2025 Nursing Annual Report
Steve Leffler
Chief Executive Officer
Dear UVM Medical Center nurses,
I worked in the emergency department for a long time, and every day I got to witness the amazing things nurses are capable of.
When a patient comes in and nobody knows yet what is wrong, when the family is scared and everything is happening quickly, the nurse is often the steadiest presence in the room. I watched that hundreds of times. It never stopped impressing me.
The same skill shows up everywhere in this hospital. At the bedside, in the clinics, in the operating room, in education, in the quiet work of making our practices better.
This is a hard year, with tremendous change happening across our organization. Through it all, you continue to care for our patients and each other with exceptional dedication and professionalism – improving quality and safety, adapting care to meet new demands, looking out for each other and speaking up if something wasn't right. That last one takes more courage than people give it credit for, and I am grateful every time.
What strikes me most is that you are constantly striving to improve the care we deliver, with everything else that is going on. You learn, you teach, you try new things, and you stay focused on the people in front of you.
Thank you. For your expertise, for your grit and for the kind of care that makes a frightening day for our patients a little less scary. I am proud to serve this hospital and our communities alongside you.