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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Six Questions with General Surgeon Gina Diaz, MD

Both outpatient surgical procedures and those requiring an overnight stay are once again being offered at SVMC. General Surgeon Gina Diaz, MD, answers six questions about resuming surgical procedures safely.

1. How does it feel to be able to, once again, offer all of the procedures you had in the past?

As a surgeon, I like to do surgeries. So, to be honest, it feels wonderful get back to the work I enjoy. From late March through the beginning of May, we were still performing emergency surgeries, so everyone who needed a surgery was able to receive one during that time. But it's good to be back to a mix of scheduled and emergency procedures.

 

2. What types of procedures you perform?

My mentor during training sub-specialized in colon and rectal surgeries, and he passed that expertise and interest on to me. But I decided not to sub-specialize, because I also enjoy doing gall bladders, ulcer surgery, hernias, and the removal of skin lesions, cysts, and melanomas. Dr. Charles Salem and I work as a team on breast cancer surgeries. As a group, we provide thyroid and parathyroid and endocrine surgeries. And I provide colonoscopies. I grew up playing video games, which have a lot in common with colonoscopies, I think.

 

3. What do you like most about your job?

Surgery allows you to fix a problem for a patient right then and there. You don't have to wait 6 months for the problem to get better. You can make a problem go away. It’s very rewarding in that way.

 

4. In general, what additional precautions have been put in place to ensure that care is safe?

As surgeons, our precautionary measures have always been among the most advanced. We have always washed and sanitized many, many times a day. We were accustomed to wearing masks and shields, long before COVID-19. We implemented all of the recommendations from our industry, state, and national health institutions and review them consistently.

The whole team takes and reports their temperature daily. If patients are at risk of COVID-19, we wear N95 masks and can convert the operating room into a negative-pressure room. All of these precautions ensure that we don’t transmit infections to patients and they don't transmit them to us. I feel really good about the precautions that we have put in place.

 

5. What would you like to share with people who postponed care because of COVID-19?

I would share that it is safe to come to the hospital, see your providers, and have surgeries done. Adequate precautions are in place, and they are not going anywhere. We, as a group, feel it's safe. We encourage patients who are apprehensive to ask a lot of questions. We want them to be as comfortable as we are about having their procedure done.

 

6. How do you feel about providing care during this time?

I feel comfortable and safe providing care at this time. The new precautions we have put in place really protect both patients and staff, and the quality of care we provide is as high as ever. 

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