Grace Cottage Hospital CEO Olivia Sweetnam

Grace Cottage Hospital in Townsend is the smallest hospital in Vermont. It’s operating in the red, like many hospitals in our region. But its administrators have big plans for its future, like constructing a brand new clinic.

We're joined by Grace Cottage CEO Olivia Sweetnam. The hospital she runs is unique for many reasons. Some of its doctors have worked there for decades. It’s one of the smallest hospitals not just in Vermont, but in the whole country. And it’s building a new family clinic by relying heavily on philanthropic support.

Grace Cottage also faces challenges that any rural hospital administrator would recognize. To put Grace Cottage’s situation in perspective, we talk with a medical professor at the University of Vermont, Erika Ziller. She’s researching how to improve rural health care in the state.