meetings in Manchester, learned about the work they are undertaking (see their Neighborhood Health Improvement Strategy), and are developing next steps for PCW involvement and support. We look forward to making similar progress and connections at our next stop, New London.
To continue moving PCW forward, structure and organization are key. That’s why I am so pleased to see our subcommittees growing and coalescing around their individual goals. For a look at subcommittee membership and what work they are undertaking, please see the subcommittee updates, below.
Finally, I am pleased to report that in February PCW helped to coordinate the first of hopefully many community conversations about Advance Care Planning and Advance Directives on in Lyme, NH. We were pleased to collaborate with Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s Honoring Care Decisions, Community Care of Lyme, ReThink Health, UCRV, and others to support this event. We received great feedback as well as helpful suggestions for future planning. If you would like to support a similar event in your own community, please let us know.
Thank you for being a part of PCW. We value your input, experience, support, and, as always, would love to hear from you with any feedback or questions. If you haven’t let us know yet at what level you’d like to engage, please send along a quick email and let us know. A description of the membership levels is below.
Enjoy a healthy and happy spring,
Jane
Meet Your Subcommittee Chairs
Bill Boyle
Education and Communications
Bill Boyle leads the PCW Education and Communications Subcommittee.
Members include Toni LaMonica, Jane Masters, and Deb Holmes.
This committee is working to understand the Healthy Aging resources that are already available to communities and determine how PCW can best support these programs. They plan to compile all this information and find a way for communities to easily access it.
They look forward to working with Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Honoring Care Decisions, a program that is being implemented throughout Dartmouth-Hitchcock and expanded throughout the community in partnership with multiple stakeholders to promote advance care planning to all residents of New Hampshire and Vermont.
Otto Engelberth speaks with Dr. Sanders Burstein at the January Executive Committee Meeting
This subcommittee will be critical in ensuring that PCW fulfills its mission of "conduit and convener" of information.
Philanthropy
Susan Leahy Chairs the philanthropy committee and will be working closely with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Development to encourage participation in PCW and D-H fundraising efforts. She has a goal of 100% PCW participation in 2015!
Some of their recruitment priorities include adding new Millennial members to PCW, as well as ensuring that there is at least one PCW member from every NH and VT county. We are still missing members from Grand Isle, Franklin, and Bennington counties in Vermont, and Belknap county in NH.
Do you have suggestions for possible millennial recruits or new members from the counties above? Send your nominations to Nicole.E.LaBombard@hitchcock.org.
Advance Care Planning
Lyme Residents, Mark Tecca, James Graham, and Melina Hill Walker of the Aging Resource Center
First Community Conversation a Success
On February 26, PCW and nine Upper Valley organizations and businesses presented the first in a series of “community conversations” about how to live well and die well. “What Matters in the End,” hosted in Lyme, NH, was a lively event involving over 50 attendees representing Lebanon, Lyme, Norwich, Thetford, Springfield, Grantham, Hanover and Orford. Friends, family and neighbors talked about the steps involved with deciding on and communicating about what matters most in the event of an untimely accident or serious diagnosis. Participants enjoyed the evening, which had a lighthearted approach through the use of the board game “My Gift of Grace.” According to one attendee, “It was interesting, helpful and entertaining too – a winning combination. If you missed it, and have a chance to attend another one, I think everyone who attended last night will join me in recommending it as a really worthwhile experience.”
If you wish to learn about other dates and locations for this event, please contact the us at 603.653.0756 or email Nicole.E.LaBombard@hitchcock.org.
The Aging Resource Center in Lebanon, NH is hosting an Advance Care Planning discussion on April 16th in concert with Honoring Care Decisions. Learn more here
Membership Levels
Join us!
If a project catches your eye and you have not already selected a membership level, please consider signing up for a more engaged level of membership, like Guiding or Supporting Partner.
As a reminder,
Guiding Partners are our most engaged Partners. They help determine PCW's path forward, and may be active participants and leaders in certain initiatives. They engage with D-H Leadership to provide a conduit of communication between their communities and Dartmouth-Hitchcock.
Supporting Partners receive all PCW communications, as well as invitations to participate in new initiatives. There will be short term projects, planning opportunities, and various other opportunities to support and engage in particular strategies and initiatives. Supporting Partners are eligible to serve on subcommittees if they so choose.
Sustaining Partners will continue to the PCW Enewsletter and invitations to the Annual November meeting. They will continue to serve as ambassadors of D-H and their ideas, feedback, and support will always be welcome.
You may make your membership selection - or re-selection (remember you can change your membership level at any time!) here
Cheshire Medical Center and Dartmouth-Hitchcock finalize affiliation agreement
Keene Sentinel, 3/4/15
Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene announced Tuesday it has finalized its affiliation agreement with Dartmouth-Hitchcock, according to a joint news release from the organizations. Under the agreement, Cheshire Medical Center will further align its governance with Dartmouth-Hitchcock, as well as its clinical, financial and administrative activities. The hospital will also take more patients from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, freeing up space in that facility for more critical care patients, according to the news release. In an interview this morning, Cheshire Medical Center CEO Arthur W. Nichols did not go into specifics about how it would affect the hospital financially, but said the affiliation would help Dartmouth-Hitchcock invest in the Keene hospital’s staff and resources. (Also reported by Associated Press/Nashua Telegraph)
Southwestern Vermont Medical Center ranked among top hospitals in country
Bennington Banner, 2/26/15
Southwestern Vermont Medical Center was ranked among the top hospitals in the country, according to a three-year-old Medicare program. The program, the Value Based Purchasing program, ranks hospitals based on a number of factors, including quality of care, patient satisfaction, safety, and affordability. The hospitals are then given a total performance score, on a scale of 0-100. SVMC's total performance score was 67.9, good for 123rd in the list of 3,089 hospitals, higher than any other hospital in New England, placing it in the top 4 percent of hospitals in the country.