From the moment the EMTs arrived to deal with a brain-fogged, feverish lump — the best I could do at that moment — until my arrival back home four days later after treatment for COVID/pneumonia — the treatment I’ve received from the healthcare personnel in Middlebury has been as good as it gets.

Gratitude goes to the researchers (many now fired) who created the anti-viral Remdesivir treatment, and I am deeply grateful to the systems and staff of Porter Hospital. Not only was my recovery accelerated by the skilled kindness of the staff, but the staff’s work was enhanced by their generous, caring, respectful treatment of each other. Yet they are stressed by the threat of reduced Medicaid payments scheduled for next year that could put our hospital out of business.

Faraway issues may consume us, but without strong, local support, a lot more of us will also be out of business. We have a year to get behind this community gem in a way that could be meaningful enough to ensure its survival. My stay there brought home the crucial need for a local hospital like this, and a desire to participate in its salvation. Like most of us, I have come to depend on others to swoop in with a plan when things begin to fall apart, I and realize how rusty I am at herculean tasks like this. This letter is to express my gratitude but is also a petition for thoughts about how we can do this. I’m ready to put my shoulder to the wheel. There is no cavalry to save us.

Ann Anderson Evans

Middlebury