Musical fund-raiser to benefit new Grafton Community Nurse program

By Cynthia Prairie
©2026 Telegraph Publishing  LLC

A small group of Grafton musicians is holding a fund-raising concert in late September to help benefit Grafton’s nascent Community Nurse effort as well as to honor the memory of two nurses who answered the call when needed.

At 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, soprano Tricia Suriani and tenor David Naughton with Thomas Toscano on piano will perform the works of Chopin, Leoncavallo, Donaudy and Toscano, at the Grafton Community Church, 55 Main St. in Grafton. A question and answer period will follow.

Admission is by donation.

The two nurses remembered are the late Joan Lake and her sister-in-law Ernestine Lake, both of whom lived in Grafton. The two were known for providing medical assistance within the community any time there was a need. Their service predated the work of Grafton Rescue Squad Inc., originally formed in 1981. Ernestine Lake died in 2021 and Joan Lake died in 2022.

Grafton residents and the town’s Rescue Squad have seen the need for a Community Nurse, much like the ones who serve Weston, Putney and other towns. Paid by private funds, donations and grants, the nurse can be a vital connection between town residents, the Rescue Squad and other health care providers.

The Grafton project is being spearheaded by a four residents: longtime community activist Liisa Kissel, Keith Hermiz, president of Grafton Rescue, Pamela Robinson, a retired nurse midwife and current secretary of the Rescue Squad and Donna Alexander, who is also in the medical field. Grafton Rescue will be the fiscal sponsor and partner of the Community Nurse Project.

The Community Nurse “helps people age in place,” says Kissel. However, she adds, the project “is not just for senior citizens. It’s for everybody.”

Community Nurse Connection calls itself “the convening organization” that helps bring together communities and nurses under the Community Nurse banner. It currently serves about 20 towns in Vermont with 13 nurses and five towns in New Hampshire with seven nurses.

The Grafton group’s goal is to be able to afford a part-time nursing position at around $35,000 a year for up to 40 hours per month.  The nurse would provide free services either through a home visit or phone consultation. Kissel says that “self-management of chronic conditions is where the community nurse can really come in handy.”

The group hopes to have someone in place this fall.