BRATTLEBORO — Town government, the Brattleboro Police Department, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, other entities in town, and Brattleboro-area residents have identified a set of individuals who have offered exceptional services to our area during this challenging COVID-19 period, but who have been inadequately recognized for their outstanding efforts.
Compassionate Brattleboro has decided to recognize these people with the COVID Period Unsung Heroes award.
“A common thread in submissions to Compassionate Brattleboro from town entities has been the acknowledgment that these Unsung Heroes are but a few of the very large number of individuals in our area who have extended themselves immeasurably to help us all get through this particularly difficult period,” the organization stated in a news release.
Given the inability to recognize these heroes in person, each will receive a special certificate of appreciation from Compassionate Brattleboro.
In town government
• Calista Carbonell, who is helping to assure that town actions are clearly communicated to the public, to assure that resources from the state and from CDC are made readily available, and who capably managed accounts payable even when the Finance Department was short-handed.
• Patrick Moreland, who assured that this year's Annual Representative Town Meeting, necessarily on Zoom, was secure and effectively managed.
• Sally Nix, who has been tireless in assuring that town employees and their families (and especially those with young children) are fully supported.
• Employees at the Recreation & Parks Department, who have effectively created new ways of providing essential services during the crisis.
• Starr LaTronica and her extraordinary staff at the Brooks Memorial Library (also named by multiple residents), who have adapted to COVID with the most creative programs and systems and have helped to maintain the quality of life in our community.
Brattleboro Police
• Chief Dispatcher Wayne Stires, who has managed to maintain and coordinate communications and emergency services 24/7 while modifying response and dispatching protocols, keeping the staff informed of potentially dangerous situations and offering calm reassurance to more isolated residents.
• Lt. Bob Perkins, who was instrumental in creating policies and procedures in response to the pandemic, and is ensuring the continuing availability of staff to respond to calls at all hours.
• Office Manager Virginia “Ginny” Yager, who has continually anticipated needs and located necessary resources to ensure the safety of our residents and of Department personnel.
Brattleboro Memorial Hospital
• Marc-Olivier Ratte, MD, who serves in a leadership capacity for the BMH Medical Group and is actively involved in decision-making involving the care of COVID patients on an outpatient basis.
• Jon Harris, NP, who has been responsible for ordering COVID tests for BMH Medical Group patients, has been providing care for outpatients suspected of being positive for COVID 19 -particularly those without a primary care provider, and has been working from the outset of the pandemic to identify and fill gaps in care for patients most in need.
• John Todd, APRN, who has been a champion of telehealth services at BMH, and has been leading his colleagues in implementing this new medium of care delivery to ensure patient access and safety during the pandemic.
• Jennifer Funaioli-Sheehan, DO, who serves as Medical Director of the BMH Medical Group as well as the Medical Director for local nursing homes and assisted living facilities and has been taking the lead in assuring that all nursing homes in the Brattleboro area are COVID-free.
• Kathleen McGraw, MD, who, in her work with the Medical Staff has been instrumental in implementing rigorous infection prevention protocols throughout the hospital, and who, as Chief Medical Officer at BMH, established and has been overseeing new policies and procedures to ensure the safety of both staff and patients during the pandemic.
Brattleboro Food Co-op
• Bernard Jacobs, a member of the kitchen crew, who has participated from the outset of the crisis in distributing curbside orders to waiting vehicles and has been reassuring customers with his ever-cheerful attitude.
• Craig Bills, a cook and commissary buyer who now has been calmly and kindly assisting customers on the curbside phone order line.
• Jaci Reynolds, the Co-op's Front End Manager whose cheerful and tireless attention to necessary COVID period adjustments has been much appreciated,
Market 32/Price Chopper
• Becky Menard, a 30-year veteran with Price Chopper who, at the beginning of the pandemic was present well before the store opened to prepare the deli department for the store's 6 a.m. senior hour.
Heroes recognized by area residents
• Erin Maile O'Keefe, who, at the outset of the pandemic, spearheaded the neighbor-to-neighbor Brattleboro Area Mutual Aid program, launched Open Artful Streets (which rolled out the first of many “Handy Stations” to promote community health, revitalize our downtown and employ local artists), and helped to establish “hand washing stations” - unique art installations with local musicians providing 20-second recorded jingles.
• Ruth Tilghman, who as leader of Loaves and Fishes, has assured that the vulnerable members of our community continue to have their food needs met, and who, during the month of August alone, facilitated the preparation and distribution of 1,857 meals.
• Susan Slowinski, who, both in her clinic and at BMH has been providing remarkable services, and much needed support to children and their families during COVID.
• Christine Colascione, who, as the Coordinator of Foodworks, and a strong advocate for Brattleboro's most in-need, has been working tirelessly during the pandemic, and with only a small, part-time staff, to ensure that her shoppers have safe access to food and are served equitably, both at Foodworks and through a volunteer-based home delivery system.
Compassionate Brattleboro was formed after the town voted, in 2017, to join the international Charter for Compassion.
The group says its mission is “to raise community awareness about the meaning of compassion in our lives, and ways in which compassion can influence the town's government, the organizations and institutions within the town, and - most important - among the town's citizens in our daily lives and interactions with others.”