Our Team

Care that Matters

The healthcare landscape is constantly evolving with new procedures, technology and medications.

Our skilled medical and dental care teams provide the highest level of individualized support for our patients.

Our goal is dedicated to improving the quality of life, reducing hospitalizations and improve health outcomes for everyone we serve.

Mountain Community Health Management

MCH is dedicated to keeping health care local, serving the people from the Five Town area in Addison County, Vermont, including Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton, New Haven and Starksboro.

We are committed to encouraging the wellness of our families, neighbors and friends through improving access to Primary care, Dental care and Mental healthcare services.

Our Executive team, Support Staff

The Mountain Community Heath Executive Team and support staff works every day to ensure the mission and vision of the organization is carried out in an efficient and professional manner. Providing an environment where quality, compassionate care is paramount – our executive team is dedicated to making our community a better place to live.

Our Board includes local community leaders who bring a wealth of experience from within and outside the medical and dental fields.

Our Clinical Team

Exceptional Patient Care

Providing exceptional care includes creating a healing environment where all patients feel safe, comfortable and where recovery and restoring full health is our main goal. At MCH, our priority is to ensure that each patient is valued, respected and well cared for, providing the highest quality of care. At MCH – the patient always comes first.

Clinical Team

Brian Bates, MD

Brian grew up in Maryland and first ventured to New England for undergraduate studies at Dartmouth. He went to medical school at the University of Maryland and then completed his family medicine residency at Boston Medical Center where he continued to work as a teaching physician. He practices full-spectrum primary care for children and adults. He also provides medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorders with Suboxone. Outside of work, Brian enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters, outdoors activities, beekeeping, gardening, and playing music.

Melanie Connah, MD

Melanie grew up in Maryland where she attended medical school at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and completed her residency at Medstar Franklin Square Family Medicine Residency Program in Baltimore. After residency, Melanie worked as a faculty member and helped to build a new family medicine residency program in Seneca, South Carolina. There she practiced full spectrum family medicine including inpatient and outpatient care and delivering babies, and taught students and residents. Melanie came to Vermont in 2022 with her husband and two girls and quickly fell in love with the state in general and Bristol in particular. She is excited to join the Mountain Community Health team and provide excellent care to patients while pursuing her clinical interests in quality improvement, LGBTQ health, addictions treatment, and integrative medicine.

Tonya Howard, FNP

Tonya is doing acute care one or two days a week at MHC. She has been involved at many levels and in different roles in the community health center world in Vermont. She lives in Underhill, has 2 cats and a big farmhouse and barn she has been “bringing back to life”, and enjoys having guests, retreats, and gatherings there. She always has an audiobook queued up for the commute. She graduated from Yale University School of Nursing with her Master’s too many years ago to admit and continues to love learning, traveling, swing dancing, hiking, singing, eating and cooking good food, and cherishes time with her diverse group of friends.

image of physicians assistant Bryanne Breezy Salmonsen

Bryanne (Breezy) Salmonsen, PA-C

Breezy Salmonsen, PA-C is delighted to be back in Vermont after spending the last 15 years abroad and in the Western US. She grew up in Beverly, Massachusetts and completed her undergraduate degree at UVM. She received her masters in physician assistant studies at UC Davis and then practiced as a PA at Planned Parenthood in Reno, NV. Her professional interests include reproductive health, gender affirming care and community medicine.

Prior to her career in medicine, she worked on the US/Mexico border advocating for the humane treatment of undocumented immigrants and refugees. She has also guided kayak trips in the San Juan Islands, led educational travel trips in Ecuador, worked at a university in Costa Rica and taught ESL and Spanish in Jackson, Wyoming.

Breezy lives in Richmond with her spouse, their son and mastiff named Noodle. In her free time, she loves growing flowers, mountain biking, baking cookies, surfing in warm water and staying in yurts. She is accepting new patients.

Kate LaMancuso, MD

Kate is originally from western New York. She took the long path to medicine, via undergraduate studies in literary arts and Italian studies at Brown University. She completed her post-baccalaureate premedical studies in Buffalo. There, she fell in love with family medicine and its power for individual and community transformation while working as a medical case manager at a refugee service agency. She completed medical school and a family medicine residency at Brown University, where she pursued clinical and research interests in women’s health, global health, and health care for vulnerable populations. Kate is eager to participate in the Addison County community through her work at Mountain Health Center. She enjoys hiking, traveling, reading, yoga, Green Mountain culinary adventures, and spending time with family and friends.

Lindsay Soares-White, FNP

Lindsay Soares-White graduated from the Family Nurse Practitioner program at Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions in 2008. She has chosen to work in community health centers throughout her career because she shares the belief that health care is a human right and that individual health is interconnected with family, community, and society. Lindsay takes a collaborative approach to the care she provides. She loves learning about people, hearing their stories, and building trusting relationships that help people move toward their health goals. She lives with her partner and toddler in Lincoln, where they spend their days exploring puddles and singing while meandering.

David Turner, MD

David has practiced in Family Medicine and Women’s Health for over 25 years, the last 13 locally in Vermont. He enjoys working with patients to improve their overall wellness and believes his role is to listen to and help patients make informed decisions about their health. He graduated from the Dartmouth/Brown Program in Medicine, Tacoma Family Medicine Residency and Rural Fellowship, and Dartmouth/Hitchcock OB/GYN Residency. He enjoys coaching soccer, hiking, cross-country skiing, and spending time with his wife Laura Weylman MD, and their family.

Jennifer Wisdom-Behounek, MD

Dr. Wisdom-Behounek grew up in a rural community in Illinois and attended the University of Illinois for medical school, where she had additional specific training in rural medicine. Residency took her to Columbia, Missouri, where she completed her Family Medicine residency at the University of Missouri. She has worked in private practice, and in academic medicine teaching medical students in addition to clinical care. She has additional training and a specialized interest in Lifestyle and Nutritional Medicine to prevent and reverse disease where possible. She loves to travel, recreate outdoors, and write about the research illustrating nature’s positive impact on human health.

Your Team of Local, Caring Dentists

Dental Care for the Entire Family

Our team is comprised of experienced and exceptional dentists, hygienists, nurses and support staff.

Using the most advanced technology available to achieve oral and overall health, we welcome you to our warm and inviting offices here in Bristol.

Our dental team offers care for your entire family, with comprehensive dental services to keep your smile beautiful and healthy for a lifetime.

Dental Providers

Elizabeth Knuff, DMD

Lizzie grew up in Connecticut and did her undergraduate studies at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass where she studied Spanish and Chemistry. After working in clinical research for four years, Lizzie decided to pursue her love for creativity and science and attended the University of New England College of Dental Medicine where she graduated with honors. She completed her General Practice Residency at the University of Vermont Medical Center and is thrilled to be staying in Vermont! In her spare time she enjoys being outdoors, skiing, hiking, painting, and all things crafty.

MCH Executive Officers

Leadership for Today and Tomorrow

Our executive team manages the day-to-day operations of our organization, coming from all areas of the health management and business to help position MCH to succeed today and well into the future.

Heidi Melbostad, PhD, M.F.T.

Chief Executive Officer

Nancy Kusner

HR Director

Jennifer Wisdom-Behounek, M.D., DipIABLM

Medical Director

Meet the MCH Board

Making a Positive Difference in our Community

Our Board members each have distinguished careers and bring a wealth of experience to Mountain Community Health. The Board’s overall stewardship and advisory input is essential to helping maintain the exceptional services we provide our communities.

We are a group of citizens from the Five Towns area in northeastern Addison County, Vermont: Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton, New Haven, and Starksboro. We come from a variety of backgrounds within and outside of healthcare. We are interested in community building and furthering the wellness of our families, neighbors, and friends through improving access to primary care, dental care, and mental healthcare services.

We believe that healthy communities begin with healthy families, neighbors, and friends and that receiving support from a primary care physician, dentist, or mental health clinician should not be limited by the ability to pay. We recognize that healthcare is a fundamental right to which all are entitled, and we are motivated to turn this belief into reality.

Board Members

Norma Norland

Board Chair

Norma Norland moved to Vermont in 2011 from Lexington, Massachusetts. Several years of community activity in Lexington led to work at a startup computer company, a brief stint working for the Governor at the Massachusetts State House and then to M.I.T. where she was Director of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.

Bob Donnis

Director

Bob is a retired Bristol resident. He was employed by IBM for 32 years as a Systems Analyst, Project Manager, and Sales Rep. He worked for Efficiency Vermont for 7 years as Retail Account Manager and Business Account Mgr. Previously, Bob was a member of the Mt Abraham Union MS/HS Board, the 5-Town Drug and Safety Alliance, and the Bristol Energy Committee. Bob is currently a member of the Turning Point Center of Addison County and the Lake Iroquois Association Board.

Ron Dendas

Director

Ron Dendas is a consultant and advisor, with a focus on improving overall community health and well-being. Over the last year, he has worked with several local and national non-profit organizations on strategic planning, reorganizing, building capacity, creating organizational culture, using data to drive discovery, and implementing innovative, strategic initiatives.

Prior to this, Ron served as the first Director of Health Improvement for the Leonard Parker Pool Institute for Health, where he implemented innovative ways to create cross-sector partnerships, authentically engage and empower community members, identify and address vital conditions for well-being, and increase access to and actionability of local data.

For two decades, he served as a Program Officer for The Dorothy Rider Pool Health Care Trust and The Rider-Pool Foundation, managing grants that focus on community and population health, access to primary health, cradle to career education, safe and healthy housing, economic mobility, behavioral health, and maternal-child care. In addition to grant management, he was also involved in several healthy community projects, including the expansion of local public health services, establishment of community health centers, improved behavioral health services, assessing the health needs of communities and cross-sector collaboration.

Prior to joining Pool Trust, he worked for fifteen years in non-profit human services, with the last nine of those years spent developing county and region-wide prevention and treatment services for alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, and prevention and care services for HIV.

Mr. Dendas received a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from St. Anselm (New Hampshire) College and a Master of Science in Human Organization Science from Villanova University. He is also a Creating Healthy Communities Fellow with the American Hospital Association.

Helena Van-Voorst

Director

Helena Van Voorst is the Executive Director of United Way of Addison County. She has over 20 years of experience with nonprofit management, board
development, strategic planning, fundraising, grant writing and grant making. Helena earned her Bachelor’s degree in Communication and Public
Relations from Dordt University and her Master’s in Communication and Leadership Studies from Gonzaga University. In addition to the Mountain
Community Health Center Board, Helena also serves on the Porter Medical Center Board of Trustees, the Vermont Women’s Fund Council and the
United Ways of Vermont Board. Helena lives in Vergennes with her husband, Matthew, and two children.

Adam Rice

Director

Coming soon.

Mark Mulqueen

Director

Mark Mulqueen came to Vermont in 1977 and has pursued a variety of careers in orchards, aviaries, and greenhouses, along with a longtime fascination with audio production. He lives in Lincoln, where he has been a member of the School Board, worked with the Burnham Hall Committee, is an election volunteer, and helps maintain technology at the Lincoln Library. Mark has been a long-time patient of Mountain Community Health and looks forward to serving as they move forward.

Trevor Wilson

Director

Trevor Wilson and his wife moved to Bristol in 2023 and found the community they’ve always sought.

With over 15 years working in healthcare, Trevor has a passion to support increasing access to and equity in healthcare. He currently supports community cancer care practices in 6 states.

Trevor has a long history of volunteering – from the American Red Cross to being a youth mentor for First Exposures.

In addition to the MCH Board, he is also an educator at Dead Creek WMA, a member of the Bristol Equity Committee, and an advocate for prostate cancer care and research with ZERO Prostate Cancer.

In his “free” time, he and his wife enjoy working on their home, hiking, and visiting farm stands and markets.

Trevor holds a BA in English Writing & Literature. He is a member of Wednesday Writers.

His wife is a Photography Instructor, and chocolate maker.

Richard Jack

Director

Richard Jack lives in Middlebury and is retired. He has a master’s degree in social work. He has previously worked as a psychotherapist,forensics coordinator, manager of mental health benefits, and developer of utilization and productivity models in a variety of nonprofit and for profit organizations. He also participated in integrating mental health care in rural family medicine clinics in the Adirondacks. In the past, Richard has served as a board member for low income, elder care, hospice, and nursing home organizations. He has been a partner in owning a nursing home, and from 1986-92 served as an initial Board Member of the Vermont State Board of Social Work developing the credentialing, disciplinary, and regulatory processes with which the statute was implemented Richard is married with two adult sons and four grandchildren.

Rachel Lee

Director

Rachel is the Executive Director of the Counseling Service of Addison County (CSAC). Active in governance and healthcare policy, Rachel also serves on the Board of Directors for Porter Hospital. She also contributed as a trustee to the UVM Health Network Medical Group’s board (2019-2022). Rachel holds a master’s in public health from the University of Vermont.

Mimi Damm

Director

Bio coming soon!

Bob Turcot

Director

Bio coming soon!