New Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer
Administrator Account
/ Categories: NEWS, 2019

New Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer

BENNINGTON, VT—December 20, 2019—Bringing more than 30 years of health care executive experience, Pamela M. Duchene, PhD, APRN, has joined the executive management team at Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) as its Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer. 

“Pam was selected from a very strong and impressive list of candidates through a rigorous national search,” said Thomas A. Dee, FACHE, SVHC’s president and CEO. “She has a strong clinical skill set and excellent administrative expertise, and we are grateful to have her join our talented and hardworking team of nurses and administrators.”   

Duchene has served as the chief nursing officer at Hallmark Health System in Melrose, MA, a 368-bed facility, and at St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua, NH, which is a Magnet® Center for Nursing Excellence and has 208 beds. In addition, she has had extensive experience in the long-term care and rehabilitation industries, serving as a vice president of Harmony Healthcare International in Massachusetts, SunHealth Care Group in New Mexico, and HealthSouth New England in Massachusetts. Duchene is a practicing adult/gerontological nursing practitioner. She attained her Doctor of Nursing Science at Rush University in Illinois.

SVHC has been designated by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a Magnet® Center for Nursing Excellence four consecutive times. Magnet®-designated hospitals undergo rigorous review and are determined to offer the highest quality care, patient experience, collaboration, and innovation.

“I am thrilled to be here,” Duchene said. “Four consecutive Magnet® designations speaks to a culture of excellence, and walking through the halls of SVMC you can see and feel the high-quality care for patients and deep consideration for the community.”

In May 2019, SVHC designated Castleton University as its preferred partner for nursing education. Students who complete bachelor’s degrees in nursing at Castleton, obtain licensure, and meet pre-employment requirements are guaranteed employment at SVHC. In addition, the health system will pay back tuition debt to those accepted employees who work 6 consecutive years within the health system. The program is designed to incentivize advanced education and employment at SVHC.

“I approach the role of chief nursing officer from the servant perspective,” said Duchene. “I aim to support those providing direct care, so they can comfort and care for patients effectively.”

Duchene is expected to start in her new position at SVHC on January 2nd.

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. For more information, visit svhealthcare.org.

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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Emergency Department: Open, Ready, Safe. 

The last 3 months have been a uniquely challenging experience in the SVMC Emergency Department (ED) and emergency departments and hospitals all over the country and the world. I am very proud of all our staff has done and continues to do to ensure safe care for patients during this era of COVID-19. We are grateful that cases of COVID-19 in our area have been the lowest in the U.S. and have decreased even further over the past several weeks. We are also heartened to see that patients who had been avoiding the ED are now confident to return to get the care they need.

It may be surprising to hear that over the past few months, the sickest patients we have seen in the ER have not had COVID-19. Many people have refrained from seeking care for serious medical problems due to the fear of being exposed to the virus, assuming that the hospital was not a safe place to be and not recognizing the seriousness of their symptoms. The most challenging moments of the past several months have involved critically ill patients who tried to stay away for far too long due to fear of being exposed to COVID-19. We have had many sad moments trying to care for those who waited until it was too late for us to help with conditions that could have been easily treated if presented sooner.

One might expect that the greatest challenges related to the pandemic were those needed to adapt our facilities and procedures and the work of caring for sick COVID-19 patients. SVMC is fortunate to have built a strong foundation of safety and infection-prevention methods over many years, which made this transition much easier. Still, when it became apparent that we were going to see COVID-19 cases coming through our doors, we implemented many COVID-specific changes very quickly.

From day one our staff have all been fully trained to use protective equipment effectively, to focus on cleaning and disinfecting, and to move patients safely through the new areas created to keep them safe. We also spaced the waiting room chairs to allow for plenty of distance and initiated drive-by testing to keep potentially contagious people outside and away from other patients.

We immediately increased our standard of protective equipment we use. For example, all staff who relate with patients now wear both a mask and protective shield, which is a proven and effective strategy to prevent transmission. Those staff who work with patients with respiratory or other contagious symptoms also wear a gown and advanced respirators developed in cooperation with Mack Molding in Arlington. They look strange, but they help us deliver care safely.

We also quickly built special spaces and units in the hospital to treat and segregate patients with respiratory symptoms who might be contagious from those with other routine medical problems. Outpatients with symptoms that could be related to COVID-19 are directed to a spacious area called the Respiratory Evaluation Center. There they can be taken to a safe treatment space called a negative-pressure room without encountering any patients who are using the ED for other reasons or any staff who are not fully equipped with protective gear. There are similar, safe, negative-pressure units for those who require treatment in the ED or hospital.

Our hard work paid off. We have treated a number of COVID-19 patients in our ED and, as far as we know, not a single staff member was sickened in relation to their work here, and no patients have contracted COVID-19 while under our care. With our current procedures and drastically declining COVID numbers, we are confident that we can continue that trend. Furthermore, SVMC recently received a perfect score on a rigorous survey specifically designed to judge our ability to prevent transmission of COVID-19. At this time our ED is safer than just about any other public place you could go.

My goal in writing today is to communicate that SVMC’s Emergency Department is open, ready, and safe. If you need emergency care, we are here and we can care for you safely. Please do not defer emergency care until it is too late for us to help. While many symptoms can represent a serious medical problem, the most concerning are chest pain, difficulty breathing, fast heart rate, confusion, high fever, intense headache, drooping face, dehydration, or weakness. Of course, with any other symptom you feel indicates a serious problem, come in right away or call 9-1-1.

For us, spending time with patients and connecting on a personal level is the best part of our jobs. We take pride in our life-saving role in our communities and the work we have been able to do during the pandemic, but we cannot help if you do not come in. Please don’t hesitate to get the care you need when you need it.

Adam Cohen, MD, is a board-certified emergency medicine physician at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center. He also serves as the chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and the medical director of SVMC’s Emergency Department.

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