Molly Dugan Named Director of Public Policy & Strategic Initiatives

Molly Dugan, director of Vermont’s acclaimed Support and Services at Home (SASH®) program since its inception in 2009, today began her new role as Director of Public Policy & Strategic Initiatives, a new position at Cathedral Square.

In her new role, Dugan will represent Cathedral Square and SASH in public policy work pertaining to affordable housing, SASH, and new approaches to health-care delivery and long-term service and supports. She also will lead initiatives that emerge from the organization’s strategic-planning process to ensure accountability and follow-through.

Dugan joined Cathedral Square in 2008 and helped design the housing-based approach to wellness, prevention and personalized care coordination that became SASH, which helps older adults and people with disabilities live independently and contribute to their communities for as long as they wish.

Following a highly successful SASH pilot in 2009, work began in earnest to scale and deliver the program statewide through Vermont’s affordable-housing network. Dugan became the founding director of SASH in 2010, and three years later the program was in all Vermont counties.

With proven health outcomes and documented savings in Medicare and Medicaid expenditures, today SASH is funded by OneCare Vermont as part of the state’s all-payer model. Working in concert with local partner organizations — area agencies on aging, member affiliates of Vermont Care Partners and the VNAs of Vermont, nonprofit housing organizations, primary and community health care teams, and local and regional hospitals — SASH has served more than 9,000 Vermonters over the past 10 years. It is available to residents at 140+ affordable-housing sites and to people living nearby.

Cathedral Square CEO Kim Fitzgerald said SASH has thrived under Dugan’s leadership. “We truly have been blessed to have her lead the way in designing and growing the SASH model. She not only took SASH statewide, she worked with [former CEO] Nancy Eldridge and her organization, the National Well Home Network, to bring SASH to Rhode Island and Minnesota — and there are plans to expand to more states in the coming years.”

Dugan’s leadership and expertise will be invaluable as Cathedral Square works to bring new initiatives to life and strengthen the organization’s voice in public-policy discussions related to affordable housing, older adults and Vermonters with disabilities, Fitzgerald added.