UVM Health - Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, 75 Beekman Street, Plattsburgh, NY (2025)

09/25/2025

When Liz Lawliss, FNP talks about her journey into healthcare, it’s clear her heart led the way. Inspired by her sister, a physician, and a deep love for science, Liz once considered medical school or a PhD in immunology. But everything changed when someone close to her was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

“I saw their parents learning how to give insulin, and I thought—what an incredible profession,” Liz shared. That moment sparked her path into nursing, and eventually, becoming a family nurse practitioner.

After five years at the bedside, Liz says she saw a need: a shortage of primary care providers. She stepped up, earned her NP degree, and now serves in urology. It's a specialty she was drawn to after her husband’s battle with kidney cancer.

Seeing firsthand how limited access to care can impact families, Liz found her calling not just in treating patients, but in empowering them.

💬 “I believe that educating people on their health is important. I have the time to really educate and get to know the patient, so I know what their goals look like.”

Liz’s story is a powerful reminder of why APPs matter. They educate, connect, and care deeply, often becoming the lifeline for patients in underserved areas.

So what makes Liz smile?
“My family. And jokes. I love when people can joke around—it breaks up the day.”

During National APP Week, we celebrate Liz and all our Advanced Practice Providers, whose skill and dedication help patients and families every day. 💚 Thank you for all you do!

09/24/2025

⭐ Real stories. Real care. Real impact. ⭐
Living Healthy Together | Culture of Caring: Hair Care IS Health Care

Imagine having to shave your head after a hospital stay because the team caring for you wasn’t able to properly care for your hair.

Hair care in the hospital can be challenging—especially for people of color. Join us this week as we sit down with a multidisciplinary team of nurses and other health care professionals at UVM Medical Center who created the hospital’s Hair Equity Program, along with the leaders whose support helped launch one of the most innovative approaches to advancing health equity and improving outcomes.

Created in partnership with patients and community members, the hospital’s leading-edge approach to holistic care aims to move the needle on one of the most scrutinized measures of success in health care: patient experience and satisfaction.

📻 Tune in live Friday at 1 pm on WDEV:
FM 96.1, 96.5, 98.3, 101.9 | AM 550

🔗 Or listen on-demand:
https://bit.ly/4gj01ux

09/21/2025

🩸Give a pint, get a pint! 🍨

We're excited to partner with Stewart's Shops for a sweet reward for blood donors. Anyone who gives blood at our Adirondack Blood Center or any participating blood drive throughout Essex, Clinton, Franklin and St. Lawrence counties will receive a certificate for a free pint of Stewart's pre-packaged ice cream or gelato. The promotion lasts throughout the month of September.

Check out a participating drive happening this week:

🩸 Monday, 9/22: West Chazy Fire Department | Route 22, West Chazy | 4-7 pm
🩸 Tuesday, 9/23: St. Lawrence County Human Services Center | 80 Highway 310, Canton | 12-3 pm
🩸 Wednesday, 9/24: FCI Ray Brook | 128 Ray Brook Road, Ray Brook | 12:30-4 pm
🩸 Thursday, 9/25: Altona Fire Department | Devils Den Road, Altona | 4:30-8:30 pm
🩸 Friday, 9/26: Clinton County Government Center | First Floor Meeting Room | 8:30 am-12:30 pm

Donations collected at community drives and at the Adirondack Blood Center, located at 85 Plaza Blvd. help thousands of North Country residents. The Blood Center is open Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4 pm. Walk-ins are always welcome.

09/21/2025

🌱🥬✨IN KALE WE TRUST ✨🥬🌱
“Eat More Kale” changed his life – but more than that, it showed what can happen when you follow your gut. Meet Bo Moore, a transport tech at Central Vermont Medical Center.

~~~

When I was 27, I moved to Vermont with a Rottweiler, a python, a black cat, a southern accent, a history degree and no local references.

I’m 53 now and things have worked out pretty well - though it has been kind of a wild ride. At one point, I even found myself in the national spotlight. For me, it always comes back to connecting with people, no matter what I happen to be doing.

My first job was as an event photographer at Auburn University, where I was a student. I shot everything from football games to parties, and I loved it. Carrying around a big camera gets you VIP treatment in a lot of places.

I had family in Vermont, which is how I eventually landed here. I stopped in Montpelier one August day, and with a 50-cent newspaper I found both a job and a place to live.

A connection at the local school led me to become a caregiver for special-needs adults — a role I had for almost 20 years, mostly in my home. It was a rewarding job, and it gave me a chance to be a hands-on dad. I’m proud and grateful to be the parent of three happy and healthy kids.

I also started a T-shirt printing business.

I never thought of myself as an artist – more of a doodler. But things took off when I came up with a simple design: Three words, “Eat More Kale.”

It wasn’t my favorite design, but it changed everything. It started a trademark battle with Chick-fil-A, the fast-food giant behind “Eat Mor Chikin.” I eventually won, but not before landing on CNN, the New York Times and in countless other media outlets. The local support was incredible – even Vermont’s governor got involved.

It was a moment when everything clicked: farmers markets were booming, co-ops were catching on and people were just learning what ‘localvore’ meant.

I hand-printed more shirts than I ever imagined and gave away 15,000 “Eat More Kale” bumper stickers a year. I didn’t get rich, and you can only do that kind of thing for so long – but there’s no question it changed my life. For one thing, I had to know what kale was – and eat some – so my diet and lifestyle improved.

These days, I’m connecting with people in a different way. I walk about 20,000 steps a day around the hospital, where my wife, Nicole, is a nurse. I’m never in one place for more than five minutes. And if I find a joke that works, I get to tell it 60 times.

“Eat More Kale” changed my life – but more than that, it showed me what can happen when you follow your gut. That’s what I’ve done most of my life. If you have an idea and it feels right, run with it.

09/20/2025

✏️ NEW EPISODE | Healthy Starts: Kids, Classrooms and Care ✏️ As kids head back to school, we take a closer look at the health challenges students and families face.
🔗 Listen online: https://bit.ly/4gA9CO3

⭐ Real stories. Real care. Real impact. ⭐
Listen to LIVING HEALTHY TOGETHER for real stories, expert insights and practical health tips straight from UVM Health patients, caregivers and leaders.

UVM Health pediatric experts in youth mental health, public health and absenteeism share real-world solutions. Join Dr. Keith Robinson, Dr. Heidi Schumacher and Dr. Steven Schlozman as they discuss new research that deepens our understanding of what students need to succeed and offer reflections on the back-to-school experience for parents and caregivers.

09/18/2025

🌟 Honoring a Caregiver: Piper Martin 🌟

🙏 We’re always deeply grateful when our patients feel inspired to give back in recognition of the care they received. Recently, the family of one patient made a generous gift to The Foundation of CVPH in honor of Piper Martin, one of our incredible clinical assistants.

In a note accompanying the donation, the patient’s spouse wrote:
📝 “My family and I are exceptionally grateful for the care you gave my husband.”

Piper, your compassion and dedication truly make a difference. 💙

Our Honor a Caregiver program gives patients and families a meaningful way to say thank you to hospital team members who provided exceptional comfort and care. When a gift is made in a caregiver’s honor, they receive a special notification and a Health Care Hero pin—a symbol of their extraordinary impact.

09/17/2025

⭐ Real stories. Real care. Real impact. ⭐ As kids head back to school, we take a closer look at the health challenges students and families face.

LIVING HEALTHY TOGETHER | Healthy Starts: Kids, Classrooms & Care

In this episode, we’ll discuss mental health at home and in the classroom, the current state of chronic absenteeism and its impact on wellbeing and scholastic achievement and rural access to care. We’ll also highlight community-based support services that help students and families respond to challenges as they arise.

Pediatric experts in public health, youth mental health and absenteeism share real-world solutions. They discuss new research that’s deepening our understanding of what students need to succeed, and they reflect on the back-to-school experience for parents and caregivers.

Join Dr. Keith Robinson, Dr. Heidi Schumacher, and Dr. Steven Schlozman for an in-depth look at how to set students up for success this year.

📻 Tune in live Friday at 1 pm on WDEV:
FM 96.1, 96.5, 98.3, 101.9 | AM 550

🔗 Or listen on-demand: https://bit.ly/4gj01ux

09/17/2025

Clean Spaces, Caring Faces 💙🧹

Every day, our environmental services team brings more than just cleanliness to our facilities. They bring heart. Whether it’s a warm smile in the hallway or the extra care taken to ensure a patient’s room feels safe and welcoming, their impact is felt in every corner.

Grace Seymour, left, and Heidi Barber are just two shining examples of the dedication and compassion that define this incredible team. Their attention to detail, commitment to infection prevention, and genuine kindness make them an irreplaceable part of our health care family 🏥🌟.

This week happens to be National Environmental Services Week, but we believe their contributions deserve recognition every day. Thank you for all you do 🙌👏💙

09/16/2025

🩸Give a pint, get a pint! 🍨

We're excited to partner with Stewart's Shops for a sweet reward for blood donors. Anyone who gives blood at our Adirondack Blood Center or any participating blood drive throughout Essex, Clinton, Franklin and St. Lawrence counties will receive a certificate for a free pint of Stewart's pre-packaged ice cream or gelato. The promotion lasts throughout the month of September.

Check out participating drives happening this week:

🩸 Tuesday, 9/16: St. Edmunds Church Hall | Route 11, Ellenburg Depot | 4-7 pm
🩸 Wednesday, 9/17: Franklin County Court House | 355 West Main Street, Malone | 10 am-1 pm
🩸 Thursday, 9/18: Cumberland 12 Cinemas | 18 North Bowl Lane, Plattsburgh | 4-8 pm
🩸 Friday, 9/19: Franklin County Sheriffs Department | 45 Bare Hill Road, Malone | 10 am-2 pm
Donations collected at community drives and at the Adirondack Blood Center, located at 85 Plaza Blvd. help thousands of North Country residents. The Blood Center is open Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4 pm. Walk-ins are always welcome.

09/15/2025

🩺REDEFINING PAIN: A NEW MODEL FOR CARE 🩺 Two lives changed by injury and chronic pain… their stories may shift how you think about pain — and recovery.
🎧Listen now: https://bit.ly/4mkSih4

~~~~

✨Real stories. Real care. Real impact. ✨
(First aired on WDEV, now streaming as a podcast.)

A spinal surgery gone wrong left John Killacky paralyzed and living in debilitating pain. After a traumatic hit-and-run accident, Emily Metcalfe woke up in the hospital, quadriplegic, and in need of months of physical and occupational therapy as she relearned how to walk.

On this episode of Living Healthy Together, UVM Health Network's podcast, John and Emily share their stories, their experiences living with chronic pain, and how the Comprehensive Pain Program at University of Vermont Medical Center helped them learn to control their pain, rather than be defined by it.

They're joined by Dr. Joshua Plavin and Laurel Audy, RN, two founding members of the Comprehensive Pain Program who reflect on their own roles building a unique, leading-edge approach to treatment and support. They share how the program's holistic approach to patient care and wellness challenges health care's status quo and could make an impact even for those who aren't living with chronic pain.

09/13/2025

🔦🕯️Finding Light in Darkness 🕯️🔦
"When you're a doctor, you think you can handle anything life throws at you. I thought I had it all figured out. Then my daughter Victoria taught me I knew nothing at all."

Meet Dragos Banu, MD, a primary care internal medicine doctor and division chief of primary care for AHMC, CVPH, PMC and ECH.

~~~

I met my wife in medical school during a clinical rotation at a hospital in Brooklyn, NY. She was a PA in the emergency room. She's from Bulgaria. I'm from Romania. We both immigrated as children, so we understood each other's journey.

We moved to Malone, NY, in 2014 with our one-year-old son, Christian, and life felt perfect. We were paying down the mortgage, building careers. When we got pregnant again, everything seemed like a fairy tale.

Victoria was born on New Year's Eve at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital. Things seemed fine, but she wasn't meeting her milestones. She cried constantly and had trouble lifting her head. At five months, an MRI revealed the devastating truth: She'd had a massive perinatal stroke. Most of her brain had died.

We brought her home under hospice care. In her final hour, I couldn't bear to watch my own child die. My wife couldn't either. Our mothers held Victoria as she passed at nine months old.

The guilt nearly destroyed me. I'd cry between patients. I wore sunglasses so strangers wouldn't see my tears. For years, I couldn't talk about her.

I found healing by doing something unexpected — providing hospice care for my patients. I comforted their loved ones. I sat with them as they died. I secretly hoped they'd talk to Victoria for me.

Each time I helped a family through their darkest moment, I understood my own grief a little better. Everyone carries their own cross. Some have lost two children, some three. As Ram Dass said, we're all walking each other home.

Two years later, Leo was born. His middle name is Victor, after his sister.

Victoria changed how I see every person. Behind every smile might be someone crying behind sunglasses. You never know what someone's carrying until you really listen.

My heart will always have a missing piece until I see her again. But she taught me the most important lesson of my life — the deepest pain can lead to the greatest compassion.

09/12/2025

Today, we remembered.

Thank you to everyone who joined us this morning at the flagpole to honor the lives lost and forever changed on September 11, 2001. Your presence, whether in silence, in uniform, or in quiet reflection, meant so much.

As flags were raised, lowered, and folded with care, we stood together in unity, in grief, and in gratitude. These moments reminded us of the strength we find in community, and the importance of never forgetting.

To our veterans, active service members, staff, patients, and visitors: thank you for pausing with us. Your respect and reverence made this ceremony deeply meaningful.

We will always remember.

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