News

Despite the forecast, we had magnificent weather for our second annual Make Tracks for Health XC ski/snowshoe event at the Nordic Center at Stratton on March 1. More than $4,000 was raised for the construction of Grace Cottage’s new primary care clinic, thanks to more than 25 participants and our generous sponsors:  Harmonyville Store, M&T Bank, Rawsonville Market, Solstice at Stratton. Stratton Resort, Wadsworth Design/Build & Vermont Barns, and James A. Young, Counselor at Law.

The youngest Make Tracks participant got helping hands from her father and mother, Grace Cottage’s pediatric nurse practitioner, Mandy Lindsey.

The month of May is just around the corner, so we invite you to sign up now for Grace Cottage’s 16^th Annual Spring into Health 5K on Saturday, May 10th. Starting and ending on the Townshend Common, this 5K is a great way to get moving and to have a lot of fun. Participants are welcome to run, walk, roll, or stroll; Dr. Moss Linder will be the master-of-ceremonies again this year. Registration is free for kids age 18 and under, and $20 for adults. Click here to register online. Free T-shirts will be given to the first 100 registrants and, if you prefer, you can register and participate virtually at a time, date, and place of your choice.

We invite you to join us on Saturday, June 7 at Haystack Golf Club in Wilmington, Vermont for our 16^th Annual Tee It Up for Health golf benefit. We have many returning teams again this year, but we still have room for more teams and/or individual golfers. Call (802) 365-9109 or click here to register online – registration includes greens fees, cart, golf balls, a box lunch, snacks, a logo gift and the awards dinner. All proceeds from the event will benefit the construction of our new primary care clinic.

Fundraising for the project continues, and thanks to many generous pledges and donations, we have raised $12,568,830.32 to date for the $21M project. Every penny is counted and makes a difference. For more information about the clinic project and our Campaign for the Future, click here.

We will miss her smiling face and her positive, sunny disposition but, after 28 years at Grace Cottage, Andrea Seaton will be retiring on April 4. As the Senior Director of Development, Marketing, and Community Relations and Executive Director of Grace Cottage Foundation, Andrea has been the public face of Grace Cottage since 1997, helping to raise over $40 million, with over 43,600 individual donations and pledges received during this time. As she always insists, Grace Cottage has so many supporters because employees provide such excellent patient care, and she’s just been “making the ask” but, as one donor said, “When Andrea asks for something on behalf of Grace Cottage, it’s impossible to say ‘no’ because she cares so deeply!”

In tribute to Andrea’s dedication and devotion to Grace Cottage, we have established the Andrea Seaton Fund. All donations to this Fund will be put toward the construction of the new primary care clinic, a project about which she is extremely passionate. Click here if you would like to contribute to this fund and type her name in the note field. You will receive an acknowledgment letter from us and a phone call of thanks from Andrea, even after she has retired!

“I am so very blessed to have been a part of the unique and special place that Grace Cottage is,” said Andrea. “Employees, volunteers, donors, and community members help to nurture and sustain this small, rural hospital in such a wide variety of ways. When I gave notice in December 2023 of my intention to retire in April 2025, I had no idea that the intervening 16 months would pass so quickly! I will miss everyone with whom I’ve interacted over the years, but I leave knowing that Grace Cottage Family Health & Hospital and Grace Cottage Foundation are in excellent hands!”

I’d like to bring to your attention an important column that our Grace Cottage Emergency Department Physician Assistant Phil Schafer recently wrote for our Graceful Health column in The Brattleboro Reformer. Click here to read “Be a Hero in 60 seconds: The Power of Bystander CPR,” to learn how to double or even triple a person’s chance of survival.