SVHC Previews Medical Matters Weekly for February 24

A Look at Emergency Nursing at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center

BENNINGTON—February 18, 2021—Southwestern Vermont Health Care’s (SVHC) Medical Matters Weekly with Dr. Trey Dobson, a weekly interactive, multiplatform medical-themed talk show that launched February 10, will feature two Emergency nurses—Alexandra Chaffin, RN, and Jill Maynard, RN—as guests on its February 24 show. The show will cover what it is like to be an emergency nurse during the COVID-19 pandemic and initiatives implemented to ensure patient and staff safety.

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.

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 8:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Thursdays, 1 p.m. Fridays, 4:30 p.m. Saturdays, 6 a.m. Sundays, noon Mondays, 9 p.m. Tuesdays, and 8 p.m. Wednesdays. Videos and podcasts are on svhealthcare.org/MedicalMatters, as well as Youtube and on many podcast-hosting platforms, respectively.

Alexandra Chaffin, RN, has been a nurse at SVMC since 2010 and has worked in the Emergency Department since about 2014. She received her associates’ in nursing from Vermont Technical College and anticipates graduating with a bachelor’s in nursing from Castleton University this summer. She serves as a staff nurse, where she cares for patients, and as a charge nurse, in which case she is responsible for the movement of both staff and patients and as a resource to ensure care is executed appropriately throughout the department. She is also a member of the ED Advisory Council.

Jill Maynard, RN, is the director of nursing for the Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center. She received her bachelor’s in nursing from Southern Vermont College in Bennington and will soon graduate with her master’s in nursing with a focus on leadership and management. She joined the SVMC nursing staff in 2004.  Prior to this, she served as an Advanced EMT for her local rescue squad and as an ED Technician. In her current role, she manages the ExpressCare, emergency, and ICU nursing. She also leads nursing initiatives, including those to ensure safe emergency access for COVID and non-COVID patients, to decrease workplace violence, and to increase access to high quality efficient emergency care. She has been instrumental in emergency management and preparedness, in the development of the Respiratory Evaluation Center and the Emergency Crisis Area, and in the implementation of support programs for individuals affected by mental health conditions and substance abuse. 

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. 

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, multi-platform 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.