This Healthcare Letter of Concern is a public letter from Indivisible-Middlebury signed by Vermont and New Hampshire healthcare workers who are deeply concerned about the Trump administration’s assaults on our public health system and healthcare worldwide. We believe that silence is complicity.

We have circulated this letter in Vermont and New Hampshire and have gathered more than 200 signatures, with more coming in every day.

We will send this letter, with the signatories, to the White House and to several newspapers, National Public Radio and other media outlets hoping that publicity will encourage other states to emulate this expression of concern from our healthcare workers and bio-medical researchers. Signatories are a wide range of healthcare workers, including bio-medical researchers, nurses, providers, social workers, psychologists, administrators, staff, health educators, physical therapists, occupational therapists, care givers, healthcare students, etc. — anyone involved in health care and bio-medical science.

Vt. and N.H. healthcare providers are concerned

We are healthcare workers concerned about the consequences of the Trump administration’s attempts to restrict or eliminate critical healthcare programs. We believe that the following issues are of paramount importance for our population’s health. By signing this letter (with a simple email response to [email protected]), Vermont and New Hampshire’s healthcare workers are expressing our deepest concerns about these issues:

1) National Institutes of Health funding of scientific research is the foundation of our efforts to control and combat significant ills in America. NIH funding is the lifeblood of scientific research. These funds cannot be turned on and off like a spigot. Science and scientists suffer.

2) World Health Organization membership: It is the WHO that protects us against pandemics and other world-wide health crises. Though not without its challenges, on balance, WHO provides critical, integrated knowledge and responses to health crises.

3) Vaccines are our lifeboats in a microbial sea. Loss of trust in vaccines and the elimination of school vaccine mandates will allow parents to opt out of vaccine programs and lower our herd immunity. This will increase the likelihood and seriousness of outbreaks of infectious diseases like measles, which we are already experiencing.

4) We call for healthcare facilities to be a safe space, free from fear of ICE apprehension and deportation. Vermont’s dairy industry depends on our migrant workforce, some of whom are undocumented.

5) USAID is a vital force for good in the world. It extends assistance to countries recovering from disasters, ameliorates poverty, and engages in democratic reforms. USAID feeds starving children and works to prevent infectious diseases such as polio and epidemic diseases. It deserves our support.

6) Protection of vulnerable populations such as LGBTQ+, immigrants, and BIPOC.

7) Fully funding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to carry on its lifesaving public health initiatives. Censorship of communication and information must end.

8) Protecting Medicaid

Signed:

Jack Mayer, MD, MPH, Middlebury

Laura Forman, MD

Andrew J. Haig, M.D.

Kate Williams,RN

Roberto Veguez

Sara Grandstrom

Angela Scavo (Psychologist)

John T. Cook, PhD, MAEd

Sarah Ashe

Theresa Gleason, MSW

Nicole M. Anderson (Case manager)

Ron Slabaugh, Ph.D, MSSW (family therapist)

Martin Malek, MD

Donald Kollisch, MD

Betty Keller MD

Mary Claire DeHaven LICSW

Jessica Doos RN

Barbara Walker MD

Lucy McKeon MD

Richard Hopkins MD, MSPH

Judy English LICSW

Hilary Hatch RN

Deborah Wachtel, DNP, MPH,APRN

Mary Gill RN

Yvette Feig FNP

Korri Wass RN

Robert Zinnes MD

Jonathan M. Ross, MD

Kay Hillinger,MD

Rich DiPentima, RN,MPH

Wm. S. Palmer, MD MACP

Thomas Golper MD

Julie Porteous RN

Mika Barker-Hart LiCSW

Kathleen Walls, LCMHC

Anie Sklar, LMFT

Lea Calderon-Guthe LICSW

Janet Perkins-Howland OB/GYN

Carolyn Carey MA

Randy Hayes, MD

Kent Hackman PhD

Ahmad Ck Kutty, MD

Eva Simon,LCMHC

 Merle Edwards-Orr, MSW, PhD

Jean Shappee, MA

 Julia Doucet, RN

James Fieseher MD PNAP

Jennette Fisher, LCSW

Kim Kurak D.O. Fam Physican

Ken Dolkart, MD

Phil Prothero. LC MHC

Sarah Blessum. LCMHC

Noah Jacobson- Goodhue, LICSW

Miriam O. Sofsky, PhD

Robert Spottswood, MA LCMHC

Eliza Polli, PSYD. Hanover NH

Hetty Thomas MA

Elisabeth Gardner, LCMHC

Madeleine Pluhar LICSW

Sharon L. Goedkoopm LICSW, PLLC

Terri Mayer Thomsen LADC

Robert Kuefner, MD

Patricia Clancy MD

Amanda Fortin, MA LCMHC

Richatd Katzman, MD

Jason Kelley,MD

Deborah Richter MD

Mark Scura MD.

Oglesbury Young, MD FACOG

Doris Hampton, MSW

BJ Entwisle, MD

Richard Nelson, MDH

Margaret Meyer ,NP

Richard Nelson, MD

Lisa Patterson, MD FACS

 Patricia Edwards MN FAAP

Meredith Milligan MD MPH

Paril Dorman Hall , RN

Jessica Doos, RN

Barbara Walker, MD

Daniel M. DaPolito, OD

Diane A. DaPolito, OD

Anne Wallace, MSW

Ted Cody, ScD, MD

Ruth Cody, Pac

Cathy Munteanu, PT

Joanne Sandberg-Cook, MSW,RN

David Conway, MD

Sara Riordan,RN

Martha Gilman,DO

Christine Staats,MD

Joanne Goodrich,APRN

Natasha Chang,MS,LCMHC

Emily Thurber,LCMHC

John Conway,MD,FAAP, US Army retired

Nancy Wilson,APRN

Sara Ecker,LCMHC

Mildred LaFontaine,MD

Brad Armstrong,MD

Erica Makar,MD,DHMC

Betty Keller, MD

George Blike,MD, MHCDS

Rebecca Johnson,MD

Kathleen Duemling,MD

Lynn Carpenter,DHA,MHA,NHA

Dominic F. Geffken,MD,MPH

Mary Kae Eckert,MD

Annie Schrader, psychiatric nurse

Jessica Lindert,MS PMH-NP

Carolyn Gillis,LICSW

Caroline Nickerson,LICSW

Amy Martel,MD

Kate Schmitt

Tori Hovde

Marian Greenberg, LICSW

John Hartmann, M.D.

Virginia Logan, MA

Bob House, MD

John B Garrity LMSW

Dave Coppock SAR 1st Responder

Kathleen Guinness

Robert Venman, M.D.

Rebecca Burton, LMFT

Judith Brown

Morris Earle MD

Alan Homans MD

Lise Anderson, MPH

Rachel Guy, FNP

Winifred Thomas MSW

Megan Worthington, RN

Vincent J. Merluzzi, Ph.D

Joanne Calvi, RN

Callan Janowiec, NP

Kathy Jacobs, PA

Lynn M. Luginbuhl, MD

Margaret Olson

Ron Slabaugh

Kate Donovan, DNP, CNM

Stephen M. Koller MD FACR

John McPartland, DO

Heather kidde

Susan Murray MD

Michael Seaton, MD

Julie Porteous, RN

Dr. Barbara Walker

Lucy McKeon MD

Theresa Gleason, MSW

Richard S Hopkins, MD, MSPH

Sarah Tully, PA

Ahmed CK Kutty MD

Penelope S. Markle, RN, MSN, Med

Judith English LICSW

Hilary Hatch, RN

Deborah Wachtel, DNP, MPH, APRN

Mary Gill, RN

Janice Stearns

Korri Wass, RN

Grace McGrath

Kristin Mitchell, LCSW

Thomas A. Golper, MD

Christine Burgess

Emma Burgess-Dunn

Sophie Burgess-Dunn

Fred Portnoy

Lyn S Lindpaintner MD

Bronwen Ballou, LICSW

Katherine Allen, MA, LMFT

Kent Hackmann, Ph.D.

Carolyn Carey M.A.

Kay Hillinger , MD

Janet Perkins-Howland, MD

Francisco J. Corbalan, MD

Daniel Barlow

Claire Lindberg, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, ANP-BC

Teal Church, MSN

Rachel Foxx, RN

Michael Popovitch RT (R) UVMMC

Mark Yorra MD

Alysha Clifford RN

Clare doyle RN

Mary Saudade

Maya Schnell, RT

Sandra McLaughlin RN

Allan Ramsay, MD

Donald Weinberg, MD, FACP

Theresa L. Ojala, RN, MSN

Amy Lovett

Eisha Lichtenstein, RN

Deb Snell, RN CCRN

Kim England , MLS(ASCP)

Jennifer Long, BSN, RN, AMB-BC

Jason Kirchick, MPH, MSN, RN, CNL

Jessica Kilpatrick, RN

John Beattie, M.A.