Medical Matters Weekly Features Telemed Expert
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Medical Matters Weekly Features Telemed Expert

BENNINGTON—March 19, 2021—Southwestern Vermont Health Care’s (SVHC) Medical Matters Weekly with Dr. Trey Dobson, a weekly interactive, multiplatform medical-themed talk show, will feature Kevin Curtis, MD, as a guest on its March 24 show. Dr. Curtis the medical director of Connected Care and the Center for Telehealth at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and an associate professor of Emergency Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. The two will discuss telemedicine before, during, and after the pandemic and the future of medicine.

The show is produced with cooperation from Catamount Access Television (CAT-TV) and airs live at 2 p.m. on Wednesdays. Viewers can see Medical Matters Weekly live on Facebook at facebook.com/svmedicalcenter and facebook.com/CATTVBennington. Those viewing on Facebook will be able to contribute questions through the chat function.

Dr. Curtis received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Clarkson University in 1984 and worked as an aerospace engineer for McDonnell Douglas Astronautics. In 1991, he obtained his MD from the Georgetown University School of Medicine and served in the Navy as a lieutenant commander and general medical officer. Dr. Curtis completed his Emergency Medicine Residency in 1998 at the George Washington University Medical Center followed by an Emergency Medicine Foundation Research Fellowship.

Prior to coming to Dartmouth-Hitchcock (D-H) in 2002, Dr. Curtis was member of the Emergency Medicine faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, splitting time between clinical practice and research on mechanisms of cerebral ischemia after cardiac arrest. Dr. Curtis cofounded the D-H Emergency Medicine Residency Program and served as its initial program director. In 2013, he received his master’s in Health Care Delivery Science from the Tuck School of Business and the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. While at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Kevin has also served as the Emergency Medicine research director, the assistant medical director of Emergency Services, and the medical director of TeleEmergency.

The program’s host, Trey Dobson, MD, is an Emergency Medicine physician with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and serves as Chief Medical Officer for Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, Vermont.  He is an Instructor of Emergency Medicine at Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine and a member of the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth-Hitchcock. He is past president of the Vermont Medical Society and currently sits on the Governance Council and performs medical practice peer review for the Vermont Program for Quality in Health Care. He obtained a Masters in Geology from the University of Wyoming and his Medical Degree at The University of Tennessee. Dr. Dobson completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Virginia.

After the program, the video will be available on area public access television stations. On CAT-TV, viewers will find the show on channel 1075 at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, 1:30 p.m. Monday, 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 7:30 a.m. Friday, and 7 p.m. Saturday. Videos and podcasts are on svhealthcare.org/MedicalMatters, as well as Youtube and on many podcast-hosting platforms, respectively.

Upcoming episodes will feature the following guests:

  • March 31: Stephen Leffler, MD, an emergency medicine physician and president and chief operating officer at the University of Vermont Medical Center.
  • April 7: David Veltre, MD, a hand and upper extremity specialist at SVMC Orthopedics in Bennington.
  • April 14: Vermont Commissioner of Health Dr. Mark Levine

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

About SVHC Medical Matters Weekly:
Medical Matters Weekly is an interactive, mulitplatform guest-driven talk show hosted by Dr. Trey Dobson. It provides a behind-the-scenes perspective on healthcare, including topics like behavioral health, food insecurity, equitable care, and the opioid crisis. The show is produced in partnership with Catamount Access Television (CAT-TV) and is broadcast on CAT-TV, Greater Northshire Access Television, Facebook Live, YouTube, and podcast platforms.

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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The Latest Testing Information

The world of COVID-19 testing is very complex and changing rapidly. But gratefully, unlike early on in the pandemic, tests are available for everyone who wants one, whether they have symptoms or not. Below is a list of common questions, along with answers from SVMC’s Laboratory Services Director Karen Bond and SVMC’s Director of Perioperative Services Tanya Cowder, MSN, RN, CNOR.

What are the reasons someone may get tested for COVID-19, even if they don't have symptoms? People without symptoms of COVID-19 are being tested when they are admitted to SVMC, before being discharged to other facilities, before scheduled surgeries, or because they may have been exposed to the virus. Primary care providers are also able to order a test for those who need to return to work or school or to end quarantine or isolation. And anyone can be tested through the Vermont Department of Health's Pop-Up Clinics.

What types of tests are available for detecting active cases of COVID-19? SVMC offers Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing that is processed at both outside labs and our own lab, depending on how quickly results are needed. PCR, which was pioneered by American biochemist Kary Mullis in 1983, actually amplifies and detects the presence or absence of small gene sections. In this case, it determines whether or not COVID-19 is present.

The specimen is most often taken from deep in the nose-throat passageway (nasalpharyngeal). Patients experience eye watering and a burning sensation for 30 seconds or less. The test can also be taken from inside the nose (anterior nares), depending on the patient population. The most common type of test, like those administered both at SVMC’s drive-up testing station and at the Vermont Department of Health’s Pop-Up Clinics, is greater than 90% sensitive (meaning that the test picks up the virus, if it is present) and greater than 90% specific (meaning the test detects the COVID-19 virus, as opposed to other viruses).

How do I get my results and what should I do? Results are usually provided by a primary care provider within 48 hours. Your primary care provider will share specific directions regarding what you should do next. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sharing this table, which provides a synopsis of tests, what results mean, and guidance for what to do. If the test is positive, the Vermont Department of Health may call before the primary care provider to initiate contact tracing.

Are all of the tests sufficiently available? Yes. Anyone with an order from their primary care provider can be tested at the drive-up testing site at SVMC. Anyone can be tested at the Vermont Department of Health's Pop-Up Clinics. Visit https://humanresources.vermont.gov/popups for times, dates, and locations. Tests for inpatients at the hospital are also in adequate supply.

Important Note: Remember test results offer a snap shot of the current active viral load. A negative test result doesn’t reveal whether you have been exposed in the past or predict whether you will be infected in the future. Whether or not the result is positive, we should all continue to wash our hands frequently, wear masks when in public and in proximity to those outside of our household, and stay 6 feet from others.

What about antibody tests? Antibody tests (serology) are also available. It does not tell you if you have active disease. Antibody tests check for antibodies that appear in the blood between about 1 – 3 weeks after symptom onset and may remain as long as a lifetime. Antibody tests may be positive while a person is infected. It is not yet known whether these antibodies protect against reinfection with the COVID-19 virus. For many other similar viruses, antibodies are protective for years or longer, but we do not yet have adequate data to know for COVID-19. Patients who would like the test would get a referral from their primary care provider and come to the SVMC Lab to have blood drawn. Results are delivered by the primary care provider.

Those who receive a positive antibody test or who have recovered from COVID-19 may qualify to donate plasma with the American Red Cross. The plasma, which includes antibodies, may help those fighting the disease. Learn more at https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/dlp/plasma-donations-from-recovered-covid-19-patients.html.

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