Connect with us

Vermont

Vermont scrambles to address dental hygienist shortage

Published

on

Vermont scrambles to address dental hygienist shortage


BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Do you need your teeth cleaned? Good luck getting an appointment any time soon. A lack of dental hygienists means some practices are not taking new patients and some say the shortage is the worst they’ve ever seen.

Chelsea Wells loves making people smile, but finding help to do so is like pulling teeth. “It’s a stress that you don’t realize, it’s just kind of always there,” Wells said. “That’s not good continuity of care.”

Wells is the only full-time hygienist at the UVM Medical Center’s oral and dental health facility. She says a second full-time position has been open for two years. “Right now, it’s just about patient care. Right now, people aren’t getting… I think we’re here looking out nine or 10 months,” Wells said.

The UVMMC dental office is currently not taking any new patients because of the hygienist shortage. Oftentimes, the dentists themselves need to do cleanings. “We believe that we’re really at a crisis level at this point in delivering and delivering oral health care,” said Dr. Justin Hurlburt, a UVMMC dentist president of the Vermont Dental Society.

Advertisement

UVMMC’s office is known as a safety net facility for patients who have the highest need and often do not have private insurance or are on Medicaid. “We stopped taking new patients, which is which is scary for a safety net facility,” Hurlburt said. “A lot of dentists around town are doing hygiene now to try to keep up, to try to keep their practices going, and that takes away time from them being able to to do dentistry on their patients.”

The problem started during the pandemic. Hygienists either retired or left the profession and there were too few to fill the jobs. Wells says that’s because an oversaturation of hygienists a decade ago caused many new hygienists to leave the state. “There were a lot of people that in recent graduating classes, they didn’t stay here, they went elsewhere. So then, when all the people either retired or left the workforce, we didn’t have a lot of those new hygenists that we could pull from because they had moved elsewhere,” Wells said.

So how does the state bridge the gap? Vermont State University has the only dental hygiene school in the state. Usually, around 15 to 18 students graduate the program each year. Recently the program switched from two years to three years so they are graduating two classes of students. That means 34 students recently passed their clinical boards and are on their way to graduation, but that no students will graduate in the spring of 2025.

“We see these swings in the market every so often,” said VSU’s Heather Blair. “We were graduating hygienists that couldn’t find full time employment. They’d have to do two days in one practice, two days in another practice. And that was like that for a number of years. And now it’s shifted. It will shift again as we catch up.”

School officials say they don’t want to flood the market with hygienists again as it was pre-pandemic. However, dentists and hygienists we spoke to say they need help — stat. “We need to go to the grassroots and develop our own students here. And I don’t think we’re being successful at that right now,” Hurlburt said.

Advertisement

The VSU program is also demanding. Many hygienists say it’s extremely difficult, which is why some students drop out. And when a student quits — even early into the education — the school cannot fill that spot because a new student would be too far behind.

“It takes a lot of study hours, a lot of reinforcement. You do have the support from the faculty as well. They’re not lying when they say it’s difficult, but I mean, I’m not a Mensa genius. I’m still in the program and I’m slated to graduate in May,” said Rita Veve, a graduating student.

Students are ready to go straight into a job after the program. Most students have jobs before even graduating. Many dental offices are also offering generous hiring bonuses on top of wages that can be upwards of $55 per hour or around $115,000 a year. “Right now, it’s a great time to be a hygienist because you can find employment in almost whatever setting you’re looking for,” Blair said.

In the meantime, dentists and existing hygienists will try to fill the gap in oral care. “We want to help everybody. we would help everybody if we could, but we just can’t.,” Hurlburt said.

Senator Peter Welch secured $5.9 million for the dental hygiene school, which will increase the number of students in the program, but that’s still several years down the line.

Advertisement



Source link

Vermont

Women’s Lacrosse Bested in Burlington by Vermont – University at Albany Great Danes

Published

on

Women’s Lacrosse Bested in Burlington by Vermont – University at Albany Great Danes


Score: UAlbany 4, Vermont 14

Location: Virtue Field | Burlington, Vt.

Records: UAlbany (10-5, 5-1 America East) | Vermont (8-6, 4-1 America East)

Short Story: UAlbany women’s lacrosse fell to the Vermont Catamounts on Saturday afternoon.

Advertisement

Key Stats

  • Grace Cincebox recorded a total of 14 saves with 13 goals allowed for a .565 save percentage.
  • Ravan Marsell led the Great Danes with two points on one goal and one assist.
  • Four different UAlbany players scored in the contest.
  • Reggie Williams was the team’s leader with three ground balls.
  • Delilah Mile caused a team high three turnovers.

 
How It Happened

  • The Catamounts came out of the gates hard and heavy, scoring all three goals between both sides in the first quarter.
  • Vermont would take an 8-0 lead in the second quarter before Amanda Williamson found the back of the net on a women-down goal to put the Great Danes on the board and make it 8-1.
  • The Great Danes would allow one more goal in the first half to trail 9-1 after 30-minutes of play.
  • Grace Cincebox would enter the half with 10 saves.
  • Riley Forthofer started the Great Danes off in the second half to make it a 9-2 game, before Vermont put up three more goals to take a 12-2 lead entering the final quarter of play.
  • Mya Carroll and Ravan Marsell both scored on back-to-back free-position goals to make it a 12-4 game.
  • The Catamounts finished the game with two more goals to take the win 14-4.

 
Up Next
The Great Danes will next have a bye week and wait to see the outcome of next week’s Vermont vs UMass Lowell game to see who will host the America East Tournament.

Social Central: Stay up to date with UAlbany women’s lacrosse by following the team on Instagram (@UAlbanyWLax), Facebook (UAlbany Women’s Lacrosse),  and X (@UAlbanyWLax) for all of the latest news and highlights throughout the year.





Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Vermont

Vermont lands two cities in America’s top 15 happiest list

Published

on

Vermont lands two cities in America’s top 15 happiest list


Is creativity the missing key to better health?

Research suggests creative activities like art, music and crafts may benefit mental health as much as other key health habits.

Here’s another reason Vermont is the best New England state: It’s home to one of the top 5 happiest cities in the United States.

Plus, it has another within the top 15.

Advertisement

Massachusetts, on the other hand, doesn’t even break the top 50. Nor, does Connecticut or Rhode Island.

The personal finance website analyzed 182 of the largest cities in the country, and ranked Boston 63rd overall. Although the city is home to some of the nation’s top universities, high-ranking hospitals, and well-regarded companies, it didn’t break the top 50.

To get the rankings, WalletHub compared the cities using 29 metrics, including life-satisfaction index, depression rate, poverty rate, job security, and acres of parkland per 1,000 residents. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, and cities were assigned an overall happiness score.

Here’s a look at how the cities ranked.

South Burlington is No. 4 happiest city, Burlington is No. 11

South Burlington came on top for Vermont in WalletHub’s list of the happiest cities in the United States, ranking at No. 4. In scored very high for emotional and physical well-being coming in at the No. 4 spot, which made up for coming in No. 48 for community and environment. It was No. 9 for income and employment ranking. That gave it a total happiness of score of 70.15

Advertisement

Burlington wasn’t far behind at all, taking the No. 11 spot on the list and a happiness score of 67.54. It’s highest score was for income and employment ranking where it came second. It ranked No. 13 for community and environment and No. 21 for emotional and physical well-being.

Happiest cities in the US, per WalletHub

Here are the 25 happiest cities in the U.S., and their happiness scores, according to WalletHub’s 2026 list:

  1. Fremont, California – 74.09
  2. Bismarck, North Dakota – 73.11
  3. Scottsdale, Arizona – 71.36
  4. South Burlington, Vermont – 70.15
  5. Fargo, North Dakota – 69.36
  6. Overland Park, Kansas – 68.45
  7. Charleston, South Carolina – 68.44
  8. Irvine, California – 67.99
  9. Gilbert, Arizona – 67.96
  10. San Jose, California – 67.79
  11. Burlington, Vermont – 67.54
  12. Madison, Wisconsin – 66.35
  13. Columbia, Maryland – 66.28
  14. Chandler, Arizona – 65.69
  15. Seattle, Washington – 65.62
  16. Plano, Texas – 65.34
  17. San Francisco, California – 64.99
  18. Lincoln, Nebraska – 64.90
  19. Portland, Maine – 64.59
  20. Tempe, Arizona – 64.30
  21. San Diego, California – 64.30
  22. Raleigh, North Carolina – 63.47
  23. Peoria, Arizona – 63.38
  24. Durham, North Carolina – 62.84
  25. Huntington Beach, California – 62.80

Least happy cities in the US, per WalletHub

Here are the 25 least happy cities in the U.S., and their happiness scores, according to WalletHub’s 2026 list:

  1. Detroit, Michigan (#182 overall) – 29.55
  2. Memphis, Tennessee (#181 overall) – 34.39
  3. Shreveport, Louisiana (#180 overall) – 34.93
  4. Cleveland, Ohio (#179 overall) – 36.50
  5. Huntington, West Virginia (#178 overall) – 37.20
  6. Toledo, Ohio (#177 overall) – 37.21
  7. Augusta, Georgia (#176 overall) – 38.24
  8. Fort Smith, Arkansas (#175 overall) – 38.66
  9. Dover, Delaware (#174 overall) – 39.08
  10. Akron, Ohio (#173 overall) – 40.11
  11. Baltimore, Maryland (#172 overall) – 40.28
  12. Birmingham, Alabama (#171 overall) – 40.37
  13. Baton Rouge, Louisiana (#170 overall) – 40.47
  14. Columbus, Georgia (#169 overall) – 40.61
  15. Montgomery, Alabama (#168 overall) – 41.35
  16. Gulfport, Mississippi (#167 overall) – 41.65
  17. Charleston, West Virginia (#166 overall) – 42.18
  18. Jackson, Mississippi (#165 overall) – 42.60
  19. St. Louis, Missouri (#164 overall) – 43.53
  20. Knoxville, Tennessee (#163 overall) – 44.04
  21. Wilmington, Delaware (#162 overall) – 44.34
  22. Little Rock, Arkansas (#161 overall) – 44.48
  23. Mobile, Alabama (#160 overall) – 44.85
  24. New Orleans, Louisiana (#159 overall) – 45.19
  25. Tulsa, Oklahoma (#158 overall) – 45.33

Where New England cities ranked

Here are the 12 happiest cities in New England, and their happiness scores, according to WalletHub’s 2026 list:

  1. South Burlington, Vermont (#6 overall) – 70.15
  2. Burlington, Vermont (#11 overall) – 67.54
  3. Portland, Maine (#19 overall) – 64.59
  4. Nashua, New Hampshire (#27 overall) – 62.49
  5. Manchester, New Hampshire (#51 overall) – 59.10
  6. Boston, Massachusetts (#63 overall) – 56.88
  7. Warwick, Rhode Island (#66 overall) – 56.59
  8. New Haven, Connecticut (#95 overall) – 54.14
  9. Bridgeport, Connecticut (#96 overall) – 54.01
  10. Providence, Rhode Island (#98 overall) – 53.52
  11. Worcester, Massachusetts (#116 overall) – 50.12
  12. Lewiston, Maine (#145 overall) – 47.28



Source link

Continue Reading

Vermont

Tornado with winds up to 90mph touches down in Vermont amid storms

Published

on

Tornado with winds up to 90mph touches down in Vermont amid storms


A tornado touched down in Vermont Thursday, when a strong storm system moved through the area, the National Weather Service said.

Winds are believed to have hit 90 mph when the tornado churned through Williamstown at about 9:15 p.m., the agency said Friday. That makes it an EF1 tornado on the Fujita Scale, which goes from 0 at the weakest to 5 at the strongest.

Lasting three minutes, the twister traveled for more than four-tenths of a mile, with a maximum width of 100 yards, according to the National Weather Service’s preliminary assessment. It damaged a pair of buildings and numerous trees, shearing tree tops. Golf ball-sized hail was also reported in the area.

Severe thunderstorms popped up across the North Country Thursday night, including in central Vermont — Williamstown is south of Montpelier.

Advertisement

The town thanked its road crew, firefighters and locals who spent hours in the wake of the storm cleaning up.

“We appreciate all that you do to keep the town functioning though an emergency situation,” the town said.

People in the area told NBC affiliate WPTZ that the storm was shockingly powerful, and National Weather Service staffer Marlon Verasamy said that while tornadoes in Vermont are rare, they’re even rarer in this part of the state.

“Generally, when we do see tornadoes around the area that they’ve been in Addison County and not here, so it make it really, really unique to get a tornado in this kind of terrain in this part of the state,” Verasamy said.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending