Community Members Donate Guided Technology for PICC Line Placement

Caption: (Standing) Chelsea Foy, RN; Darcy Main, RN, CRNI, VA-BC; Anne Farrara, Deb Farrara; and Jacqueline Reyman RN, CRNI, VA-BC (Seated) Bob Farrara and Tanya Cowder, MSN, RN, CNOR, Southwestern Vermont Medical Center’s senior director of Perioperative and Interventional Services. (Missing from photo: Melissa A. Spiezio, RT(R)(M), director of Imaging Services)

BENNINGTON, VT—December 23, 2019—The Interventional and Perioperative Services Departments at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC)—part of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC)—received a special gift from donors Bob and Anne Farrara of Eagle Bridge, NY.

The couple donated $10,000 for the purchase of an Arrow Vascular Positioning System (VPS) G4 Device from Teleflex. The machine expedites the placement of Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter (PICC) lines—a long thin tube inserted into a vein in the heart. PICC lines remain in place long term and provide clinicians convenient access to deliver intravenous (IV) antibiotics, nutrition, or medications or to draw blood over several encounters without the need for a needle stick.

“Everyone’s heart anatomy is a little different,” said Tanya Cowder, MSN, RN, CNOR, SVMC’s senior director of Perioperative and Interventional Services. “Just as a GPS system helps you navigate your car to your destination, this new technology helps clinicians place the PICC catheter tip in the optimal location for treatment.”

Before this technology was available at SVMC, a radiologic technologist would need to take a chest X-ray, and a radiologist would need to read it in order to determine catheter tip placement. This machine uses a sophisticated biosensor, rather than X-rays. It allows nurses with specialized training to place PICC lines and validate that the placement is accurate. The technology eliminates both the delay in initiation of therapy and the patients’ exposure to the radiation X-rays emit. 

The Farraras have donated to SVHC for many years. A number of their gifts have supported equipment needs.

“SVMC is a great place,” noted Bob. “When I am here, I feel like I am home. The staff are caring.”  

“We are so grateful to the Farraras for helping to bring this technology here for our patients and the teams who care for them,” Cowder said. “We will all enjoy the streamlined care experience this new equipment provides.”

For information about supporting important clinical advances, visit svhealthcare.org/support-us or call 802-447-5017.

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.