Waterville Elementary School kids last week line up in the school parking lot to pay a visit to the dentists on board Flo, the new mobile dental unit recently introduced by Lamoille Health Partners. Photo by Gordon Miller/News & CitizenThe chief executive officer of Lamoille Health Partners Stuart May “parted terms” with the nonprofit health provider two weeks ago, its board chair said Wednesday.
“There was no dramatic event,” said Susan Bartlett, a former state senator from Hyde Park who now chairs the Lamoille Health board of directors. “We had all agreed it was time.”
Lamoille Health Partners offers primary care, pediatric care, treatment for mental health and substance use disorders, as well as dentistry to around 19,000 people with locations in Stowe, Morrisville and Cambridge.
The organization is one of 11 community health centers—also called Federally Qualified Health Centers — in Vermont, and the only one in Lamoille County. This designation provides them special support from the federal government and requires them to provide services on a sliding scale depending on a patient’s ability to pay.
May’s departure was timed to roughly coincide with the start of the nonprofit’s fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, Bartlett said. Now, the organization is seeking a chief financial officer, who would help guide the search for other new leadership, she said.
Bartlett said the temporarily vacant positions are not affecting operations, as current staff and board members are able to stand in until those roles are filled.
May had led the organization since March 2020 and previously worked as a consultant for a short time in the role of chief financial officer. His decision to leave the top job was prompted by wanting to slow down the pace of his life, he said.
“At some point you have to take a step back and just realize there is more than just your career,” said May, who plans to return to consulting work with more control over his hours and workload.
His time with Lamoille Health Partners was one of change and challenge for the organization.
Less than a year into his tenure, the organization — previously called Community Health Services of Lamoille County — rebranded. The following year, in June 2022, the health center incurred a data breach followed by a class action lawsuit by affected patients, which it settled this spring for $540,000.
Last year, Lamoille Health started its own in-house retail pharmacy to support patients. It expanded by purchasing a primary care office in Cambridge and received a $495,000 federal earmark through Sen. Bernie Sanders to develop a statewide family medicine residency program in collaboration with other Vermont community health centers. It also launched urgent care walk-in capacity at clinics in Stowe and Morrisville as well as a mobile dental van to provide preventative services at Lamoille County schools.
May said he was proud of his staff for accomplishing this expansion of service for patients, adding that Lamoille Health was found by in the top 30% of community health centers in the country in terms of clinical quality or better by a federal agency over the past three years.
Bartlett credited May with his leadership during that period. “Stu did many wonderful things for the organization,” she said.