Local clinicians. Specialized expertise. A commitment to community.

Ari Blanchard brings 25 years of acute care nursing experience to Lifeline Vascular Access, with a career built from the bedside up. Beginning as a nursing assistant and advancing step-by-step through her nursing education, she earned her BSN and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in nursing. She maintains advanced certifications in critical care (CCRN), infusion nursing (CRNI), and vascular access (VA-BC).

She has spent the bulk of her nursing career in critical care, progressive care, medical-surgical, and emergency nursing, as well as other acute care settings. She has served in charge and leadership roles and as a preceptor to both nurses and senior nursing students. Her clinical practice has been shaped by caring for acutely and critically ill patients across the lifespan, with the greatest time spent with adults and elderly populations, as well as patients and families facing end-of-life decisions. Patient education and advocacy remain central to how she approaches every encounter.

Ari has more than 20 years of peripheral IV experience and has spent the past decade specializing in advanced vascular access. Years of traveling throughout Northern New England to provide vascular access services in rural and community healthcare facilities exposed her to some of the most challenging access situations, and to the consequences when specialized expertise simply isn't available. She developed her skills through years of hands-on experience, continual learning, collaboration, and a commitment to improving with every patient encounter.

Those experiences also helped inspire Lifeline.

Ari saw firsthand how much rural healthcare teams depend on clinicians willing to travel snow-covered roads and winding mountain passes to bring specialized care to their patients. Without timely access to vascular access expertise, she saw patients endure repeated unsuccessful needle sticks, more invasive access than might otherwise have been necessary, delays in treatment, and a patient’s growing fear: not only of needles, but sometimes of healthcare itself.

Her approach is simple: It’s okay to be scared. I’m here to help.

Ari believes technical excellence matters, but so does helping patients understand what is happening, giving them a voice in their care, and advocating for the most appropriate option for the person in front of her.

She also understands the experience from the other side of the bedside. She has been the nurse caring for a patient who needed expertise she couldn't provide alone: the nurse who needed someone to call, someone willing to come, and someone she could trust.

She knows what it means to need a Lifeline. She helped create Lifeline Vascular Access to be that resource for other clinicians, patients, and communities.

Jeffrey Knisely brings more than 17 years of healthcare experience to Lifeline Vascular Access, with a career rooted in service, community, and rural healthcare. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Messiah College, where diverse clinical experiences throughout Pennsylvania and abroad shaped his understanding of healthcare across a wide range of populations and settings.

Following graduation in 2009, Jeffrey spent three years in Lao PDR working in community health, promoting primary healthcare, nutrition, and wellness initiatives. The experience reinforced his belief that meaningful healthcare begins with relationships, education, and strong community connections.

After returning to the United States, he continued his nursing career while serving in emergency medical services as an Advanced EMT. For more than a decade, he has provided emergency care in rural communities, often serving as one of the first points of contact during medical emergencies. These experiences deepened his appreciation for both the challenges and strengths of rural healthcare and the importance of accessible, high-quality care close to home.

Jeffrey developed his expertise in vascular access through roles in interventional radiology, diagnostic imaging, and the vascular access team at Rutland Regional Medical Center, where he has practiced for the past twelve years. There he refined his skills in ultrasound-guided vascular access, PICC placement, midlines, and ultrasound-guided peripheral IV insertion while continuing to expand vascular access services throughout Northern New England.

For the past four years, he has also worked as a mobile vascular access specialist serving hospitals, long-term care facilities, and healthcare organizations across Vermont and New Hampshire. He has witnessed firsthand the impact timely vascular access expertise can have on patient outcomes, comfort, and confidence in care. On several occasions, he has placed advanced vascular access devices in patients he initially transported during his EMS work, creating a unique continuity of care that reflects the interconnected nature of rural healthcare.

Those same values inspired Lifeline.

Jeffrey believes healthcare works best when it is local, personal, and responsive to community needs. He recognized that many rural healthcare facilities faced recurring challenges, including limited access to specialized vascular access expertise, staffing constraints, and delays in care. Lifeline was created to help bridge those gaps.

As a clinician-owned and clinician-operated company, Lifeline is built by professionals who understand rural healthcare because they live and work within it every day. Jeffrey believes this local presence allows Lifeline to remain approachable, adaptable, and responsive while maintaining the highest standards of clinical excellence.

For Jeffrey, Lifeline represents an extension of the values that have guided his work in nursing, EMS, and farming: strengthening communities, building trusted relationships, and ensuring every patient receives the care they deserve.

“Healthcare is at its best when it's personal, local, and built on trust.”