Dominic Barcomb, 16, knows just how much every second counts. In the middle of a basketball game against Spaulding High School in Barre on Jan. 2, his heart stopped. Thanks to trained coaches and staff — who jumped in with CPR and a defibrillator — he got a second shot at life.
This morning, Barcom stood at the Statehouse alongside advocates with the American Heart Association promoting legislation to require all schools and sports events to have a cardiac emergency response plan and an AED, or automatic external defibrillator, a device that delivers electric shocks to restore a person’s heart rhythm to normal.
What he wants is “just for people to know CPR, how to properly do it and how to make sure to keep everyone safe,” Barcomb said, a sophomore at Milton High School.
Around 30 people, almost all rocking bright red tees, gathered to rally behind the American Heart Association’s push for stronger heart safety measures. Even Vermont’s beauty pageant royalty showed up, with Miss Lake Champlain’s Teen, Miss Northern Vermont’s Teen and Miss Chittenden County’s Teen among those adding their support.
Vermont’s survival rate of cardiac arrests, at 7.5%, is lower than the national average of 10.2%, according to the American Heart Association. The National Institutes of Health estimates that more than 23,000 children under the age of 18 experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital, and nearly 90% of cardiac arrests that occur outside of a hospital are fatal.
Advocates expect the legislation to be filed soon in both chambers. The bill would require AEDs to be placed in schools where they can be accessed and used on a victim within three minutes. Another requirement would be the establishment of a dedicated cardiac emergency response team that would receive ongoing staff training in CPR and AED use and perform practice drills.
“Most people die of cardiac arrest because only 40% really ever get the bystander help that they need before rescue comes,” said Tina Zuk, a lobbyist and spokesperson for the heart association. “For a cardiac arrest, you have a window of 10 minutes. Every minute that passes without CPR defibrillation, the chance of survival drops by 10%,” she added.
Now, Barcomb has a combined defibrillator and pacemaker that continuously monitors his heart rhythm, ensuring cardiac arrest never occurs again.
Speaking of hearts, the University of Vermont men’s soccer team, who earned the nickname “Cardiac Cats” for their last-minute goals, were recognized on the House floor Friday for winning the 2024 NCAA Tournament in December. The players, all dressed up in suits and carrying their trophy, also met with Gov. Phil Scott and others.
— Klara Bauters
In the know
University of Vermont Health Network leaders met with a varied reception in the Vermont Statehouse Thursday, with back-to-back hearings in a skeptical House committee and a friendlier Senate one.
Recently, network leaders have drawn scrutiny and criticism over wide-ranging cuts to services across Vermont, the movement of money between Vermont and New York hospitals, as well as the news that executives had received bonuses worth several million dollars at the end of 2024.
Thursday’s hearings — which featured UVM Health Network president and CEO Sunny Eappen and Jessica Moschella, the network’s senior vice president for high value care — were billed as an “introduction” and “overview” in agendas for the two health care committees.
“The one thing, the one reason that we exist, is to serve our patients and to serve our communities. That’s it,” Eappen told the House Committee on Health Care.
Implementing service cuts — which network leaders say were forced by orders from the Green Mountain Care Board, a key regulator — were “the most difficult decisions that I certainly have ever had to make,” Eappen said. “It’s the last thing a physician or health care leader wants to do, which is to reduce services to patients who need that.”
But in the House committee, lawmakers seemed skeptical, asking pointed questions about those cuts and executive bonuses, including Eappen’s own.
Later that morning, in the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, however, the network leadership was received more warmly.
At that meeting, Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden Southeast, the committee chair, stated that “the media is having a field day” with some of the network’s actions.
“We’re very appreciative of the work that you do,” Lyons told network leaders.
Read more about those exchanges here.
— Peter D’Auria
On the move
The Vermont House on Friday passed its version of an annual bill to true-up state spending midway through the fiscal year — and, at least for now, appears to have far more common ground with Gov. Phil Scott on its proposal than not.
Still, House budget-writers faced sharp pushback on the floor this week, largely from Scott allies in the Republican Party, over a decision to tack on funding that would keep more people eligible for the state’s motel voucher program into warmer months.
The floor debate, after which one House member apologized for some of her remarks, underscored just how contentious the motel program continues to be in Montpelier.
The House has now made tweaks to the administration’s proposal and put its proposed changes into a bill, H.141, that would increase 2025 spending by about $161 million — $15 million more than the governor’s proposal called for. House members granted initial approval to the bill Thursday on an 87-51 vote, before formally passing it Friday on a voice vote.
Read more about the bill and floor debate here.
— Shaun Robinson
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Read the story on VTDigger here: Final Reading: Teen cardiac survivor pushes for stronger heart safety laws in schools.