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Helen Porter Improvement Project

We believe the health and well-being of our community can be measured by how we treat our most vulnerable.

People have basic rights to housing, health care and the support they need to live fulfilling lives. This shouldn’t change because we get older and need extra help. Helen Porter helps ensure Addison County families have access to compassionate health care, housing and other essential services to help our loved ones keep living their lives, contributing to our community. Helen Porter is an essential part of Porter’s commitment to provide health care to all ages, incomes and individual needs. It is the only skilled nursing facility in Addison County and 67% of residents are on Medicaid.

What is Helen Porter Rehabilitation & Nursing?

Located in Middlebury, Vermont, Helen Porter is a skilled nursing facility that has been caring for vulnerable citizens on the Porter Medical Center campus for over 50 years. Its early days were as a department in the hospital before it moved to the current building in the early 1990’s.

In those thirty years, a lot has changed in Addison County —but the compassionate health care, dedicated staff and sense of community among our residents and patients has never been stronger. 

It’s not just a facility, it’s a home.

Helen Porter provides emotional and spiritual care as part of its commitment to compassionate health care. For most residents, it is their last home. The planned upgrades will improve their quality of life and modernize our clinical care environments.

Helen Porter provides long-term care, memory care, palliative and end-of-life care services in one convenient location. It is an essential resource for local residents in need of 24-hour health care, especially aging people on Medicaid who won’t be accepted at other facilities in our region.

As a mission driven non-profit, we seek philanthropic support from our community to help renovate and modernize Helen Porter for current and future generations of families in Vermont and northern New York. We hope you will partner with us.

Helen Porter Improvement Project

With your support, we can make necessary improvements to the aging facility, allowing us to continue to provide compassionate care in a comfortable setting for years to come. The four-phase plan is estimated to cost $5.5 million and includes updates to indoor and outdoor spaces, including clinical upgrades.

A renovated Helen Porter will give residents and patients updated and more comfortable spaces, indoors and out, promoting an enhanced quality of life in a homelike environment with clinical expertise available 24/7.

“This project will change our lives for the better. Not just for those of us who live here. As a retired nurse, I know these projects will also help the doctors, nurses and staff who take care of us. Thank you for your donations. They will make our home a better place to live and a better place to work and care for people.”

Elsie, Helen Porter resident

The purpose of the Helen Porter project is a simple, but noble one – to improve the care setting and quality of life of people who are unable to live out their final days at home. 

To date, Porter has raised $1.76 million from generous donors to help fund this $5.5 million project.  Please help us get to the finish line by making your donation today.

For additional information on how you can join us in supporting the Helen Porter Project please view a detailed brochure with information about all planned upgrades.

“In the end, everyone’s efforts contributed to an experience made possible because this institution called Helen Porter is alive and well in our community. It’s easy to assume it will always be there, and it will always be well-equipped, and it will always be well-staffed but I know more than many how much work goes into assuring it remains the mainstay it is. I will never take that work for granted. So please pass my thanks to everyone involved, those I met and those I didn’t. I’m a grateful family member, and my father a fortunate patient, and I will not forget the chance you afforded my family and him to live his final days in a dignified manner.”

~ Family of a Helen Porter resident

Ways to Give

Donate Online
Making a donation online is secure, quick and simple. Donate online now.

Donate by Mail
Make checks payable to Porter Medical Center with “Helen Porter Improvement Project” in the memo section and mail your gift to:

Porter Medical Center
Office of Development
115 Porter Drive
Middlebury, VT 05753

Planned Giving
Gifts of securities or donations through your will or trust make a positive impact while also providing
benefits to you during your lifetime. Call PMC Development at 802-388-4762 to learn more.

Contact Us

Do you have questions or need assistance making a donation? We’re here to help!
Call 1-802-388-4762 or email Amy Bodette Barr at ABarr@portermedical.org.