06-05-2025
Housing and healthcare connection highlighted in Winooski
WINOOSKI, Vt (ABC22/FOX44) – UVM health network and Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity are teaming up to show the connection between housing and healthcare in Vermont communities.
A soon-to-be-completed three family home on Hall st. in Winooski will help house Vermont's most vulnerable, and it's all thanks to a partnership between the two groups.
'Housing is a key aspect of our patient wellness,' says Maureen Leahy, volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and director of network department psychiatry at UVM Medical Center.
She says patients who have secure housing have a significantly better ability to manage wellness and handle illness.
'Our contribution to housing in our local communities is a direct contribution to our patients wellness,' says Leahy.
Once complete, volunteer manager Caitlyn Conibear says the energy efficient units will house three partner families.
'They'll get to come in, see what it takes to build a home, and then live in a new, healthy home,' Conibear explains.
The project is slated to wrap up by mid-June.
Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity will host more of what they've dubbed 'Wellness Builds' throughout the summer and into the fall – and they're inviting health network employees to join them in getting their hands dirty.
'We've had these homes and we'd love to put Vermont families in them who need a nice, healthy home.'
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