SVHC Launches Vermont Medical Weekly Video Program
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SVHC Launches Vermont Medical Weekly Video Program

BENNINGTON—February 5, 2021—Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) will launch a new weekly interactive digital show called Vermont Medical Weekly with Trey Dobson, MD. The show will be produced in partnership with Catamount Access Television (CAT-TV). Each week, Dr. Dobson will discuss current healthcare topics with a guest or guests as well as answer questions posted by virtual attendees. The show will air at 2 p.m. on Wednesdays starting February 10.

“Throughout the pandemic, Southwestern Vermont Health Care has worked to keep community members and area health care workers informed through a weekly e-newsletter and regular video updates,” said Trey Dobson, MD, Southwestern Vermont Medical Center’s (SVMC) chief medical officer and the host of the show. “These efforts have received a great response, and we are developing Vermont Medical Weekly based on feedback to further enhance our connections to people in our region.” 

Vermont Medical Weekly will be available to view on area public access television stations and on the health system’s, CAT-TV’s, and Greater Northshire Access Television’s (GNAT-TV) Facebook pages. Those viewing on Facebook will be able to contribute questions through the chat function. The show will also be available as a podcast downloadable on svhealthcare.org.

“We hope this new program will become a regular and trusted source of local health information both throughout the pandemic and after,” Dobson said.

To contribute questions in advance of each week’s show, please e-mail wellness@svhealthcare.org or post to Facebook with #VermontMedicalWeekly.

About SVHC:

Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) 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. SVHC includes Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), Southwestern Vermont Regional Cancer Center, the Centers for Living and Rehabilitation, and the SVHC Foundation. SVMC includes 25 primary and specialty care practices.

SVMC has earned several prominent distinctions. Most recently, SVMC received the American Hospital Association’s Rural Healthcare Leadership Award for transformational change in efforts toward healthcare reform and its fifth consecutive designation within the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program®. It ranked fourth in the nation for healthcare value by the Lown Institute Hospitals Index in 2020 and is one of Vermont’s Best Places to Work. SVMC earned an ‘A’ for hospital safety from the Leapfrog Group for two years in a row. During the pandemic, SVMC and both its skilled nursing facilities, the Centers for Living and Rehabilitation in Bennington, and the Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation at Hoosick Falls, earned perfect scores on a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services evaluation meant to determine the ability to prevent transmission of COVID-19 and other infections. 

Southwestern Vermont Medical Center 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.

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A Note from SVMC Dentistry

Unlike many other types of health care, most dental procedures require that a patient be present in the office with their mouth uncovered and wide open. In addition, many dental procedures, produce a lot of spray or aerosolized particles that could spread infection. For these reasons, reopening dental offices while COVID-19 circulates requires many strict precautions to ensure safety for patients and staff.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Vermont Department of Health have issued the requirements necessary to reopen our office for patient care. For the next few months, the changes lessen by half the number of patients we are able to see per day and dramatically change the care experience.

Here are some of the changes we've made:

  • We are screening and testing our staff, and all staff are wearing more protective equipment than ever, including treatment gowns and gloves, head coverings, facemasks (such as surgical masks, N95 masks, or respirators), and face-shields, as required during treatment procedures.
  • Patients can use the "virtual" waiting room to lessen the number of people in our waiting room and observe social distancing. We ask that only one person accompany a patient to a dental appointment and only if the patient needs assistance.
  • We screen patients at the Medical Office Building entrance to ensure they have no symptoms and that they are wearing a facemask. Patients must wear their facemask at all times, except during the actual treatment.
  • Some preventive care and treatments carry a higher risk for producing airborne oral droplets. These procedures may be modified to ensure that care is safe.
  • Most dramatically, depending on the dental treatment, a room must remain idle for 15 minutes - 1 hour to allow droplets to settle before disinfection. This limits the number of patients that we can treat each day.

While it is very disappointing to us—after all, we became dentists and hygienists because we like to provide dental care—all existing appointments will be suspended and a new schedule will be created, based on the time it takes for a room to be disinfected. We understand that this is frustrating for patients who must wait longer than usual for an appointment, but it is also necessary to make care safe for all.

Major changes to the ventilation systems—the installation of HEPA filtration and negative-pressure in our treatment rooms—will eliminate airborne droplets more quickly and enable us to see more patients per day. This change is expected to be complete later this summer.

In the meantime, we appreciate your patience as we meet your needs as best we can. We encourage you to continue vigilant home care and reach out to us with your questions. Most of all, we look forward to returning to a more normal time when we can deliver all of the dental care our community needs safely and efficiently.

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