SVMC cardiology

 

 

STRIVING TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE ONE BEAT AT A TIME

You get one life and you get one heart. The board-certified cardiologists and associated practitioners at SVMC Cardiology are committed to helping you make the most of both.

Our patient-centered approach to care and personalized care plans maximize your quality of life while delivering the treatment you need when you need it.

Creating the appropriate treatment plan for your condition begins with a cardiac consultation. Your consultation is a chance for you to share your health history and current concerns with your cardiologist. All necessary exams and tests are conducted on-site by your cardiac care team. The results are shared and discussed directly with you so that you fully understand your condition, treatment options, associated risks, and potential lifestyle changes.

After a heart episode or surgery, there’s nothing our cardiac team and you want more than for you to just get back on your feet and live the life you want. That’s why we begin your rehabilitation program before you even leave the hospital. Through a combination of education and exercise, your personalized program will help you build strength and reduce your risk factors. Using the full range of cardio equipment in our Cardiac Rehab Center and under the watchful eye of our rehab team, you’ll improve your heart’s strength and capacity and get closer to resuming a full and active lifestyle. For more information about Cardiac Rehabilitation, click here.

In order to understand how well your heart is or isn’t functioning, an echocardiogram may be performed. This non-invasive procedure uses sound waves to produce images of your heart. Both of SVMC’s cardiologists are board certified in echocardiography and able to observe how your heart is pumping and identify any abnormalities in the heart muscle or valves. An echocardiogram allows our team to make the most informed and appropriate recommendations for the next steps in your care.

If a standard echocardiogram does not provide a clear image of your heart, your SVMC care team may recommend a transesophageal echocardiogram or TEE. Performed at the hospital, this procedure involves inserting a flexible tube containing a transducer down your throat and into your esophagus. From this closer vantage point, the transducer then uses sound waves to create more detailed images of your heart and allows for better diagnosis.

Before we treat your heart, we need understand how it’s performing. At SVMC we offer a number of non-invasive stress tests that can quickly and easily reveal a number of things including: how well your heart works during increasing levels of activity; how certain medications are impacting blood flow; the effectiveness of procedures done to improve heart performance; and more.

If you have risk factors for heart disease, calcium scoring may may help you learn more about whether you are actually at risk. The non-invasive test uses high-speed CT imaging technology to measure the hardening of the heart’s arteries, a leading indicator of heart disease and heart attacks. Visit the calcium scoring page for complete details. 

A pacemaker is one of the most effective ways to ensure a heart maintains a steady, healthy beat. The SVMC cardiac team is exceptionally skilled and experienced at both pacemaker implantation and monitoring. Considered a minor surgery, implantation takes place at the hospital with most patients returning to normal activity (and a more steadily beating heart) within a few days. Like all medical equipment, pacemakers need a little TLC every now and then. At SVMC our cardiac team can perform routine monitoring, both remotely and in the office, and reprogramming as needed.

One of the most common cardiac diagnostic tools, an EKG is a painless way to check for problems with the electrical activity of your heart. The EKG translates and records your heart’s electrical activity over a period of time and translates it into waves. Your SVMC care provider can use printouts of the waves to detect any patterns that might point to a specific condition and put together a treatment plan that meets your specific needs.

Should your SVMC cardiac care provider want to monitor your heart over a longer period of time than is practical for a standard EKG, you may be given a Holter or event monitor. Worn outside the body and completely painless, monitors are helpful in detecting abnormalities that only happen occasionally and can help your doctor link any abnormalities to specific activities or events in your day.

Carotid ultrasound
At SVMC our goal is to treat your health issues before they become problems. Using our sophisticated carotid ultrasound test, your cardiac care provider can detect blockages in your neck arteries that could lead to a stroke or indicate problems in other parts or your circulatory system.

Education
Because understanding what causes heart problems is essential to resolving them, we offer a variety of educational resources to patients and their families.  Workshops are offered on an ongoing basis throughout the Dartmouth-Hitchcock network, and condition-specific literature is available in our offices. 

SVMC Cardiac Rehab

SVMC Pulmonology

American Heart Association 

Go Red for Women 

American College of Cardiology 

140 Hospital Drive, Suite 211, Bennington, VT 05201
Phone: (802) 442-0800
Fax: (833) 343-1597

Hours:
Monday – Friday:  8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Directions: 
For directions to SVMC Cardiology, click here. 

Parking:
For appointments at SVMC Cardiology, park in parking area P3 or P5.

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    Castleton University and Southwestern Vermont Health Care Announce Nursing Partnership
    Anonym
    / Categories: NEWS, 2019

    Castleton University and Southwestern Vermont Health Care Announce Nursing Partnership

    CASTLETON – Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) has designated Castleton University as its preferred partner for nursing education. With the impending closure of Southern Vermont College, SVHC anticipates there will be a shortage of registered nurses with a bachelor of science degree to fill vacant positions in the immediate future and beyond, which are necessary to sustain critically important services and meet the needs of the communities it serves.

    To address the anticipated shortage at SVHC, Castleton University has submitted a substantive change request to the New England Commission of Higher Education to establish an additional location in Bennington to deliver its Bachelor of Science in Nursing program beginning in the fall of 2019. Castleton plans to share space with Vermont Technical College.

    Southwestern Vermont Health Care has made a commitment to offer employment to Castleton students who satisfactorily complete the BSN program, obtain licensure, and meet pre-employment requirements. Additionally, SVHC will pay back (in full) tuition debt to those accepted employees that work six consecutive years within the health system.

    Castleton University President Dr. Karen M. Scolforo hopes that by delivering an affordable nursing program in Bennington, students from southern Vermont and nearby New York and Massachusetts will be encouraged to pursue a nursing career at SVHC.

    “Community hospitals across the country are facing a critical shortage of nurses and unfortunately SVHC is no different. This partnership will make a Castleton education accessible to more students while also helping to accommodate the anticipated staffing needs of SVHC,” Scolforo said.

    Prospective students from nearby Berkshire County in Massachusetts and Albany, Saratoga, Schenectady, Washington, Warren, and Rennselaer Counties in New York will benefit from paying the equivalent of Vermont resident tuition to attend Castleton’s Bennington location.

    SVHC is a four-time Magnet® designated hospital and recognized as one of the leading small rural health systems in the Northeast. Magnet® designated hospitals—health care systems rated as providing the highest quality care, patient experience, collaboration and innovation—require a significant number of credentialed nurses with BSNs in their workforce. The Vermont Talent Pipeline authored research in 2018 that reported Vermont will be facing 3,900 healthcare vacancies by 2022—the majority of which are nursing positions. SVHC itself will be facing approximately 50 nursing vacancies through retirement.

    “Training and retaining the nurses of the future for the state of Vermont and SVHC is of the utmost critical need,” stated Tom Dee, president and CEO of Southwestern Vermont Health Care. “We are appreciative and excited to be collaborating with Castleton to develop a pathway for students to achieve an affordable, high quality education and vibrant employment opportunities.”

    Southwestern Vermont Health Care and Castleton University will also maintain its nursing education relationships with Vermont Technical College and Community College of Vermont and establish professional development opportunities for current SVHC employees.

    ABOUT SOUTHWESTERN VERMONT HEALTH CARE: 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.

    ABOUT CASTLETON UNIVERSITY: Castleton University is small enough to be a community where every student matters, yet offers more than 75 programs of study for undergraduate and graduate students, 28 varsity sports, and over 50 clubs and organizations. The University stresses experiential learning through internships, community service, and research opportunities provided by more than 400 community partners. 

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    Tags: nursing Castleton University nursing education Bennington

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