Gifford Craft Fair Nov. 16 and 17

craft fairMark your calendars: Gifford Medical Center’s Annual Craft Fair in support of the hospital’s Adult Day Program is coming Nov. 16 and 17.

The Craft Fair – now in its 17th year – takes place in the hospital’s Conference Center, hallways, spacious visitors’ entrance and the adjoining Menig Extended Care Facility’s large living room from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 16 and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 17.

The fair is an opportunity to start your holiday shopping while also supporting a worthy cause: Gifford Adult Day Program activities.

Adult Day provides safe day care, personal hygiene help, medication administration, healthy meals, activities and socialization to the elderly and disabled below the Bethel Health Center on Route 107.

The fair also supports our local craftspeople.

Items for sale will include handcrafted jewelry, homemade baked goods and foods, woodcrafts, quilting, homemade pillows, hand painted Christmas ornaments, and more made by area crafters.

The fair is open to the public and all are welcome.

Vendor space is still available, although vendors signing up now must supply their own table. Call organizer Bonnie Pettit at 763-8828 to become a vendor or learn more.

Gifford is on Route 12 south of Randolph village at 44 S. Main St. The Conference Center entrance is just off from the patient parking area and is marked. The handicapped-accessible visitors’ entrance, where crafts are also expected to be on display, is on the southern end of the hospital. Signs will also help guide you.

2011 Gifford Admissions and Visits by Top 20 Towns

The following is an excerpt from our 2011 Annual Report.

For those of you interested in statistics, here are Gifford’s admissions and visits from 2011. (We’re reporting only the top 20 towns.)

                                                          Inpatient              Outpatient                  Total
Randolph/Braintree                           562                       21,620                   22,182
Bethel                                                   150                         6,373                      6,523
Royalton                                               119                         5,296                     5,415
Northfield                                             138                         3,661                     3,799
Chelsea                                               111                         3,052                     3,163
Rochester                                              82                         2,461                     2,543
Barre                                                       73                         3,175                     3,248
Tunbridge                                              29                         2,354                      2,383
Brookfi eld                                             55                         2,256                      2,331
Berlin                                                      62                         1,505                      1,567
Sharon                                                   28                         1,495                      1,523
Williamstown                                        60                         1,312                      1,372
Stockbridge                                           23                         1,048                      1,071
Granville                                                25                             754                         779
Hancock                                                19                             657                         676
Pittsfield                                                12                             481                         493
Barnard                                                   6                             483                         489
Washington                                         15                              430                         445
Montpelier                                              9                              333                         342
Woodstock                                             4                             314                          318
Other Vermont towns                       207                          8,973                      9,180
Other states                                         21                          1,673                      1,694
Other countries                                     1                                  1                              2
Grand total                                     1,811                        69,707                   71,518

Gifford admissions

Nurse practitioner Emily LeVan Joins Bethel Health Center

Emily LeVan

Nurse practitioner Emily LeVan joins Bethel Health Center

RANDOLPH – Family nurse practitioner Emily LeVan of Randolph Center has joined the Bethel Health Center. The Bethel clinic is part of Gifford Medical Center.

LeVan earned her family nurse practitioner master’s degree from University of Cincinnati and her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Southern Maine in Portland. She is certified by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.

She previously worked as an emergency department registered nurse at Central Vermont Medical Center, Gifford Medical Center, and Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta, Maine, for seven years. She has also worked as a health care consultant with The Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset, Maine, and teaches licensed nursing assistant and medical terminology courses at the Randolph Technical Career Center.

She previously taught Spanish and was a field hockey and track coach in Maine and Massachusetts for six years after earning her a bachelor’s in environmental studies and Spanish from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and studying Spanish at Middlebury College.

An Oklahoma City native, LeVan moved to New England for school.

She enjoyed teaching and coaching, but was drawn to health care. “I wanted to do something different. I had always been interested in health care,” says LeVan, whose father is a dentist.

As she sought to advance her nursing degree, she chose family practice.

“I wanted to work directly with patients and help them achieve their maximum state of health and wellness,” she says.

She joined Gifford for the opportunity to work in her community and for the culture at Gifford. “I love that when you walk down the hall, people say ‘hi,’” she says, adding, “I feel that it’s an organization that supports the so-called ‘midlevel’ providers very nicely.”
LeVan sees whole families across the lifespan, offering accessible care with a focus on openness and encouraging healthy lifestyle choices.

With a background in emergency medicine, LeVan is a trained sexual assault nurse examiner. Her other interests include women’s health and sports medicine, especially for young people.

LeVan is a former marathoner, who twice finished as the top U.S. female in the Boston Marathon, finished high in other major races (including a seventh-place finish in the Women’s U.S. Marathon Championships in St. Paul, Minn., in 2006) and even participated in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials.

She has also traveled extensively through Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Bolivia, serving as an athletic services coordinator for the U.S. Olympic Committee at the 2011 Pam American Games in Guadalajara and as a volunteer nurse and translator on a medical mission to Nicaragua.

She is married with a daughter and co-owns her family’s farm, the ALL Together Farm in Randolph Center, selling sustainably produced meats and eggs.

LeVan can be reached Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at the Bethel Health Center at 234-9913. She joins long-time family physicians Dr. Terry Cantlin and Dr. Mark Seymour and physician assistant Tammy Gerdes.