Aly - Burlington, VT

“Hi All, my name is Aly, I’ve been farming in Vermont since 2007. I’m from Burlington. I went out into the world to explore, and came back to be close to family and to farm. In my 20s I didn’t pay attention to healthcare and honestly was really lucky not to have anything major come up. Now I’m in my 30s and I’ve been farming for over a decade and things are coming up health wise. I have health insurance but honestly the coverage is terrible and I have a really high deductible. I can't afford both a decent place to live and good healthcare. I’m working my dream job and get to be outside every day growing with an amazing team of farmers, but I'd love that to be sustainable. For me that means I need access to reproductive services, trauma informed health care practitioners, physical therapy and mental health services. I think of myself as financially stable. I work for a great, well-established farm and I earn what I really thought would be a livable wage, but I still can’t get my healthcare needs met. I’ve been working through COVID growing food, delivering food, and really happy to do it even though it’s been a bit stressful. I’m thinking about everyone else in food service who’s out there making and delivering food, working in grocery stores. And, everyone who is out of work and doesn’t have coverage. What happens when we get sick? Don’t we deserve coverage too? I think everyone should get healthcare coverage. It’s what we need for our communities to stay well. Thank you.”