Community Health Centers of Burlington (CHCB) is home to over 320 staff members, across eight different locations, serving 30,000 patients annually. The mission of CHCB is to improve the health of all those who live in the communities we serve, and, as with most things, it is all in the delivery. This series is produced by former CHCB nurse and current Board member Beth Reilly, to chronicle the many different people who make up the fabric of CHCB, and stitch together the variety of paths, passions, and experiences of those who rise to the occasion, each day, to provide outstanding health care for our community.

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Scott McFarland joined CHCB in 2018 initially as a temp, but quickly transitioned to a full time employee in Patient Services at Riverside. Most recently, Scott became Lead Patient Services Representative, overseeing daily operations at CHCB’s Riverside, Safe Harbor, and Pearl Street locations. With a background in emergency services, Scott was drawn to CHCB as a workplace as it provides a way for him to continue to serve and support his local community, as well as work with an organization “where everyone does not just work here, they want to be here.”

Growing up in Scarborough, Maine, Scott fell in love with Vermont after attending St. Michael’s College and ultimately decided to live here after graduation. Scott likes to stay active outside of work and enjoys all games “video, board, and lawn.” He also trains as an endurance athlete, participating in obstacle courses such as “Spartan” races. Scott spends time watching foreign media, studying ancient mythology and “making terrible jokes at every possible opportunity.”

As Lead Patient Services Representative, Scott is typically based out of the Riverside Health Center; however, he reports “traveling around to wherever I am needed for the day.” Over the years, Scott has worked at both Medical and Dental front desks at Riverside, as well as Safe Harbor, Pearl Street, Good Health, and at our off-site vaccination clinics in Grande Isle. This patient-facing position is one that, according to Scott, requires much more than just checking patients in-and-out of their appointments. “We schedule appointments, handle patients’ paperwork, assist with bills and insurance authorizations, and whatever else a patient wants to ask us about when they come in,” he shares. As the Lead, Scott is often called upon to help sort out unusual patient requests or challenging situations.

When asked what brings him to work each day, Scott has two reasons: One is the “sense of duty” and ability to help people in their time of need; secondly are his coworkers, who he describes as “a fun loving, tight knit group that is always ready and willing to help each other with work, and crack a joke when things are getting too serious.” Scott is extremely proud of how his CHCB colleagues handled the Covid-19 pandemic. “We stayed open to provide care in the most critical of times and continued to help from the first shut down all the way to vaccinations. I could not be more proud to work with everyone here”.

Upon reflection of CHCB’s Mission statement, “Community Health Centers of Burlington (CHCB) improves the health of ALL within the communities we serve”, Scott concludes:

“This mission statement resonates very strongly with me. Medicine and wellness do not belong to any one person, one class, or one community. Every single human on this planet is a person first, no exceptions. I have made it my life’s duty to help all persons in need, both in and out of my career. Wellness goes far beyond medical care…and we as humans have a duty to help foster that wherever we go.”

Please welcome Drs. Jessica Hutchins, Reimy Evangelista De Leon and Maggie Graham to CHCB!

Jessica Hutchins, DDS joined our dental team at the Riverside Dental Center earlier this year. She received her undergraduate degree in chemistry from Reed College and worked in biochemical research at Shriners Hospitals for Children for several years before pursuing dentistry. She graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry in 2016 and has since practiced as a general dentist in St. Albans and Essex Junction. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family, working on home projects and training for triathlons.

Reimy Evangelista De Leon, DDS just joined CHCB’s dental team last week, and will be splitting his time between the Riverside and South End Dental Centers. He is a second-generation dentist who was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. At a young age, Dr. Evangelista became aware of the extreme need for quality dental care that several populations lack. He started his dental career in 2008 as a Certified Dental Assistant in the Dominican Republic. The following year, he became a Registered Dental Hygienist. In 2015, Dr. Evangelista obtained his degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) at Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) and completed his Post-Doctoral education in Orofacial pain at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts in 2020. Dr. Evangelista’s experience included general dentistry in both public and private practices, working in academic settings as an orofacial pain provider at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, and serving as a teaching assistant for the Dental Sleep Medicine and Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology department. Dr. Evangelista has completed several presentations and research papers over the years, the most recent being at the International Association of Dental Research (IADR) in 2019 and Archives of Clinical Case Studies; Myofascial TMD, Multifactorial Ethiology with Multidisciplinary Approach in 2020.

Maggie Graham, MD is the newest addition to CHCB’s medical team and is accepting new patients at the Riverside Health Center. She was born and raised Des Moines, Iowa and received her BA in Women’s Studies and MS in Epidemiology at the University of Iowa before moving to Vermont to attend medical school. She completed her residency in Family Medicine at the UVM Medical Center in 2021 and is excited to be part of the team at CHCB. Her interests in medicine include LGBTQ+ medicine, especially transgender health /gender affirming care, women’s health, medication assisted treatment for substance use disorders, pediatric and adolescent health, as well as general adult medicine. She is thrilled to be able to help run CHCB’s specialized services for LGBTQ+ patients. Maggie believes developing therapeutic relationships with her patients is the best part of being a primary care provider. Outside of medicine, she enjoys spending time with her family, including her three children, exploring the outdoors in Vermont, running, and reading.

CHCB is delighted to welcome Noma B. Anderson, PhD to our Board of Directors! Dr. Anderson is the dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Vermont.  Prior to joining UVM, she served as special advisor to the University of Tennessee System President on Diversity and Inclusion and as former professor in the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology in the College of Health Professions at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), where she also served as dean of the College of Health Professions.  Prior to arriving to the University of Tennessee, she was a professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Florida International University (FIU) and former dean of the School of Health Sciences.  Dr. Anderson was on the faculty in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and chaired that department for ten years. She has also been on the faculty at Hampton University. She received her B.A. degree from Hampton Institute (VA), her M.S. degree from Emerson College (Boston MA), and her Ph.D. degree from the University of Pittsburgh (PA).  She began her clinical career at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and was also employed as Supervisor for Speech, Language and Hearing for Pittsburgh Head Start.  Dr. Anderson’s professional areas of expertise are in multicultural aspects of communication sciences and disorders, health and educational disparities, language acquisition, and childhood language disorders.

As of Tuesday, July 6, a third party service, Night Nurse, will be triaging after hours patient calls. Our Riverside, South End, Safe Harbor, Champlain Islands and Pearl Street Youth Health Centers will be the first to transition, with GoodHEALTH and Winooski Family Health continuing to utilize their existing on-call services for a few more months. Please continue to call your specific health center location when you need to reach someone outside of our regular business hours, and you will be connected to a Registered Nurse licensed in Vermont and experienced working with Federally Qualified Health Centers like CHCB. They will help assess your situation to streamline the best next steps to meet your needs from there.

All CHCB locations will be closed on Monday, July 5, in observance of Independence Day. Our on-call nurse/provider will be available for any urgent needs by calling your specific health center location. Have a safe and healthy holiday weekend!