Brattleboro Memorial Hospital announced Monday that a local businessman has donated $4 million to its financially struggling institution. Willy Buhlmann, who emigrated from Switzerland in 1970 and founded Swiss Precision Turning before selling it in 2023, is donating the funds to the hospital’s depleted investment account.
“I’m glad I made Brattleboro my home, and I wanted to give something back,” Buhlmann said in a statement. “The hospital is important to this community, and I wanted to do something meaningful to help ensure that people can continue to receive care.”
The Windham County facility, operating on a $130 million annual budget, has forecast a $7.1 million deficit for the 2027 fiscal year that began Oct. 1. That would follow a $33.6 million operating loss for the fiscal years 2017 through 2025, and an estimated $9.5 million shortfall for the 2026 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to a state filing.
The hospital has blamed recent deficit spending on past administrative and accounting problems. To cover the losses, it has tapped reserves of cash, investments and unrestricted assets that collectively have dropped from $53.3 million in FY 2021 to a projected $19.7 million for FY 2027, the state filing shows.
“Willy’s gift is an extraordinary investment in Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and in the future of health care in our region,” interim CEO David Sanville said in a statement. “I’m glad I made Brattleboro my home, and I wanted to give something back,” Buhlmann said in a statement.
Last month, state regulators at the Green Mountain Care Board adopted current spending plans for the state’s 13 other general acute-care hospitals, only to level-fund the Brattleboro facility as it works to further clarify its finances.
Buhlmann founded Swiss Precision Turning in 1990 and sold it to Geokon, a New Hampshire-based engineering and manufacturing company, in 2023. The $4 million gift comes a dozen years after 92-year-old Ronald Read, a former gas station attendant and janitor, left the hospital $4.8 million upon his death in 2014.
Buhlmann said of his own contribution: “I wanted to make this donation while I’m still alive and can see its impact.”
