When Michael Ewell started playing bingo at the University of Vermont Medical Center, his wife, Melissa, could see the fog around him beginning to lift.
Michael, 73, who has multiple sclerosis and a history of neurological problems, had spent weeks in the Burlington hospital as 2024 gave way to 2025 following episodes that left him barely responsive. At times, he struggled to speak, eat or walk. Doctors eventually determined that he no longer needed acute neurological care, but Melissa, who is 74, was unable to safely care for him at their home in St. Albans. He would need somewhere else to go while the couple waited for an opening at a long-term care facility.
A general medicine unit that specializes in geriatric care in the UVM hospital offered a temporary yet vital solution. Nurses there encouraged Michael to get out of bed, walk down the hall and join other patients in the floor’s popular activity room. Melissa began to recognize the spirited husband she knew. He started reading magazines, playing games and talking with her again.
Melissa remembers leaving each evening for the 45-minute drive home, confident that her husband had the care he needed.
Now, facing orders to cut costs, University of Vermont Health plans to close the five-bed unit that helped Michael recover.
The closure is part of a broader restructuring announced by UVM Health last month that will affect 199 staff positions, including 118 at UVM Medical Center. The largest cuts involve closing a 30-bed general medical unit and the program where Michael received care, which serves older patients who no longer need acute treatment but cannot yet safely leave the hospital. Both are expected to close by month’s end. To soften the blow, UVM Health plans to create 55 roles, leaving a net reduction of 144 positions, and projects annual savings of $16.8 million.
Administrators say patients will receive the same quality care elsewhere in the medical center. But some nurses and families question whether the hospital can replicate the specialized attention, comfortable routines and assistance finding long-term care provided by the units that are closing.
For families such as the Ewells, the concern is whether the hospital can preserve the specialized care that helped Michael recover.
“What on Earth would we have done if that program wasn’t available?” Melissa asked.
The two programs slated for closure serve different purposes.
What on earth would we have done if that program wasn’t available?
melissa ewell
The general medical floor, known as Baird 3, treats conditions ranging from respiratory illnesses to alcohol withdrawal. Its patients include people with dementia, unstable housing or behavioral challenges that complicate their care.
One nurse on Baird 3, who requested anonymity for fear of professional repercussions, said the unit often relieved pressure on the crowded emergency department. She fears eliminating the beds there will leave patients waiting longer for admission.
The separate, alternative-care program where Michael Ewell stayed, known as “the pod,” occupied part of a different floor. It served patients who weren’t ready to return home.
Heather LaRock, a nurse on the pod, said many patients had Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. Others came from homes where relatives had become overwhelmed by caregiving or from assisted-living facilities that could no longer manage the behavior caused by disease. Some patients had no safe home to return to at all.
The pod’s staff included geriatric specialists, nurses, aides, an activities director and case managers. They helped patients dress, eat and establish daily routines, including communal meals, music and bingo. The routines prepared some patients for the structure of long-term care.
LaRock praised the care that nurses provide on other floors but is concerned they won’t have the time to meet the specialized needs of geriatric patients while busy treating patients with more acute conditions.
“My biggest worry is for the population we serve,” she said.
The proposed changes also trouble staff on other floors likely to receive the relocated patients. At a press conference outside the hospital last month, nursing assistant Saer McCliment said administrators had told staff to expect patients from the closing units. The press conference was organized by AFT Vermont, the union representing nurses and other health care workers. McCliment, a unit secretary, described persistent staffing shortages and questioned how the hospital would accommodate the additional workload.
“Closing these units does not make the work disappear,” McCliment said. “It shifts the burden onto other units that are already being stretched thin.”
Closing these units does not make the work disappear. It shifts the burden onto other units that are already being stretched thin.
saer mccliment
Hospital leaders say employees affected by the cuts can apply to other positions within the organization. Sandy Greene, 52, a nursing assistant on Baird 3, is seeking reassignment but doesn’t yet know if she will land a spot. She fears a layoff could also cost her UVM-affiliated housing in South Burlington, which is contingent on her full-time employment at the medical center. Those whose positions are eliminated will remain employed for a 45-day transition period, with severance available to eligible workers who don’t find another role.
Sarah Hoffman, the medical center’s associate chief nursing officer and vice president of nursing operations, said hospital leaders decided to close the units and make other cuts after reviewing data that included patient volumes and bed use.
The average number of hospitalized patients each day has declined across the medical center over several years even as admissions have remained relatively steady, she said. Patients are generally spending less time in the hospital, leaving beds unused across multiple floors. Hoffman said administrators track readmissions to ensure that shorter stays aren’t compromising care. The medical center’s rate of readmissions within 30 days is lower than the national standard, she said.
“We’re not changing the number of patients that we intend to see or that we are prepared to see,” Hoffman said. “We’re simply reducing the size of our footprint.”
The two units will close to patients, leaving their hallways quiet and beds empty. But the hospital plans to keep the spaces ready to reopen if demand surges, Hoffman said. Patients who would have gone to Baird 3 could instead receive care on other floors where Hoffman said the hospital will increase staffing to accommodate more patients in beds that are currently unused.
The alternative-care pod, meanwhile, had struggled for at least six months to fill its available space with patients, according to Hoffman. It had five beds at the time of the announcement and has begun winding down admissions ahead of the shutdown.
The closures come as an independent liaison directed UVM Health to reduce expenses by $300 million over the next three years, partly because of budget cuts required by the Green Mountain Care Board, the state’s health care regulator.
“The reality is that we can’t meet our expense-reduction mandates without reducing our workforce,” Dr. Stephen Leffler, chief executive officer of UVM Health, wrote in an internal announcement to staff about the cuts.
Hoffman estimated that planned consolidation at the medical center would save roughly $1 million annually in reduced operating expenses. She does not expect the closures to accelerate patient discharges or lengthen emergency department waits. Doctors will continue to decide when patients are ready to leave, while administrators monitor wait times, hospital stays and readmissions.
Case management services will also remain available, Hoffman said, but recreational activities such as the bingo games Michael Ewell enjoyed could be lost, along with the dedicated space.
For Melissa Ewell, the distinction between keeping medical services available and preserving a specialized program matters. After several weeks in the pod, Michael transferred to a Burlington nursing home. He slowly improved over the course of a month in the facility, owing partly to changes in his medication that allowed him to go home in February 2025.
Melissa credits the hospital staff on the alternative-care unit with helping him regain enough strength and awareness to make that possible. Bingo alone didn’t restore his health. But she watched nurses and activity staff draw him back into everyday life when his prospects looked bleak.
Michael’s condition has since declined again. Melissa, a retired music teacher, remains his primary caregiver at their home. The couple cannot afford extensive private assistance, and she expects he may eventually need another nursing-home placement.
The cuts have left her uneasy about her own care as well as Michael’s. Melissa has considered leaving a private practice for a specialist at the medical center but now fears that doctor’s position could also be cut, leaving her in the lurch.
“I can’t afford not to trust the system,” she said, “because unfortunately I need the system.”
For now, Melissa leans on hope that the hospital will make good on its promise of continued care. She remembers how uncertain Michael’s future seemed when he arrived at the pod and his improvement over the weeks that followed.
If he ever needs the hospital again, she hopes to be able to make the drive home to St. Albans with the same confidence she felt then. ➆
The original print version of this article was headlined “Bed Check | As UVM Medical Center closes two units, some nurses and families fear vulnerable patients will lose specialized care”
This article appears in October 14 • 2026.
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