Kathryn Czaplinski
/ Categories: NEWS, 2024

SVMC Primary Care offices recognized for patient-centered care

BENNINGTON, VT—December 13, 2024—Five primary care sites of Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), a member of Dartmouth Health, have achieved national recognition for providing personalized, effective, and efficient care.

The following medical practices, located in Vermont, have been re-designated as Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMH) by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA):

  • SVMC Northshire Campus
  • Deerfield Valley Health Center
  • Pownal Campus
  • SVMC Internal Medicine
  • SVMC Pediatrics

The national designation recognizes SVMC’s practice sites for providing comprehensive care and follow-up, in addition to a number of preventative and wellness screenings.

 “Each of SVMC’s practice sites follow stringent set of guidelines that allows our staff to meet the criteria and ensures our providers, clinical and support staff give every primary care patient the care and follow-up they need, as well as options and appropriate screenings for a multitude of concerns,” said Tina Gallant, CMPE, director of SVMC’s Primary Care Medical Practices. “It’s also a testament to the importance of our Community Health Team members who provide our patients with nurse case management, certified diabetic education and mental health and social services.”

According to NCQA, research shows that PCMHs improve quality and the patient experience, and increase staff satisfaction—while reducing health care costs. The PCMH program identifies practices that promote partnerships between individual patients and their personal clinicians. A team of doctors, nurses, and other allied health providers oversees each patient’s care, ensuring health needs are coordinated across the health care system.

Practices must resubmit for consideration every year. SVMC’s Twin Rivers Medical office, located in New York, falls under a different evaluation system, separate from the NCQA guidelines.

“National recognition as a Patient Centered Medical Home is an outstanding accomplishment by the staff, doctors, and advanced practice providers at our primary care practices,” said Trey Dobson, MD, SVMC Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Clinical Services. “As we continue to focus on primary care provider recruitment and expanding access to our rural communities, this and similar awards demonstrate SVMC’s commitment to exceptional health care.”

Learn more about SVMC’s primary care services here.

About SVMC:

Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), a member of Dartmouth Health, is a comprehensive, preeminent, health care system providing exceptional, convenient, and affordable care to the communities of Bennington and Windham Counties of Vermont, eastern Rensselaer and Washington Counties of New York, and northern Berkshire County in Massachusetts. SVMC includes the Dartmouth Cancer Center at SVMC, the SVHC Foundation, as well as 25 primary and specialty care practices. Southwestern Vermont Medical Center is among the most lauded small rural health systems in the nation. It is the recipient of the American Hospital Association’s 2020 Rural Hospital Leadership Award. In addition, SVMC is a five-time recipient of the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence. SVMC provides exceptional care without discriminating on the basis of an individual’s age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, language, physical or mental disability, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression. Language assistance services, free of charge, are available at 1-800-367-9559.

About NCQA:

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information for consumers, purchasers, health care providers, and researchers.

 

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Cautious Entertaining

After almost 3 months of staying home and with the weather getting nicer, many of us are itching to invite friends over and catch up. While this is a natural inclination, it should be approached with significant caution. COVID-19 is still circulating. If you are planning to host, follow these helpful tips for a safe gathering at your home.

Keep the numbers small. Invite as few people as possible. One-on-one meetings are safer than group gatherings. The recommendations from Vermont Governor Phil Scott recommend 25 or fewer. I would still aim for fewer than 10, especially depending on the size of your entertaining space.

Choose invitees carefully. You should know almost everything about the socializing habits of the people you are inviting. Your guests should be as careful in their social interactions as you are in yours. You should also trust that your guests would be cancel if they were feeling ill, as should you if you are suddenly symptomatic. Those at high risk, due to age or a medical condition, should be very careful about hosting or accepting invitations.

Stay outside. Outdoor air movement disperses aerosolized particles more readily than indoor environments. And plenty of space outside allows guests to stay distanced. UV light, like the rays found in sunshine, may also provide some small benefit. It has been shown to decrease the viability of the virus on objects, but it is not yet clear how intense the light must be and for how long the object needs to be exposed in order to kill the virus.

Keep it short. Duration of exposure to others has been identified as a key risk factor. The longer you are near someone shedding the virus, even if they don't have symptoms, the greater your likelihood of catching it yourself. While it is awkward to say that you are inviting people over for a 10-minute chat in the driveway, this is certainly among the lowest-risk types of socializing.

Clean beforehand. If you expect guests to touch anything, the arms of patio chairs, for instance, wipe them down in advance. Ask everyone to sanitize or wash their hands as they arrive, if they touch their face, and about every hour or so.

Stay distanced and masked. People standing tend to drift. Place chairs 6 feet apart so that people will be more likely to stay apart. Unless you are eating, keep your masks on. Share this expectation in advance, so your guests bring their masks with them.

Limit contact points. If you are preparing food, be sure to wash well before cooking and ensure everyone has a portion of his or her own. Forget about platters of vegetables or bowls of chips everyone shares and even buffets, where people share spoons and tongs.

Clean after. Wipe down anything your guests may have touched after they leave.

Keep track. Be sure to take note of who was there, the date of the social event, and each guest's contact details. If any one of the attendees becomes ill with COVID-19 or learns that they may have been exposed at the time of the event, they will be able to reach out directly to the others and to share information readily with contact tracers.

With these tips, you can host a relatively safe get-together and relieve some of the social isolation of the past several weeks. Do know, however, that no party—regardless of how careful—is risk free. Weigh the risks, decrease those you can, and then, try to have fun.

Donna Barron, RN, is the infection preventionist at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.

 

 

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