RANDOLPH, Vt.—Gifford Health Care is pleased to welcome Mara C. Bennett-Deiss, DNP, FNP-C, to its primary care team. Bennett-Deiss will provide family medicine care at Gifford’s Berlin clinic.
Bennett-Deiss brings extensive clinical experience shaped across rural and metropolitan communities nationwide, including work in medical-surgical units, pediatrics, orthopedics, oncology, telephone triage, long-term care, and community health settings. Her background includes travel nursing assignments in Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Oregon; service as an APRN resident at Penobscot Community Health Center in Bangor, Maine; and practice at Southside Community Health Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
She holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Winona State University, where she developed her doctoral project—Code Rainbow®—a workshop aimed to improve allyship for the LGBTQ+ community among healthcare providers. The project has been presented at multiple professional conferences and submitted for publication.
Bennett-Deiss also completed clinical rotations in sexual and reproductive health, substance disorder and unsheltered care, pediatrics, geriatrics, school-based health, and rural immersion settings.
“We are thrilled to welcome Mara to the Berlin team,” said Meaghan McCormick, Vice President of Clinical Services. “Her commitment to patient-centered care, her thoughtful approach to building relationships, and the breadth of experience she brings from both rural and urban settings make her an outstanding addition to our clinic. We’re excited for our patients and community to get to know her.”
Bennett-Deiss says she was drawn to Gifford because of its strong sense of community and its commitment to patient-centered care. “It feels like I’m arriving home.” Her practice style is grounded in empathy, transparency, and human connection. “I want to be able to sit in a conversation with folks… and debunk that hierarchy and say, ‘I’m just as human as you are.’”
She is particularly passionate about working with diverse patient populations, supporting individuals experiencing substance use disorders, and providing care in community-based and outreach settings—areas she has served throughout her career.
Outside of work, Bennett-Deiss enjoys time with her close-knit family, her golden retriever Moose, being on and near the water, and connecting with community. She describes herself as someone who “leads with humor” and values the genuine warmth she has found in Vermont communities.
Gifford looks forward to the expertise, compassion, and energy Bennett-Deiss brings to the Berlin clinic and to patients across our service area.
For more information, visit www.giffordhealthcare.org
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Gifford is a community hospital in Randolph, VT., with family health centers in Berlin, Bethel, Chelsea, Randolph, and Rochester; and specialty services throughout central Vermont. A Federally Qualified Health Center and a Top 100 Critical Access Hospital in the country, Gifford is a full-service hospital with a 24-hour emergency department and inpatient unit; many surgical services; daycare; an adult day program; and a 30-bed nursing home. The Birthing Center, established in 1977, was the first in Vermont to offer an alternative to traditional hospital-based deliveries and continues to be a leader in midwifery and family-centered care. As a community health center and medical home, Gifford’s mission is to improve and manage the health of the people we serve by providing and assuring access to affordable, high-quality health care, and by promoting the health and well-being of everyone in our service area.
