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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    Letter to the Community
    Administrator Account
    / Categories: WELLNESS, 2021

    Letter to the Community

    Within days of Vermont receiving its first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine three weeks ago, concerns emerged regarding vaccine distribution, prioritization, and administration. The concerns were justifiable, given the incredibly high stakes we all face. With any initiative of this magnitude, opportunities for improvement undoubtedly emerge. And when we look at what has been learned and already accomplished in a very short amount of time, the vaccine program in Vermont is actually going quite well, and it is becoming more effective each day.

    The Department of Health is working hard to coordinate vaccine deliveries from federal supplies and follow through with distribution to area health systems. All of the Vermont hospitals have put non-critical projects on hold in order to devote staff and resources to safe vaccine administration. The number one priority for all of us in healthcare in Vermont is to make the vaccine readily available to everyone and quickly pull ourselves out of this pandemic.

    Vermont is currently in what is called Phase 1a, focusing on healthcare workers, first responders, long-term care facilities, and those in residential living arrangements. In Southern Vermont, over 1,500 individuals in these categories have received their first dose of vaccine at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, and vaccination continues at a pace of over 200 people daily. Similar numbers are occurring at other hospitals throughout the state.

    The next group to be vaccinated will include those 75 years and older, followed later by younger age groups in a stepwise fashion dubbed “age bands.”  The state is also working to include those individuals with certain high-risk medical conditions regardless of age.

    The most significant barrier right now is vaccine supply. We are confident that the amount of vaccine will rise substantially within a few weeks. Vaccination of the public can then begin at large capacity sites being planned in a collaboration among the Vermont Department of Health, hospitals, pharmacies, and other entities, similar to the pop-up testing sites that have been so successful in our state.

    To reach immunity in the population, we need to vaccinate a lot of people, and we need to do so quickly. We cannot have vaccine sitting idle. Vaccine must be given whenever it is available and not reserved for certain populations. It does little good to vaccinate only a small portion of the population or drag the process out over a long period of time. We cannot tolerate the death rate, hospitalizations, school closures, and economic devastation. None of us wants to continue wearing masks, remain under travel restrictions, and be separated from our family and friends.

    Fortunately, vaccine supply will soon increase substantially, and Vermont has the people and processes in place to get the job done. Capable organizations and individuals at both state and community levels are working incredibly hard on this initiative above everything else. By early summer vaccination for all Vermonters will be readily available. Continue to wear masks and avoid gatherings. Encourage your friends and family to get vaccinated as it becomes available. Simply put, we can pull ourselves out of this mess. Stay positive, Vermont.

    Trey Dobson, MD, is the chief medical officer at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center. 

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