Vermont
- State Population: 647,064
- Local Health Departments: N/A
- Frequent Public Health Emergencies: Utility Failure (during ice storms), Flooding, Tropical Storms/Hurricanes
- Key Emergency Operations Center Activations: 2020: COVID-19 Pandemic
- CDC PHEP Funding:
FY 2022: $5,210,000
FY 2021: $5,210,000
FY 2020: $5,169,900 - Public Health Crisis Response Funding
Mpox 2023 funding: $178,665
COVID-19 2021 funding: $4,649,471
COVID-19 2020 funding: $4,902,840
- Epidemiologists: 1
- Laboratorians: 7
- Nurses: 1
- Planners: 3
- Other: 16*
*Includes IT specialists, administrative staff, statisticians, and other positions
1 Preparedness Field Assignee
- Public Health Laboratory Testing
- Community Preparedness
- Emergency Operations Coordination
- Volunteer Management
- Information Sharing
In 2020, Lauren Ho, a PHEP-funded preparedness field assignee in Vermont, helped the state health department address COVID-19-related staffing issues, including burnout. Ho and her team analyzed the overtime hours of 246 full-time response staff over two pay periods. Employees worked an average of 14 hours of overtime the first pay period and 10 the second pay period. The team shared its findings with supervisors to improve processes and limit overtime.
In addition, the team worked with response safety officers to conduct a survey and improve protocols for monitoring staff burnout. The team worked with the state Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the state human services agency, and community partners to offer support sessions attended by approximately 150 response staff.
In Vermont, PHEP-supported field staff have improved access to medications and supplies during emergencies, especially for residents at greater risk because they don’t speak English well. These staff led an exercise testing a telephonic interpreter service that would help responders dispense necessary supplies quickly to individuals who may not be able to communicate their needs in English. Lessons learned from this exercise were used to train local emergency preparedness staff on how to communicate life-saving information in a public health emergency to residents with limited English capacity.
In 2016, private drinking wells in Bennington, Vermont were contaminated with high levels of PFOA, a chemical used in producing Teflon. The chemical is associated with hypertension, thyroid disease, and cancer. Using the PHEP-funded Health Alert Network, the health department alerted area hospitals and physicians about the situation and provided blood testing to nearly 500 residents. The state also provided information about the contaminant to residents so they could protect themselves and seek testing and treatment if needed. These activities, coordinated through a PHEP-established incident command structure, helped the health department determine the contamination’s impact and prevent illness.