April 16, 2026
Agenda:
• Welcome
• New England Rural Health Association - Andy Lowe, Executive Director
• Community Paramedicine - Drew Hazelton
Minutes:
Welcome
New England Rural Health Association (NERHA) - Andy Lowe, Executive Director
The NERHA is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing rural health. They provide education, training, consulting, and advocacy in support of the rural health organizations and individuals in their region. All states have a rural health association that is connected to the national group with larger regional groups. They share information, opportunities, and resources through their mailing list, an annual conference, and a student submit. The NEHRA's mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of communities throughout rural New England. Andy mentioned that the Department of Health has a State Office of Rural Health that they collaborate with.
Andy discussed the definition of rurality and that many states and organizations have their own definition. They use the federal definition with the state definition folded into it with the goal to capture folks in rural areas of urban deemed counties who experience inadequate access to services and disparities with transportation.
The NERHA can provide support to rural towns through best practice sharing, advocacy at the state and federal level, education to the wider community, technical assistance, and more.
Andy shared that he is available as a resource and can be contacted at andy@newenglandrha.org
Community Paramedicine - Drew Hazelton
Drew is the Chief of Operations at Rescue Inc in Brattleboro. Community paramedicine is defined in many ways across the country and have developed into a local resource from what they learned during the pandemic from being involved with testing, care, and vaccines. Overall, there was an awareness for the increased importance of the delivery of care close to home and the barriers of access to care. Their goal with refining and expanding community paramedicine is to increase access and reduce the number of folks seeking care at emergency departments, being readmitted, and the overall number of hospital stays.
Drew mentioned that they are looking to continue to expand their program and who it serves by providing home lab work and testing for patients who struggle with access to transportation. Rescue Inc currently collaborates with the Brattleboro hospital and is expanding to Grace Cottage. The Providers base training is in EMS with custom specialized training in collaboration with Brattleboro hospital. Their organization is currently working off of grant funding and seeking additional funding to expand the program as they are seeing additional savings from keeping folks out of the hospital.
Drew mentioned that workforce and training across the state for EMS is a struggle, along with funding for education. The EMS task force report will be submitted to the legislature this fall. The 911 system is also a challenge and they’re looking to explore how the appropriate services to the appropriate folks and areas can be provided to ease the burden on EMS.
Discussion on future topics
The caucus discussed future topics folks would like to hear about during the remainder of the session. Topics included:
FEMA status/reimbursement
Federal money flows and the potential effect on rural communities
Summary on brownfields and the various state programs
USDA and the cut of programs that impact our agricultural producers as well as food access to schools
An update on H.167, Vermonters feeding Vermonters, which passed out of house and is now in the senate where they have removed the funding from the bill.
Rural Community School Alliance
Rep. Hango shared an update that the Co-Chairs and Clerk shared a letter of support for funding the municipal technical assistance program (MTAP) with Senate Appropriations.
Additional resources provided from Vermont’s State Office of Rural Health (SORH)
These pages provide a broad overview of rural health issues, facility types, resources and workforce.
Dan Olson, Director of the VT State Office of Rural Health within the VT Department of Health - John.Olson@vermont.gov
