The Power of a Primary Care Doctor

Mother Grateful for Life-Changing Care of Son

When Marc-Andre Payette was born in Montreal in 1986, his mother knew he would have an extraordinarily challenging life. Little did Coleen Vance know at the time that a doctor from The University of Vermont Health Network – Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) would have such a profound impact on her and her son by doing one simple thing. According to Vance, her son was born with a cleft lip and pallet. He was also diagnosed with cerebral atrophy, “and a profound developmen [...]

ICU Nurse's Care Inspires Donation to Foundation of CVPH

A Plattsburgh couple touched by a dedicated nurse’s care has donated to The Foundation of CVPH in her honor. The patient was rushed to The University of Vermont Health Network-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) needing emergent care, including dialysis. Julia Tansor, RN was among those providing care for the patient during a stay in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Fortunately, the couple happened to live close by to Tansor and she volunteered to help them out wh [...]

A Donation that Gives Back

Charitable Gift Annuities

A charitable gift annuity is a powerful tool for philanthropy because it has benefits for supporters as well as The University of Vermont Health Network – Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH). With your donation, you can create a guaranteed income stream for yourself or others, receive tax benefits, and make a transformative gift to CVPH. This method of donating has been used around the country since the 19th century and is a simple contract between a donor and The Foundation of [...]

Foundation Grant Helps Ease Needle Nerves for Patients

Jon Verseput, an IV Therapist and Registered Nurse, helps place IVs in thousands of patients every year. One of the significant points of frustration he encounters with them is when it takes several attempts to insert the needle in the right spot. “I can see it in their faces. When I get called into a patient’s room, and the patient has already been stuck six or seven times, and they look at you like you’re going in for a root canal at a dentist.” Knowing the [...]

Overcoming Sudden Heart Failure Diagnosis

Patient shares story ahead of Stepping Out for Your Heart Event

A decision to seek out additional insurance may very well have saved Teri Frederick’s life. After learning she has congestive heart failure, the 53-year-old from West Chazy is now hoping to inspire others to listen closely to their heart and body and speak up about worrying symptoms. A whirlwind of events for Frederick began in the spring of 2022, when she was denied an additional life insurance policy following a routine physical exam. Frederick considered herself to be fit and relativ [...]

Patient Calls Two CVPH Nurses His Guardian Angels

Care Inspired Donation to Foundation of CVPH

A former patient at The University of Vermont Health Network-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) was so touched by the care he received from two nurses that he donated to The Foundation of CVPH in their honor.  “I can say they were like two guardian angels, as far as I’m concerned,” Rodney Nephew said, reflecting on the care that Mallory Mattison, MSN, RN and Kristy Gough, RN provided him during his two month stay on R6. “They’re very, very personabl [...]

Plattsburgh Couple Pledges $50,000 to Foundation of CVPH

Money to Benefit Emergency Department Patients

If not for the care Rich Guglielmo has received in the Emergency Department (ED) at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH), his wife of 53 years, Judy, is certain she would be a widow right now. “A couple of times, they’ve saved his life over the last few years,” she stated with conviction. Rich was rushed to the hospital after suffering an anaphylactic reaction when he was stung by a yellow jacket this past summer. Judy said after seven or eight hours in the emergen [...]

Grateful Patient Praises Nurse for Care During Labor

More than three years of waiting, worrying and wondering had finally come to this. Abby Bennett, now the Director of Nursing Research and Clinical Practice at The University of Vermont Health Network-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH), was lying in a bed in the hospital’s Alice T. Miner Women and Children’s Center (WCC) preparing to give birth to her first child. “It was just kind of surreal,” Abby said. She and her husband Ryan, a Licensed Funeral Director [...]

Patients Benefit From New Exercise Equipment Purchased by Foundation

When Troy Canada, Lead Occupational Therapist at CVPH, wanted to help COVID-19 patients required to stay in isolation at the hospital, his idea sounded like a well-known video game console. “This particular device is called the Ex-Box,” Troy said. That is short for Exercise Box, and it is far different than picking up a controller and mashing buttons to pass the time away. “What it is, is a device where you can exercise your legs and your arms, either isolated or at th [...]

Foundation, United Way Help Baby Get Home for Christmas

The generosity of donors to The Foundation of CVPH and United Way of the Adirondack Region paved the way for a Christmas gift one northern New York family will not soon forget: a cab ride home for the holidays. A one-year-old from Clinton County, and his family had been through some difficult times recently. Less than a week before Christmas, the little bubbly boy was in Boston with his family to begin his chemotherapy. “Even through all this, all the chemo, every bad thing that&rsqu [...]

Telemetry Technician's Curiosity Prevents Life-Threatening Heart Issue

Rhythms, waveforms and alarms keep CVPH Telemetry Technician Tonya LaFountain on her toes as she maintains a constant watch on her patients on R3 every day. It was Tonya’s attention to those details, a strong curiosity and a willingness to speak up that may ultimately have saved the life of a patient. On a morning last spring, Tonya was in the midst of the usual hustle and bustle of her work when she noticed something just did not seem right with one of her patients. The woman was being [...]

Breast Cancer Survivors Raise Big Bucks for Foundation, FitzPatrick Cancer Center

Organizers inspired by care at FCC

Connected by friendship, grateful to beat breast cancer and inspired by the compassionate care they received, two North Country women organized and hosted a fundraiser that will benefit cancer patients in the region for years to come. Lisa McGinn and Chris Bigelow are also hoping it demonstrates the power of community-based generosity and the benefits such an event can offer to The Foundation of CVPH and the many lives it touches, while convincing others to take action and give back in any way t [...]

Nursing Team Inspires Donation to Foundation of CVPH

Former patient grateful for care she received

Lying in a hospital bed, battling to breathe, was not the start to 2021 that Jane Woods envisioned. But after taking on COVID-19 for four days at CVPH, she left with a renewed sense of hope and overwhelming gratitude that she shared through a generous donation to The Foundation of CVPH’s Honor a Caregiver program. The 73-year-old Plattsburgh resident’s fight with the dreadful disease began as we kicked off a new year near the height of the pandemic in the United States. Like many [...]

Driving a Healthier Community

Golf tournament marks 20 years of making a difference

As much as golf is an individual sport, the game can also bring people together in a special way. For Dan, Tim, Pat and Kathy Coffey, golf has helped them remain connected with each other and their father for the last two decades. June 4, 2021 was the 20th anniversary of the Jim Abbott & Dick Coffey Golf Tournament. Held at the Adirondack Golf & Country Club in Peru, the tournament benefits The Foundation of CVPH. It was started in memory of Dick Coffey, an avid golfer and a well-know [...]

Comforting Contributions

Donated teddy bears help CVPH maternity patients cope during difficult times

No matter what you may be going through, it’s hard not to feel at least a little bit better when you are holding a soft teddy bear in your arms. That’s the idea behind the donation of 18 “Comfort Cubs” to the Alice T. Miner Women and Children’s Center at CVPH. The bears were dropped off at the hospital by North Country residents Beverly King and Tiffani Light, who are ambassadors with The Comfort Cub, a non-profit organization that provides the therapeutic b [...]

Paying it Forward for Patients

Why Janet Mann Gives

You do not need to be at the bedside to realize the difference that donations make in the lives of our patients. Janet Mann, Supervisor of Patient Centered Care Management – Medical Home, has witnessed the need in our community first hand over the past decade. During her time at Medical Home, the team has helped countless patients secure everything from medications, blood pressure cuffs and scales to durable medical equipment, all while ensuring that patients are educated about their tr [...]

Giving Back to The Foundation Supports Employee Growth

As a mother of two young children, Maria Latinville, MS sees growth in some form just about every day. Growth is also a big part of what drives her and the work she does at CVPH. “So when we think about the three things that we focus on here every day, our patients, our people and our community, my job has a huge impact on the people who take care of the patients,” Maria explained. “And that work feels really good to me. I love when I help someone grow within their current r [...]

Caring for the Community Beyond These Walls

Nurse Practitioner Speaks About Giving Back

It’s been nearly 30 years since Jacqueline Riley, NP-C came to SUNY Plattsburgh from Long Island, New York for nursing school. In that time, she has become very familiar with the community that she cares for on a daily basis. “We’re a pretty tight knit community here,” Jacqueline, a Senior Nurse Practitioner at The University of Vermont Health Network-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital’s (CVPH) Skilled Nursing Facility and Adult Mental Health unit, recalled. &l [...]

A Gift for the Heart

Why Nancy Houth Gives

Nancy Houth, an exercise specialist, has seen a lot in her three decades at CVPH. She has worked with pulmonary rehab patients, helped diabetes patients achieve their weight goals and guided cardiology patients down a path back to better health. Regardless of her role, Nancy said one of the most rewarding aspects for her is seeing patients she works with get better throughout the process. “I’ll see a patient in a stress test, and they have a bad test. So I send them to the cath la [...]

Donating to Help Our Patients

Why I Give

It didn’t take Jodie Lanning, LMHC long to fall in love with her job at The University of Vermont Health Network-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) when she started in 2008. One of her biggest thrills is helping her patients every step of the way on their journey to better mental health. “Often times, you see someone when they first come in and they’re kind of at their lowest,” Lanning noted. “But as you work with them, see them improve and get discharge [...]

Small Donations Make a Big Difference

CVPH Employee Opens Up on Why She Gives to The Foundation

Working at the same place for nearly three decades means you’re going to see a lot and know a lot of people. “I consider a lot of the CVPHers my friends and family,” Quality Support Specialist Laurie Cross, CPHRM said. “Some of them are my family by blood. My mom, my grandmother, a lot of people I know have retired from here.” Cross, a mother of 2 and a grandmother of 1, has been at CVPH for a lot of joyful moments. And there have been some scary situations. [...]

Donations Helping Track Heart Patients

The Difference Donors Make

For CVPH cardiology patients, a relatively small device is having a big impact on the care they receive. And thanks to generous members of the community taking part in The Foundation of CVPH’s annual “Stepping Out for Your Heart” fundraiser, even more patients are able to benefit from those devices. They’re known as Holter monitors, which are a type of portable electrocardiogram (ECG) that records the electrical activity of the heart continuously from 24 to 96 hours. A [...]

Giant Stuffed Bear Surprise Brightens Patient's Stay

Gift highlights impact of Rabin Fund

Sometimes, it’s the little things that make a big difference for our patients. In this case, it was a cuddly companion that would lead to tears of joy for one woman being cared for at the hospital. The patient had been at CVPH for more than three months by the time September rolled around. With no family in the area and no pets to keep her company, staff on the floor noticed she seemed to be quite lonely. “We’ve all gotten very attached to her,” R5 Floor Director Ho [...]

New Ambulance Arrives on Scene

Your generosity is ensuring patients in our region are getting the top notch emergency care they need. This new ambulance rig just recently went into service in the Keeseville and Peru areas. Because of your support, The Foundation contributed $125,000 to help pay for it. “It’s great for us, but I think, more importantly, it’s great for those communities,” Director of Emergency Management Michael Cahoon said. “We benefit because we get state-of-the-art equipment [...]

Heartwarming Honor for CVPH Cardiologist

When Nidal Makhoul, MD reflects back on his more than two decades of providing care in the North Country, he spends a lot of time thinking about his patients. “The best moment is when you see a patient who is in trouble or might be dying, but you’re able to help save that patient’s life or alleviate suffering,” Dr. Makhoul recalled. “And then you get to keep seeing and talking to that person year after year because they survived.”  One of Dr. Ma [...]

Young Emergency Patients Benefit From Kiwanis Club Donation

The Plattsburgh Noon Kiwanis Club donated a pediatric trauma kit to CVPH. The kit will help our EMTs when they are responding to calls for our youngest patients. The Foundation and the CVPH EMTs are very grateful for the Kiwanis Club's donation. Watch the video below to learn more about how the kit will be helpful during emergency calls. [...]

Transition Success Program Helps Patient Get Home Sooner

The Difference Your Donations Make

A recent foot surgery patient is a shining example of what The Foundation of CVPH’s Transition Success program can do. Beverly Duffina knows her way around the shops and stores across the North Country. But as the region began to slowly re-open following an initial lockdown in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mooers, NY resident suddenly found herself sitting in a hospital bed instead of searching for sales. “I’m trying to get better to go shopping,” B [...]

Foundation Scholarship Program Helps Employees, Students

The Difference Your Donations Make

CVPH Clinical Assistant Meaghan Wells has a lot to balance between work, pursuing a degree at Clinton Community College to become a registered nurse and home life. “My days are very busy, because I also have 3 young kids at home," Meaghan said, as she described what she loves most about them. "My daughter is into dance. The 2 younger ones are free spirited. They do what they want." As for what it is about her children that makes her smile: "When they all get along [...]

Cooking With a Doc Program Promotes Healthy Eating

The Difference Your Donations Make

“If we can really help change behaviors for patients, we can really help change health outcomes," Cooking With a Doc creator Therese Ray, MD said. But, that's something that Dr. Ray realizes can be a tough thing for people to learn given the eating habits they've had their entire lives. “For a lot of patients, eating more fruits and vegetables and really changing their diet, it’s a big change, it’s something that a lot of our patients are not familiar w [...]

Vein Finder Provides Comfort For Youngest Patients

The Difference Your Donations Make

Mindy LaPier, RN, CVPH Labor and Delivery: “It’s always hard for parents to have to sit there and watch their baby be stuck with a needle, whether it’s for blood work or an IV, and sometimes it takes multiple tries." “If you can’t get it in, you can’t give them their antibiotics, you can’t start any treatment without having their lab values, so you just keep trying and trying and trying." Now, the vein finder gives patients and emplo [...]

Why I Give

Robin Bashaw, RN Is Paying It Forward

When it came to figuring out what Robin Bashaw wanted to do when she grew up, there was never really any doubt. “I’ve always wanted to be a nurse ever since I was a little girl,” Bashaw explained. What started as a dream when she was a child is now a reality every day as an RN with Progressive Care. But that dream may not have come true without help from the Foundation at CVPH. “I used Foundation of CVPH grants to get my way through nursing school,” Bashaw [...]

Honoring Caregivers

When a Nurse is the Grateful Patient

Joyce Favreau of the Short Stay Unit donated to the Foundation of CVPH’s Honor A Caregiver program after being treated for breast cancer here.  “I want honor these caregivers. Please accept this donation on behalf the Women’s Imaging Center, Ambulatory Care Center and Radiology Oncology. The diagnosis was life changing but the care you provided has made a positive as an experience as it could be. I appreciate all of you and the care you have provided. Not only for my care [...]

Flight to the Heart

The Generosity Continues - Submitted by Sydney Dixon Foundation Intern

We received a phone call recently from a donor who had two round trip tickets to Boston and wasn’t able to use them.  The donor wanted to pass along the tickets to a travel fund recipient who would be traveling for specialized health care in the next couple of months. The Foundation Team thought of names, and a few travelers came to mind that would benefit greatly from the round trip flight. We called our first travel recipient-whose upcoming appointment did not line up with the of [...]

Hope & Strength

What YOUR donation means to OUR community

Last winter the CVPH Rehab Team applied for a Solo-Step track system through The Foundation’s Mini Grants.  I had the privilege of meeting John, a patient using the Solo-Step with the goal of regaining his ability to walk.  John fell out of a tree stand while hunting in Ohio last November and sustained a spinal cord injury.  He has a wonderful sense of humor and when I met him he was picking on his therapists to make them laugh.  His therapists got right to work with hi [...]

From The Heart

Recently, I was reminded why I do what I do.  I am the connection between our AMAZING DONORS and people who are having a difficult time medically and financially.  A young man stopped into the office to pick up a check for recent travel out of our area for medical necessity.   In a random turn of events, it was discovered that his heart was leaking.  He was referred to a surgeon in New York City and told that he would need to stay for about two weeks for prep and recover [...]

A Little Piece of My Mom

The Foundation of CVPH intern's perspective of a new program submitted by Jess Rojas

My mother was five months pregnant, and like most expecting mothers, spent her free time reading baby name books. She was expecting her third child, a daughter. She had finally decided on the name Kassandra after her favorite childhood novella protagonist. We loved it. My mother was experiencing a bit of discomfort one afternoon. She reassured me it was normal. My father insisted on taking her to the hospital just in case as soon as he came home from work. My father was a chef and would work [...]

The Gift of Working with Volunteers

It has been almost two and a half months since I have started my position as Manager of Volunteer Services. When I first came in these doors, I knew I was given an amazing opportunity to work with great volunteers, who make a difference in people’s lives every day. As the time has gone by, I have gotten to know so many of the volunteers, and have a true appreciation for them. I look forward to hearing their own personal stories of their everyday lives. I love being a sounding board and get [...]

What I learned when we recruited for a Manager of Volunteer Services

 We’re fortunate to have many volunteers at the hospital who come in to help and to make a difference throughout the hospital – of course I know that.  What I didn’t know is just how committed these folks are to lending a hand and wanting to help people.    During the transition and recruitment of a new Manager of Volunteer Services, Foundation staff has been filling in to guide new volunteers through the onboarding process, helping with any issues tha [...]

Finding Ways to Help

Volunteer brightens patients' stays

One of our hospital volunteers, Kathy Ryan, was rounding on patients as part of the falls prevention program she is part of.  She checks with patients in the hospital to make sure they have anti-slip socks on, that their alarms are set so they don’t try to get up without assistance and that proper identification is in place to alert staff.  The last question she asks before leaving the patient’s room is, “Is there anything else I can do for you?”   On [...]

From the Other Side of the Desk

My personal story with the Foundation

January 28, 2016 was the best and worst day of my life.  My daughter, Violet, was born that morning at 5:14.  The first thing every mom listens for is the cry, that first cry.  I didn’t hear it.  I asked if she was crying and I just didn’t hear her, the staff calmly told me, “Not yet.”  They moved her to the warmer on the other side of the room the second she was born and I didn’t get to see her or hold her.  My husband stood to the sid [...]

The Easter Bunny

The little girl who became the bunny

It was a spectacular spring day in 2002. The sun was shining and the breeze no longer swept the cold from the snow-covered ground. By Adirondack standards, it was warm.  The little 4-year old girl, Easter basket in hand, takes her place among the throngs of other youngsters waiting for CVPH Easter Egg Hunt to begin. Despite the event being only a few years old, it was wildly popular and hundreds of families gathered around the perimeter of the hospital’s front lawn.  The young hu [...]

Foundation Mini Grants

Review day is one of my favorite days of the year

One of my favorite times of the year is mini grant review day...It demonstrates the passion our team has for their patients and their jobs. Mini grants are grants that we give to departments throughout the hospital for program or equipment needs that will enhance patient care.  The typical amount awarded is around $3,000 but last year, we expanded that amount to a limit of $15,000 each for big projects.  The requests are for items that, for some reason or another, didn’t&rsquo [...]