Medical Matters Weekly Preview: Labor and Delivery Pros
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Medical Matters Weekly Preview: Labor and Delivery Pros

BENNINGTON—May 21, 2021—Southwestern Vermont Health Care’s (SVHC) Medical Matters Weekly with Dr. Trey Dobson, a weekly interactive, multiplatform medical-themed talk show, will feature Themarge Small, MD, an OB/GYN with SVMC OB/GYN, and veteran maternity nurse Deborah Mone, RN, as guests on its May 26 show. The women’s health professionals will reflect on their years helping new families deliver their babies.

The show will air live at 12 p.m. and is produced with cooperation from Catamount Access Television (CAT-TV). Viewers can see Medical Matters Weekly live on Facebook at facebook.com/svmedicalcenter and facebook.com/CATTVBennington. 

Dr. Small earned a bachelor’s in political science from the University of Vermont and a post-baccalaureate certificate in premedical studies from Mills College in California. She went on to receive her medical degree from the University of California Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine. She completed her residency in OB/GYN at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire. Dr. Small served as the chair of the department of OB/GYN in 2014 and 2015 and as both the vice president and the president of the medical staff. In addition to her roles at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), she is a clinical assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine. Dr. Small is certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is a fellow of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Deborah Mone has been a nurse at SVMC for 41 years. She received her nursing degree at Columbia Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Hudson, NY. She holds an inpatient obstetrics certification from the National Certification Corp. Even after so many years, she is honored to share the “once in a lifetime” experience of birth with her patients. She relates her success in nursing to the power of being “fully vested in and completely present” with the families in her care. Deborah has also been instrumental in caring for families who lose a pregnancy or infant. She leads the Sharing to Heal support group and works to provide a comforting environment for families grieving a loss.

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. GNAT-TV's Comcast channel 1074 airs the program at 8 a.m. Monday, 9 p.m. Wednesday, and 1 p.m. Saturday.

Upcoming guests include:

  • 12 p.m. Wednesday, June 2: SVMC Neurologist Emma Weiskopf, MD, will take us inside the brain. 
  • 12 p.m. Wednesday, June 9: Executive Director of Hunger Free Vermont Anore Horton will talk about statewide food security initiatives. 
  • 12 p.m. Wednesday, June 16: Patricia Ryan, RN, will share how she helps mend and strengthen hearts at SVMC Cardiac Rehabilitation.
  • 12 p.m. Wednesday, June 23: SVMC Pediatrician Meghan Gunn, MD, will share her interest in children’s health and her thoughts about vaccinating adolescents and children for COVID-19.

Videos and podcasts are on svhealthcare.org/MedicalMatters, as well as on YouTube and many podcast-hosting platforms, respectively.

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, multiplatform guest-driven talk show hosted by Dr. Trey Dobson. It provides a behind-the-scenes perspective on health care, 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, healthcare 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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How to Become a Mask Wearer

Long before COVID-19, online chat groups for people with pulmonary fibrosis (PF) were filled with posts about how uncomfortable it is to wear a mask in public: not physically uncomfortable, a fact that was barely mentioned, but psychologically uncomfortable. For people with this condition or the lung transplant used to cure it, catching a cold or the flu could be deadly. They need to wear masks in public to help protect themselves from getting ill.

The participants discussed how awkward it is riding the bus in a mask, going to the grocery store in a mask, or boarding a plane while wearing one. They were mostly self-conscious that others would think they were ill or weak. Many would rather suffer the risk of getting fatally sick than put a mask on in a department store.

Now, we've all been directed to wear masks in public. Both Bennington and Wilmington's Select Boards have passed local mandates requiring masks in public places. This—along with distancing and handwashing—are crucial parts of returning to a more normal way of life. Suddenly, we are all feeling the psychological discomfort PF patients have felt for many years.

People usually have an interest in blending in. And, just like doing anything out of the ordinary, wearing a mask for the first time definitely feels like putting yourself out there. If we want to return to a somewhat normal way of life, masks are crucially important, along with frequent, thorough handwashing and keeping a distance from others.

Here are a few tips for making the leap from being someone nervous about wearing a mask to being a person who wears one regularly.

Do it for others. We know that people can spread COVID-19 as many as a few days before they get sick. Even if you feel fine, you could have COVID-19 right now without knowing it. At the same time, masks are far better at keeping sick people from spreading germs than they are at keeping people from getting sick. So wearing a mask isn't a sign of weakness; it's a sign of altruism. It's like saying, "I am not certain that I am not sick, so I want to pay those around me the consideration of limiting the likelihood I will infect them." Think of it as a badge of kindness.

Get a mask that fits. We know that masks are not completely comfortable physically. Getting the right fit makes a big difference in their "wearability." Cloth masks are readily available online and from local groups. The Green Mountain Mask Makers have excellent information and resources. If you can, purchase a few types in a few sizes to see which you like best. Buy enough of that type to allow washing between trips out in public.

Get a mask that you like. Once you have found a mask source and as long as you have a choice, pick one that you like. You can choose colors that match your wardrobe or that represent your interests, like camouflage. There are even masks that look like fashionable scarves when they hang around your neck. The sooner we start thinking of masks as part of our outfits, as essential and unremarkable as shoes or a belt, the healthier we will all be.

Try to quit caring about what others think. This one is hard. But one wise PF patient wrote, "I just don't give a darn!" Essentially, he shared that if people want to judge him for wearing a mask, so be it. Their opinions don't have a single thing to do with him. Many in the chat group applauded his confidence and vowed to adopt his attitude.

If we all do our best, soon the cultural scale will tip. Wearing a mask or not wearing one will cease to be a political statement. It will be normal. And thankfully, if wearing a mask in public, handwashing and sanitizing, and keeping our distance are all normal, going out into public again can be safe and normal too.

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

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