Retreat Healthcare Named Corporate Citizen of the Year, 2003

Brattleboro, VT—Retreat Healthcare was named the Corporate Citizen of the Year for 2003 by the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce. The psychiatric and addictions treatment center was noted for its outstanding contributions to the area, which were articulated as follows by Tim Copeland, Executive Director for the Chamber:

CORPORATE CITIZEN OF THE YEAR

And now I present our Corporate Citizen of the Year.

When we were reviewing candidates for this award, one of the questions I asked myself was could I imagine a Brattleboro without this organization? While I think there are a handful of organizations about which the answer to that question would be no, it is most true of this year’s honoree.

That makes it challenging to do justice to the organization in a short presentation without understating its impact. I will do my best.

Let me start with the organization’s many charitable and civic contributions to the Brattleboro area. It is annually one of the top three or four corporate contributors to the United Way of Windham County. The organization also supports other worthy causes including the humane society, Brattleboro Area Hospice and Brooks Memorial Library. It a co-sponsor of the Wellness in Windham County series. As a provider of health care services, the organization annually provides care services for which it receives no compensation, measured in the seven figures.

Employees of this organization also give generously of their time and expertise to a variety of organizations that benefit our community, including:

Windham Child care
Board of Directors of St. Michael’s School
The big brother/big sister program
The United Way of W.C.
BUHS school Board
Not to mention the chamber

The organization also has a demonstrated commitment to education, including:

An extensive continuing education program that annually benefits thousands of health professionals
public outreach health awareness seminars and events, including a film festival and discussion series and an art exhibit at the Hooker Dunham gallery
It serves as a practicum site for several college and university programs, including the Universities of Massachusetts and Connecticut, Antioch College and Smith College of Social Work
Its child care center is the largest in Windham County, serving seventy children. The organization is Brattleboro’s only employer that provides employees’ with on-site subsidized child care

I would be remiss not to touch upon the organization’s economic contributions to our community

A recent report by an independent research firm described the organization as one of the “engines” of our local economy. Its contributions include

More than 400 jobs
Nearly $20 million annually in payroll and benefits
To quote the same report: the organization “also contributes to a diversity of job types within the region’s economy. This diversity of employment opportunities enriches the region’s communities more so than that of an enterprise with only one predominant job type.”
In addition to the over 400 jobs directly provided by the organization, it is estimated that the economic activity it generates is responsible for creating another nearly 300 jobs.

But direct financial contributions are only the tip of the iceberg. I would venture to guess that there isn’t anyone in this room that hasn’t benefited at one point or another from this organization’s generosity in welcoming the community to enjoy its land and facilities, whether it be attending a conference, skating on the meadows, hiking or cross country skiing on its trails, gazing from the heights of its tower or any number of other activities.

Over the years this organization’s commitment to its original mission has remained steadfast. However, the ways in which it meets that commitment have changed a great deal, and that meant that continuing to hold many of the lands and facilities that so benefited the community was not as compatible with the organization’s core mission as it used to be, and indeed became a financial challenge to the organization.

That could have meant the end of the community’s ability to enjoy access to those lands and facilities, but thanks to this organization’s dedication, it wasn’t.

And so, there are public trail easements over more than 120 acres of lands in Brattleboro that will continue to be available for hiking and cross country skiing.

There are perpetual recreational easements on lands surrounding the Retreat Tower for the benefit of the public and residents of Chestnut Hill . . .

The organization’s dairy farm was sold to the Windham Foundation, who conveyed the development rights to the Vermont land trust, and, in a move that will preserve the farm’s architectural character in perpetuity, architectural easements were conveyed to the Vermont preservation trust.

In sum, for more than a century and a half this organization has given generously of its expertise, its world class professionals its heart, its time and its facilities for the community’s benefit.

The Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce congratulates the Brattleboro Retreat, our corporate citizen of the year. We also salute the Retreat’s 400 plus employees, and are pleased to see some of them in attendance tonight, including

Rick Palmisano
Pat Perfetto
Kathy Brooks
Maria Basescu
Bob Soucy

Please come forward to accept the award.

Please join me in congratulating the Brattleboro Retreat.

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Retreat Healthcare, founded in 1834 as the Brattleboro Retreat, is a not-for-profit, regional specialty psychiatric hospital and addictions treatment center, providing a full range of diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitation services for individuals of all ages and their families.

Retreat Healthcare offers a high-quality, individualized, comprehensive continuum of care, including: inpatient treatment; acute, short-term stabilization, individualized treatment and discharge planning, partial hospitalization, residential care for children ages 6-13 and for adolescents, an outpatient clinic, an intensive outpatient day and evening addictions program for adults, alternative schools, an extensive continuing education program for mental health professionals, and a managed service organization. Retreat Healthcare offers the region’s most comprehensive team of psychiatric and addictions specialists, and a high ratio of clinical staff to patients.

Nationally recognized for its premiere treatment in behavioral healthcare, Retreat Healthcare is a member of the Ivy League Hospitals Network, and is accredited by numerous state and national organizations, including the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

For more information call 1-800-RETREAT or visit www.retreathealthcare.org.