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/ Categories: WELLNESS, 2022, ED

Navigating the Renovation

A major renovation and expansion of the Emergency Department and Main Entrance has required that we reroute patient traffic to a new temporary entrance called the Canopy Entrance. Follow along with the photos and descriptions below for a guided tour of how to enter the hospital.

After having pulled onto the Hospital Campus from Dewey Street, notice the parking lot to the left. It is marked with a “P” for parking. Pull in there and park.

 

The same parking lot can also be accessed from the Monument Ave. Extension entrance to the Hospital Campus. It is on the right.

 

The parking lot includes a shelter to wait for the campus shuttle. The shuttle runs 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. Monday – Saturday. If you like, you can also walk to the Canopy Entrance.

 

To walk from the parking lot, follow the signs to the crosswalk. This is the first of two road crossings.

 

Signs continue to point the way. Note that the ambulance is for ambulance traffic only. Pedestrians must stay on pedestrian walkways.

 

 After a short distance, there is the second of two road crossings.

 

Once you have crossed the street, follow the path and fencing to the large canopy.

 

As you approach, you will see that masks are required.

 

If you took the shuttle, this is where it drops you off.

 

At the base of a ramp and once you reach inside, you will find friendly and helpful staff to guide the way or assist you with a wheel chair. 

 

Ascend the ramp on foot or with the assistance of a wheel chair and attendant.

 

Once inside, signs point the way to the service you need. Friendly staff members are available to check you in and provide assistance navigating. 

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Interview with Jeff Silverman: 3D Printer

Jeff Silverman is a Wilmington native, a volunteer firefighter, and a business owner. From an addition to his Whitingham, Vermont, farm house, his company, Inertia Unlimited, develops camera technology for broadcast television.

"We make them out of thin air," he says.

Actually, he uses a 3D printer to make prototypes and one-of-a-kind cameras for very specific purposes, including those that sit in the dirt in front of a batter during Major League Baseball games and the ones built into NASCAR racetracks.

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jeff has printed 463 face shields for first responders in the Deerfield Valley and healthcare workers at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center and other places. He has delivered them free of charge.

When and how did you first become interested in printing shields for first responders? In one day, every job we had disappeared. We went from having 20 – 30 jobs to zero in one day. Our first thought was that we would use the materials and talent we typically use to sew the pouches for our cameras to make masks. But we quickly found that the proper materials and techniques were not available to make effective masks. Plus so many other people were making them. They had it covered.

On Sunday, March 22, I read in the New York Times that a company in Syracuse, NY, had made a design to 3D print face shields available online. By noon that day I was printing. Since then the printer has not stopped.

How does it work? The printer converts the design into a 3D object using filament that is the width of a human hair, adding layer by layer. The printer takes 2 hours to print one shield. I have produced 380 shields so far. That's 1000 hours of printing. I take from midnight to 5 a.m. off. We've done more 3D printing in the last month and a half than we had in the previous 5 years.

Describe the shields. It was important to me to produce something that was good quality. Sometimes the ones you buy don’t clean up very well. These can survive UV light and other sterilization. They are rough and tough.

Where have you distributed them? First I gave them to the firefighters in Wilmington and Whitingham, where I am a volunteer. Then I gave some to the Deerfield Valley Rescue. I have sent 324 to Southwestern Vermont Health Care, some to SVMC Deerfield Valley Campus; Golden Cross Ambulance Service and Sojourns Community Clinic, both in Westminster, VT; and Rescue Inc. in Brattleboro. I sent some to a dentist in Portland, ME, who asked, and 10 to North Central Bronx Hospital to a friend who works there.

What's your greatest accomplishment? I went to Wilmington High School in the late 70s, and Dave Larson, who was the social studies teacher and former longtime VT state representative, had a video camera. He let me borrow it to film field hockey games. At the end of the season, they gave me a varsity letter for my film work. I have won Emmys since, but that varsity letter is special, because it represented the beginning.

What's next? We look forward to reopening. For us, it's the easiest thing in the world. No client ever comes here. We didn't lay anybody off. We hired locals. All are full-time with benefits. We think Vermont is a great place for low-impact companies like ours, and we hope more companies discover Vermont and come here to provide well-paid jobs.

And I am really looking forward to turning the printer off.

On behalf of Southwestern Vermont Health Care's frontline staff, thank you to Jeff for his tireless efforts to provide vital equipment to our teams. We appreciate it!

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