This article appeared in the Caledonian Record on August 14, 2026.
ST. JOHNSBURY — Supporters of Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital’s West Wing expansion project found reasons to celebrate inside and out at the hospital on Wednesday, touring the new Emergency Department and honoring the memory of the man whose name now identifies the department, as part of a sign on the exterior wall near the entrance.
The “Dr. David Toll Emergency Department” at NVRH is expected to receive its first patients within the next couple of weeks, as one of the major features of the multi-million-dollar West Wing project reaches substantial completion.
Members of Dr. Toll’s family, including his sons and his wife, Bridget, were part of a large gathering of celebrants at the unveiling event on Wednesday. NVRH officials welcomed supporters of the project at the formal unveiling of the Dr. Toll sign, along with a plaque near the entrance listing the names of individuals and businesses whose donations helped fund the project. The afternoon event also granted attendees a walk-through of the new department with its wide passageways, central hub illuminated with natural light, and large, private treatment rooms. Audible “oohs” and “ahhs” could be heard as visitors entered the new space.
“Today marks the culmination of years of planning, perseverance, and partnership,” said NVRH CEO Shawn Tester to 70 or so West Wing supporters gathered within the new vehicle port that ambulances will soon use for patient delivery and pick-up.
He spoke about his arrival at the hospital in 2018 and hearing about the need to expand the emergency department.
“I had on one hand our former Chief Financial Officer, Bob Hersey … who would say, ‘We cannot afford to expand the ED,’ and then on the other hand was my ED director, now my chief medical officer, Dr. Ryan Sexton, saying, ‘We have to expand the ED.’ And there I am in the middle.”
Knowing it was a community need, Tester said plans for the expansion proceeded despite several challenges.
“This project endured COVID, supply chain disruptions, funding challenges, USDA delays… inflation and, not the least, tariffs,” he said.
He credited community commitment to the vision for helping officials see it through.
The West Wing project, Tester said, “represents a $26 million investment in healthcare.” It’s the largest expansion of clinical space in the building’s 54-year history. It includes the new emergency department and the previously completed Patrick and Marcel Leahy Mental Health Support Suite, plus a new structure serving as the hospital’s mechanical building and an enlarged pharmacy. Still to come as part of the full project will be the John L. Norris Laboratory.
“This project has been successful because of collaboration between donors, employees, medical staff, community leaders, architects, contractors, and countless supporters who believe in our mission,” he said. “At NVRH, our commitment has always been to provide the highest quality care possible close to home.
Dr. Sexton recalled for the group his arrival at NVRH to serve as the ED medical director 11 years ago and wondering how so much work could happen in such a limited ED space.
“I questioned how is it possible that we see 15,000 patients per year in this tiny space that was our original footprint,” he said. “I quickly learned. On a busy summer day, we will shuffle 60 patients in and out of rooms, back and forth to the waiting room. Some of you, I’m sorry, have experienced that. It’s not a pleasant experience for anyone.”
He said the vision of the NVRH expansion is to “provide exceptional care in an environment where our patients, community, and employees thrive.”
Dr. John Nesbitt, the hospital’s Emergency Department Medical Director, said the story of NVRH’s success in planning and executing the expansion is not the typical narrative in healthcare these days.
“Healthcare in Vermont right now is in a bit of a crisis moment,” he said. “Access is challenging, and our staffing concerns, cost, and sustainability are now real bedside issues. What we’re doing here, however, in the Northeast Kingdom, is measured, meaningful, and it’s forward-looking.”
The new ED, he said, will be “a space where people have comforts, more room, and this better flow for staff and a dedicated trauma and acute care area.”
Community support has been key to making the project a reality, said Natalie Morris, the NVRH Philanthropy Chair, who said the fundraising effort has surpassed $6 million.
“That is just an incredible show of community, and we couldn’t be more grateful,” she said. “NVRH will have a lasting impact on health care for generations to come.”
The generosity is noted on the plaque listing donor names, along with individual donor placards affixed to walls within the project space. Some of the placards are up now, and ones that remain will be installed as project areas are completed.
“Every name that will eventually appear throughout this space represents someone who believed in the future of healthcare at NVRH to make this transformation possible,” said Morris.
Following the tours of the ED space, the celebration focused on the unveiling of the donor plaque and the sign honoring Dr. Toll.
The first pediatrician in the area when he arrived in St. Johnsbury in 1951, Dr. Toll would continue serving the medical needs of children in the region until age 90.
He was the doctor for countless children in the St. Johnsbury area and cared for multiple generations of the same family. While he was a pediatrician, he often served patients he had cared for since birth well into adulthood.
The length of his term in local healthcare meant he was on the job when former NVRH medical records director Sue Merrow started in 1974, and he was still going when she retired 41 years later.
Merrow shared her thoughts and memories about Dr. Toll as part of the dedication ceremony.
“He was my friend. He was a co-worker. We never had a harsh word between us. We had a lot of laughs. We had a lot of silliness … but what makes it absolutely wonderful that this building is being dedicated to him is because he deserves it,” she said. “He serves his patients as well as anybody could serve a patient. He served NVRH as well as any doctor could serve NVRH.”
Among several remembrances of her time with Dr. Toll, Merrow shared about a strawberry pie raffle she ran one year to help raise money for the Relay for Life cancer fundraiser. She said she asked Dr. Toll to buy a raffle ticket. He said he would and asked how much for a ticket. Merrow told him a dollar, and he handed her a $100 bill. She said she didn’t have change, and he said that was OK and that he’d take 100 raffle tickets.
Later, in the office when she told her co-workers, one of them said, ‘Oh Sue, what if he doesn’t win?’” Merrow recalled. She said she told her co-worker that she’d make him a pie anyway.
“He didn’t win, and I did make him a pie,” she said.
Dr. Toll’s granddaughters, Kate and Margaret, daughters of Kitty and Abel Toll, also addressed the group to express gratitude on behalf of the family for the dedication in Dr. Toll’s memory.
“My grandfather really would be so pleased,” said Margaret Toll.
Dr. Toll died in December 2018 at age 93.
Despite ongoing construction, NVRH has continued to serve patients. ED staff will soon begin transitioning to their new space.
Project Manager Jackie Zaun said she was not in a position to put a date on when the new ED will receive its first patients, but she said it will be within the next couple of weeks.
Said Warren Dow, NVRH Board Chairman, “This new space represents much more than bricks and mortar. It represents our commitment to providing exceptional care, dignity, privacy, and comfort for patients and families when they need us most.”
The next phase of the West Wing Project to create the new lab space begins on Aug. 24.
NVRH serves the health needs of over 30,000 people in Caledonia and Southern Essex counties in Vermont and employs over 700 staff.