Leffler Explains Need for UVMMC Expansion Planning in WCAX Interview
Stephen Leffler, M.D.’90, president and chief operating officer of the UVM Medical Center and professor of emergency medicine at the Larner College of Medicine, spoke with WCAX-TV about the UVM Medical Center’s need to plan for future growth.
“Chittenden County’s population is growing,” Leffler said. “One of the few areas in Vermont that’s getting bigger, and Vermont as a state is getting older. Chittenden County is actually getting quite a bit older.”
The state’s only level-one trauma center currently has 481 inpatient beds. They are projecting they will need 242 additional beds 10 years from now and are now asking for assurances in a new memorandum of understanding [MOU] with the city of Burlington to allow them to build higher and add significant parking—more than 800 spaces.
“If you think 10 years from now, we have to start planning that work now and the MOU gives us assurances that we’d be able to design it in a way that would work for Vermonters,” Leffler said.