Vermont’s healthcare story is, at its core, a rural one – shaped by distance, community, and the people who keep care local. More than 65% of Vermonters reside in rural communities, and for many, a local provider isn’t just a convenience. It’s stability. It’s continuity. It’s trust. National Rural Health Day exists to honor exactly that: the providers, organizations, and communities who shoulder the responsibility of delivering care where resources may be thin, distances long, and the stakes incredibly personal.
This year, we’re celebrating someone who embodies exactly what rural healthcare can look like at its best: Xavier B. Giddings, DNP, AGNP-C, the newest Nurse Practitioner at Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital’s Kingdom Internal Medicine in St. Johnsbury and a 2017 AHEC Mimi Reardon Scholarship for Northern Vermont recipient. His journey proves something we see again and again across Vermont’s health workforce pipeline – when young Vermonters are supported, encouraged, and exposed to healthcare early, they often come home to serve the very communities that shaped them.
The Roots of His Calling
Some healthcare journeys begin with a calling. Xavier’s began quietly – in childhood, carried in small moments.
Growing up, Xavier spent time helping his father at work. But the highlight was always lunch breaks where they would stop by his mother’s workplace – a healthcare setting where she worked as a medical receptionist. The waiting room, the cadence of voices, the purposeful hum of a community coming in for support – something about it hit a nerve, even then.
“[It] felt special,” he said. “It’s since then that I’ve wanted to be involved in healthcare.”
That’s the power of early exposure – sometimes it’s a high school program, a summer institute, a mentor. Sometimes it’s simply watching someone you love show up and care for their community.
A Path That Wasn’t Linear – But Was Always Leading Back Here
Xavier didn’t grow up assuming college was in his future. When he moved to Waterford, VT, and began attending St. Johnsbury Academy, he wasn’t picturing a doctoral degree in nursing, or a future as a Nurse Practitioner (NP). He was a kid who loved athletics, considered athletic training or physical therapy, and was quietly unsure about what came next.
But those around him saw potential he hadn’t named yet. Teachers, counselors, and local healthcare providers posed questions that shifted his thinking; Have you ever considered nursing? Have you ever thought about advanced practice nursing?
He hadn’t. But he started to.
The real moment of clarity came during his junior year, when he began working at the Canterbury Inn, an independent living facility in St. Johnsbury. There, amidst daily routines and small acts of kindness, he discovered not only that he liked caring for people, but that he was good at it. Something clicked. Healthcare wasn’t just an interest – it felt like where he belonged. From there, the story becomes one of grit, community support, and the kind of tenacity rural Vermonters are known for.
Building a Future Through Hard Work and Community Support
After graduating from St. Johnsbury Academy, Xavier enrolled in the nursing program at the University of Vermont. Navigating college as a first-generation student required resourcefulness and resilience. He received several scholarships – including the AHEC Mimi Reardon Scholarship – which significantly reduced the financial barriers to pursuing a healthcare degree. To make ends meet, he worked up to five jobs at a time, many of them in healthcare settings such as nursing homes, memory care programs, and home care. These roles became both practical stepping stones and powerful learning experiences.
During a summer nursing externship at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Xavier worked on an orthopedic unit and had the opportunity to shadow in the surgical ICU. Those shadow shifts became turning points, leading to a coveted senior practicum in the ICU and, eventually, a job offer as a new graduate nurse.
He entered the nursing workforce during the spring of 2020 – a moment marked by uncertainty, fear, and the unprecedented demands of the COVID-19 pandemic. While most new graduates ease into their roles, Xavier stepped into high-acuity care as the world was changing around him.
During this time, he applied to UVM’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program and was accepted.
“Over the course of 5 years I was able to complete the full curriculum all while working full time, getting married, having a child, and purchasing a home,” he said. “The support I have received from family and friends means the world to me.”
One of the things that stands out in Xavier’s story is how often he mentions others. It’s never just his journey – it’s something he built with the help of, and because of, other people. That’s rural Vermont in a nutshell.
Returning Home to Serve the Northeast Kingdom
After years of training and experience in both hospital and residential care settings, Xavier knew that his heart – and his future – belonged in the Northeast Kingdom. Accepting a Nurse Practitioner position at Kingdom Internal Medicine wasn’t just a career move; it was the fulfillment of a hope he’d shared all the way back in 2017 when he first received the AHEC Mimi Reardon Scholarship. He wanted to raise his family here. He wanted the chance for his family to experience the same sense of place and community that shaped him. He wanted to give back.
Today, Xavier’s days begin early, often before 7:30 AM, when he reviews labs, imaging, and clinical updates. From 8 AM to 5 PM, he sees patients back-to-back. Lunch isn’t really lunch – it’s time to finish notes, follow up on results, or join a meeting. And when the last patient leaves, there is still work to be done.
“A misconception about my job is that there is ample free time,” he said. “There is finite time in a given work day for reviewing results, refilling prescriptions, and responding to messages,” he said.
Still, what anchors him isn’t the pace but the people. “It’s important to me that patients can feel and understand that I care about the betterment of their lives,” he explained.
Why Rural Providers Matter – Especially in Vermont
When we talk about the future of Vermont’s healthcare workforce, we often talk about shortages – fewer local providers, longer travel distances, increased reliance on emergency departments. Vermont’s rural communities face additional unique challenges including limited transportation options, food and nutrition insecurity, delays in accessing specialty care, and financial strain.
Xavier experiences these challenges every day. In rural settings, clinicians become problem-solvers, bridge-builders, and innovators out of necessity. They manage a broader range of conditions because referral pathways are longer and specialty access is scarce.
“Working in a rural community forces providers to think outside the box,” he said.
And yet, he sees the beauty too – the way caring for one person often means caring for their family, their neighbors, their entire community.
“Caring for individuals in a rural community impacts the community at large,” he explained, capturing the essence of small-town healthcare in a single sentence.
Encouraging the Next Generation
If Xavier could offer young Vermonters one piece of advice, it would be this:
Put yourself in situations that stretch you.
He encourages young people to step into new and uncomfortable spaces, to ask questions, to challenge themselves socially and academically, and to remain open to the possibility that healthcare holds more pathways than they might realize. He believes the next generation of rural providers needs an inquisitive spirit – not perfection, not certainty, but curiosity and a willingness to learn.
Xavier understands something crucial: rural healthcare isn’t just about filling positions; it’s about finding people who genuinely want to live in rural communities.
“Recruiting healthcare workers to a rural agency is as much selling the career as it is selling the place to live,” he said.
Many young Vermonters already understand rural living from the inside – which means they are uniquely positioned to stay, serve, and thrive.
A Vision for the Future – and Hope for What’s Next
Despite the challenges, Xavier is optimistic. He sees Vermont working to address the systemic barriers that have impacted rural health outcomes for decades – greater access to transportation, nutrition support, health education, and community services.
“With increased access to things that have previously been limitations,” he said, “rural Vermont has potential to experience better health outcomes.”
And, at the heart of his story is a simple belief:
“Caring for Vermonters means caring for strong-willed individuals who are hardworking and have a deep concern for their families, friends, and communities,” he said. It is a definition that feels both simple and expansive – and deeply true. That’s at the heart of rural healthcare – and of National Rural Health Day.
Why Xavier’s Story Matters
National Rural Health Day isn’t just about raising awareness of challenges – it’s about honoring the people who choose to be part of the solution – People like Xavier.
When a Vermonter returns home to serve Vermonters, the whole community feels it.
When a scholarship opens doors for a first-generation college student, a workforce pipeline strengthens.
And when a young person sees someone who grew up like them – attended their school, worked their first job in their town, walked the same dirt roads – step into a healthcare career, it becomes that much easier to imagine themselves doing the same.
Xavier’s journey reflects everything National Rural Health Day seeks to honor: dedication, resilience, community, and the fierce belief that rural Vermonters deserve high-quality, local care. His story is a testament to what becomes possible when young people are supported early, when mentors invest in their growth, when scholarships reduce barriers, and when a sense of place calls them home.
This is how Vermont strengthens its rural healthcare workforce: one student, one mentor, one scholarship, one returning provider at a time.
Thank you, Xavier, for choosing to care for your community. And thank you to every rural healthcare worker across Vermont who does the same, day after day.