Wintery Conditions
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/ Categories: WELLNESS, 2022

Wintery Conditions

Winter weather dries out the air. It makes it easier for contagious respiratory illnesses—like COVID, the flu, and RSV—to travel between people. It also affects our skin and lips. Here’s a quick run down of some things you can do to fight back against both the serious and more minor conditions that affect us this time of year. 

Get vaccinated. I know. We say this all the time. Because it’s true. Vaccines keep serious illnesses from becoming serious. When you get vaccinated you spare yourself weeks of illness, and you decrease your odds of spreading a potentially deadly disease to someone more vulnerable.

Wash your hands. Wash your hands with warm water and plenty of soap for 20 seconds frequently throughout the day, especially before and after eating or preparing food; after using the toilet, changing a diaper, or helping a child with using the toilet; and after blowing your nose or catching a cough or sneeze. See a complete list of handwashing moments at cdc.gov/handwashing.

Wear gloves. Wearing warm outdoor gloves in cold weather protects skin from extreme cold and wind and the drying that comes with it. Wearing rubber or latex gloves for water-related chores, like doing dishes and heavy cleaning, prevents the water and chemicals from stripping important skin-protecting oils from your skin. 

Eat a healthy diet. Nutritious food is an important part of maintaining our immune system and the moisture in our skin and lips. A variety of proteins, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables will provide vitamins A, C, D, and E; zinc; and selenium, all of which help to keep skin and the rest of your body healthy.

Moisturize your hands and lips regularly. After bathing and before bed are good moments to apply moisturizer and lip balm. Target the hands, lower legs, elbows, and lower arms, which get particularly dry, especially as we age. Lotion can keep skin from drying and cracking. Cracked skin can become itchy, stinging, and inflamed and is more vulnerable to infection.

If skin is already in need of healing, moisturize with an ointment. Then, put on a pair of cotton gloves overnight. Dry patches that persist could be a sign of a more serious condition. Consult with your doctor.

With these steps, we can keep our skin and lungs safe from conditions that afflict us when the temperature drops.

Dagmar Tobits, MD, is a primary care and family medicine physician at SVMC Deerfield Valley Campus in Wilmington, VT. The practice is part of Southwestern Vermont Medical Center and Southwestern Vermont Health Care in Bennington. 

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OB/GYN Care in a New Age

I am a strong believer in preventive care. Our patients are healthiest and OB/GYN physicians are most successful when we see each other at least annually and as soon as concerns arise. While this hasn't always been possible throughout the pandemic, I am happy to report that it is slowly getting easier to provide and receive care in the ways we had been used to, with a few adjustments for added safety.

I am especially concerned about patients who may have delayed care. While some concerns can safely wait a short while, putting off care in other situations may worsen the condition or the outcome. I encourage both new and returning patients to call the office to discuss resuming regular care and discussing any concerns that may have come up.

Here's what you can expect, including some of the innovative ways we are meeting patients' needs safely.

When you call the office, the receptionists will schedule an appointment for you. An easy telehealth option is great for reviewing results, developing care plans, providing contraceptive and fertility counseling, and consulting about weight management. For these purposes, the receptionist will likely recommend a televisit. It is very easy to connect and so convenient; while we love seeing you in person, we have to wonder why we haven’t been using telehealth appointments all along! Complete information about telehealth visits can be found here.

As you might expect, OB/GYN care often requires a physical examination, so many of our patient visits—including those for patients needing annual exams, testing, and therapeutic appointments—are still happening in person and in the office. The receptionists are working to stagger visits to decrease the number of people in the office at any one time.

Those coming to the office in person will notice a check-in station at the entrance to the Medical Office Building. The attendant will ask you a few questions about any symptoms you have and lend you a cloth face covering to use, if you don't have one. Wearing the mask over both your mouth and nose for your entire visit is required. For your safety and theirs, you will notice that all staff are wearing masks, too, along with either goggles or a shield. Hopefully you can still tell that we are all smiling, even under our masks!

If an outpatient elective surgical procedure is a part of your care plan, your OB/GYN and other staff will walk you through the process. A few changes, including COVID-19 testing in advance and intensified monitoring after the procedure, increases patient safety.

For those expecting to deliver a baby at SVMC, we are focused on maintaining all of the wonderful things our patients have come to expect from their experiences on the Women's and Children’s unit. Caring medical staff and nurses, individualized attention, and compassionate support are all in abundant supply.

Like when coming to the office, growing families will notice the check-in at the hospital's main entrance and staff wearing protective equipment. Our visitor’s policy indicates only one support person. We recognize that this is so challenging, and we are working to provide all of the support we can to bring your birth experience safely in line with what you had hoped, right down to the cheering support squad provided by a family via video chat during a delivery I attended earlier this week.

In the case that a family has had any exposure to COVID-19, the Women's and Children’s Unit has its own negative-pressure room. Extensive infection-prevention policies—consistent across all of the medical professionals involved with care for growing families, including OB/GYNs, pediatricians, midwives, and nurses—keep moms, babies, families, and staff safe. In fact, SVMC recently got a perfect score on a rigorous survey specifically designed to judge our infection-prevention measures.

Our ongoing commitment—pandemic or no pandemic, no matter your OB/GYN need—is to work through your concerns and deliver safe, individualized, and effective care for you. We hope that new and returning patients will call on us to help them maintain or regain their health. We are open, ready, and safe to provide the care you need.

Kimberley Sampson, MD, is the medical director of OB/GYN at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.

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