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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    How a Therapist Can Help
    Administrator Account
    / Categories: WELLNESS, 2020

    How a Therapist Can Help

    When we feel ill, we usually try to cope on our own. We might go to bed early or change our behavior in ways that we think might help. We might even tell friends and family about our symptoms to see if they have any helpful advice. If the problem doesn’t get better, we call to make an appointment with our medical provider.

    We are living in stressful times. Many of the stresses we are dealing with are unexpected and unavoidable. They can build up and become difficult to manage. Coping with emotional distress may mean getting some sleep, having a healthy meal, getting some exercise, or chatting with a supportive friend or family member. While these are good initial steps, we can’t expect that we will always have, or be aware of, the strategies that we need to cope. Our friends and family are not always capable of being the listeners we need. The average person is not a mental health professional. You are not expected to know exactly what to do to manage your stress, anxiety, or depression. So be patient with yourself. If you’ve tried to resolve emotional discomfort on your own without success, it’s time to get help from a professional.

    Just like a medical provider, a therapist will listen to you. Talking about your thoughts and feelings and the ways you have tried to resolve the discomfort on your own can often make you feel better. Simply giving voice to your worries or struggles can be very helpful, in and of itself.  It feels good to be heard and know that someone wants to help. You should feel as if it is a judgement-free zone and that you can be completely honest. Your therapist should feel like someone you can tell anything you need to.

    While a medical provider may recommend a behavior change or medication, a therapist is more likely to help you see your situation from a different point of view. Through conversation, they can help you get to the root of the issue, identify potential solutions, set goals and eventually overcome emotional challenges. Therapy is not just laying on a sofa and explaining your life from birth to present. It can be solution-focused. If you want to feel less anxious when talking to new people or learn how to manage your anger better, let your therapist know and that can be the focus of your sessions.

    Just like a medical appointment, therapy sessions are not always comfortable or pleasant. Painful feelings or experiences might come up. These are important things to get out there, when you are ready. You should feel as if your therapist is guiding you gently through these situations in a reassuring way and that you can be honest with them about how it is making you feel.

    Just like you don’t need to have a disease to benefit from medical care, you don’t have to be diagnosed with a mental health disorder to benefit from therapy. Many people seek counseling for help with everyday concerns: excessive worry, relationship problems, job stress, or self-doubt, for example. Others turn to therapy during difficult times, such as a divorce. Therapists help people build positive connections and navigate the path forward.

    There are many different types of therapists, including licensed professional counselors (LPC or LMHC), licensed clinical social workers (LICSW), psychologists (PsyD or PhD), licensed alcohol and drug counselors (LADC) and others. You can ask your primary care provider for a referral, check with your insurance company for a list of therapists in your area, or ask family and friends. Locally, United Counseling Service is a great resource for mental health services. Call 802-442-5491 and ask to speak with Universal Access.

    With the help of a therapist, you will have some help in discovering, exploring, and overcoming your challenges. Ultimately, with the help of a therapist, you will be stronger and more self-aware and able to experience all of the good life has to offer.

    Rachel Darby, PMHNP-BC, is a nurse practitioner at United Counseling Service in Bennington.

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    Tags: mental help emotional help therapist

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