This commentary is by Allie Stickney of Shelburne. She has served on the board of trustees for UVM Health Network since 2015. She is the retired president/CEO of Wake Robin Life Care Community. She previously had a decades-long career with Planned Parenthood, serving in senior leadership positions in Vermont, Oregon and New York City.
I’ve spent a lifetime in the world of nonprofits, and no matter the organization or the mission, the common thread is community connection and service. Nowhere has that been more true than at University of Vermont Health Network, where I’ve served the past 10 years — including three years as chair — on the board of trustees, as well as having served on the UVM Medical Center and UVM Home Health & Hospice boards.
With my time as the Network board chair having now ended, I am very grateful to have been a part of a dedicated group of volunteer trustees, at the Network and at partner boards throughout our health system, who are committed to the health of the people who live in our region. The work they do to guide this health system — even when times are hard, as they are right now — is the definition of community service. At a time when faith and trust in institutions has eroded here and across the country, the issue of good governance has never been more important.
Health care is changing so quickly, all around us, and there are huge challenges. The issues we’re facing in this region — things like the health care workforce shortage, the affordability of health care and the financial pressures on rural hospitals — are happening all over the country. As trustees, we are not immune from the growing pressures of increasing health care costs; whether we are business owners or have employer-sponsored insurance, we each see the need to address affordability in a meaningful way.
These are complex problems, and there are no easy answers. At the same time, having recently visited UVM Medical Center’s emergency department with a family member, I was reminded that it’s also very simple: It’s all about the excellent care and genuine concern that patients receive at a time when they need it.
I’m proud of the board’s governance work to guide and support a regional health system that serves more than 1 million people across two states. We have made some difficult — indeed, heartrending — decisions, and we have a lot of work ahead of us. But what I see is a group of dedicated volunteers with unique skill sets, experiences and perspectives.
Board members come from the education, nonprofit, small business, social service, legal and health care delivery sectors, and they bring expertise ranging from human resources to financial management to technology to patient care, at both a primary care and specialty level. They rely on data in making decisions, and they show a rigorous demand for the use of benchmarking data in all elements of our work. This data is used in every decision, from approving the system’s strategic plan to setting compensation for senior leaders. They think and act in terms of what we can do, together, for those we serve, addressing the challenge of affordability and equitable access to quality health care.
As we welcome new community members onto the Health Network board in this new year, I am pleased to acknowledge the work done in the past three years to bring new CEO leadership into the Network, to implement a more unified board-governance model across the system, and to prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion at the governance level, reflecting an important commitment to equitable access to care.
It’s been an honor to be part of a health care system that I sometimes think of as a human “beehive” — constant work and humming with activity for the good of the whole, 24/7 and 365 days a year. I’m grateful to play some role — with all the amazing trustees with whom I have served — to help improve the health of our communities.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Allie Stickney: UVM Health Network trustees are committed to improved health and community service.