According to conventional wisdom, the hardest part of beating an addiction is admitting that you have a problem. But for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Vermont addicts who are hooked on heroin or prescription painkillers, the hardest part is finding someone to treat their dependency.... Read more

1/29/12: The Young Street Rink in Colchester is a backyard ice rink that has been maintained by the Young Street community for about a decade. Over the years this patch of ice has become the neighborhood hot spot.  Eva visits on a Sunday night for a bonfire, burgers and a tour.
Music: Kevin MacLeod, "Porch Swing Days"

Ask N.B. to recount the lowest point in her life and she doesn’t have to stop and ponder. In October 2006, the Jericho native recalls, the father of her child had kicked her out “for the 50th time.” An intravenous drug habit had withered her down to 85 pounds, and both her arms were bruised, from wrists to shoulders. Then she discovered she was pregnant again.... Read more

1/21/12: Eva heads to an icy corn field in Lyndonville for NEK Snowmobile Drag Racing. The event is hosted by Lyndon Sno Cruisers, a non-profit organization who use the money they raise to groom their trails. There will be 3 more races in February.
Music: Waylon Speed, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, "Riding For The Brand"

A hard day at work for John Kinne is when he suddenly has three minutes to save someone from irreversible brain damage at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington. But Kinne, a 61-year-old New Jersey native who lives in Jericho Center, takes it in stride as one of Vermont’s three extracorporeal perfusionists.... Read more

Old Man Winter has been slacking in the snow department this season. The settled snowpack on Mount Mansfield, which measured 36 inches earlier this week, is about 20 percent below its average for late January. Fayston’s Mad River Glen ski area, which has very limited snowmaking capacity, has been open for fewer than 20 days so far this winter (though when lifts have been spinning, nearly all of MRG’s terrain has been open).... Read more

The merchandise on display in the second-floor space at the corner of Burlington’s Main and Pine streets might not get the average shopper’s heart racing: Clif Shot Bloks, Thera-Bands, SOLE shoe inserts. Some products may even perplex: NipGuards? BodyGlide? But for anyone who’s ever pounded the pavement for a 5K, marathon or ultra, browsing in the new Green Mountain Running Medicine Shop can feel like being a kid in a candy store.... Read more

Forty years after the fitness revolution began, the message that exercise is good for the body is a familiar one, to say the least. Hardly a day goes by without hearing some new reason to get off the couch and get our hearts pumping.

What’s less well known is that exercise gets your head right, too. Sadness. Trouble concentrating. Problem drinking. Fear of bullies. Lack of self-efficacy, or the sense of being capable to do something to meet our goals — all these problems can be mitigated by exercise. Even moderate exercise. Even if we don’t do it every day.... Read more

When John Hammer moved north to Charlotte 21 years ago, the retired Navy man was leaving behind one of the finest medical facilities in the country: the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., now called Walter Reed — “where all the presidents go,” Hammer says.... Read more

I am a sweater. And by that I don’t mean the cardigan, V-neck or ugly-Christmas variety. I perspire whenever the mercury noses above 80 degrees and I’m doing something more strenuous than changing the batteries in the remote.... Read more