A newly designed work space at National Life in Montpelier
and 20 percent meeting areas; today, National Life’s offices are about 40 percent workstations and 60 percent communal areas for meetings, group projects, teleconferences and brainstorming sessions. “It’s kind of exciting because people are more energized at their work areas. They’re not all alone in a room anymore,” Frey adds. “Literally lowering the walls and opening up the floor helps people move to a more collaborative space.”
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Roger E. Ehret, Gail Sullivan MD, Ob/Gyn RN, Ob Nurse
Maria C. Aveni, Emily Urquhart- Flora Jestice MD, Anesthesia Scott, MD, RN, IBCLC, Pediatrician Lactation Consultant
Central Vermont Medical Center Central To Your Well Being / www.cvmc.org
Central Vermont Women’s Health - 371-5961. Call 371-4613 to schedule a tour of our Garden Path Birthing Center.
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“It was interesting to deliver at the hospital where we work – with friends and colleagues. We knew everyone. It was great.” Carolyn Lorenz-Greenberg, a CVMC Pediatrician, and Matthew Greenberg, a CVMC Emergency Department doctor, celebrated the birth of their third child their first daughter - on April 16. Rebecca Lily weighed 8lb/1oz and was 20.5” long. Her brothers Jacob (2) and Adam (4) were there to celebrate as well. Adam was holding his tiny sister when we arrived and declared her “very cute.” Indeed – all present were in agreement. And all agree that sweet Rebecca will have wonderful, attentive playmates at her beck and call. We wish this lovely, happy family – a great part of the CVMC ever-growing family – all the best. The Lorenz-Greenbergs live in East Montpelier.
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ollaborative space is a buzzword also heard at Office Squared, a “professional coworking space” at 106 Main Street in downtown Burlington. Office Squared — O2 for short — provides freelancers, independent businesspeople and telecommuters with an affordable, centrally located spot where they can set up shop, hold business meetings, do presentations and work on projects anytime, day or night. O2 was founded in November 2009 by Jen Mincar, an IT/web project consultant from Richmond. Several years ago, Mincar had two meetings in Burlington — one in the morning, another in the afternoon. Between meetings, she needed a place to hunker down for a few hours and get some work done. She stopped at a local coffee shop but couldn’t find a table. So she sat outside in her car — in frigid, mid-February weather — to access the coffee shop’s free Wi-Fi. “I thought, this is ridiculous. I’m a professional!” Mincar recalls. “I’ve got to find another way.” Mincar briefly considered renting an office downtown but realized she only needed something part time and didn’t want to pay for one alone.
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yet renovated. It’s a drab, Dilbert-esque cubicle farm with harsh, overhead fluorescent lights and 67-inch-high partitions. Much of the furniture is three decades old and sprawls with mazelike complexity. “Welcome to the cutting-edge action office of the late 1960s,” jokes Frey. “It’s like a rabbit hole. People used to get lost here.” From there, we enter a stairwell that bathes us in gentle, ambient music as we climb to the third floor. Inside, the transformation is dramatic. Gone are the high cubicle walls, replaced by glass walls and lower partitions that allow employees to see and converse with one another. Overhead fluorescents have all been replaced by soft, diffuse, energy-efficient lights. In fact, the entire lighting system is controlled by sensors that self-adjust based on the presence of people and the amount of natural light coming in from outside. “I’ve heard a number of people comment that they feel healthier in the new space,” Rusnock notes. “Air flow is better, the lighting is better and the views are spectacular.” Denise Graves, a programmer and analyst who’s been with National Life for 17 years, agrees. “I like the open concept, and I like being able to see everybody,” she says. “You can find out if someone is available if you just stand up.” Graves admits that the loss of personal space was “definitely a change. It takes a little longer in the morning to get set up, but once you do, you don’t have all that clutter, which can be a good thing.” As Frey explains, such changes reflect a fundamental shift from “‘I’ space to ‘we’ space.” In the past, an office like this one was 80 percent workstations