William and Claudia McCormack Endow the Benjamin A. McCormack Fund at NVRH

William and Claudia McCormack of Lyndonville recently established the Benjamin A. McCormack Fund at NVRH in memory of their son Ben.  With growing mental health needs in our community, the McCormacks want to help individuals and families in the NEK who may be struggling with these issues, and recognized that NVRH was the place to make a significant impact.

“This fund was created in loving memory of our son Ben who suffered from an undiagnosed illness for years,” said Mr. McCormack. “He struggled daily with the combined physical and emotional (mental) challenges that his illness presented. Sadly, he passed away in June of 2018. We want to help support services, education, activities, and treatments that help bridge the gap between body and mind healthcare for both patients and family. We want to help others in our community facing some of the same challenges we faced while Ben was seeking treatment.”

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the historical healthcare model often treats physical and mental health separately, leading to worse outcomes for people who live with co-occurring conditions.  In recent years, efforts nationally and locally have aimed to break down these silos to better integrate physical and mental health treatment, ensuring people can get the care they need, when they need it. That is exactly what the McCormacks want to see happen.

“With this fund, we want to offer support to help identify patients with mental illness, direct them to practitioners educated in the mind/body connection who are willing to work with these patients and their health challenges, and to create a plan to combine physical and mental health care for the challenges they face in everyday life,” said Mrs. McCormack.  “Likewise, to include the families and loved ones in strategies to deal with the challenges of supporting the patient every day.” 

NVRH is committed to the overall health and wellbeing of its patients; more and more, this includes a mental health component. “While we have a traditional foundation of healthcare here at NVRH centered primarily on physical conditions, we recognize the need to broaden our scope to a more whole-person approach to ensure all of our patients’ health needs are met, including their mental health,” said Dr. Michael Rousse, NVRH Chief Medical Officer. “Our goal is to collaborate with our community partners to ensure that we leverage the resources, services, and expertise in the service area to better coordinate care, thus creating a system that effectively meets the growing mental health needs in our community. The McCormacks’ incredible generosity will help us in these important efforts, and as an endowed fund will serve as a lasting tribute to their son and his love for the NEK.” 

Ben McCormack was born at NVRH and raised in Lyndonville.  He was a physical therapist who founded and operated Northern Physical Therapy until his passing.  It is now owned by NVRH. Anyone interested in supporting this Fund can contact Emily Hutchison, Director of Philanthropy at 802-748-7476 or philanthropy@nvrh.org.