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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    The 5 Ws of Occupational Therapy
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    / Categories: WELLNESS, 2021

    The 5 Ws of Occupational Therapy

    Until you need occupational therapy, you might not even know what it is. That’s why, during Occupational Therapy Month, which is celebrated in April each year, I am reaching out to share a little bit about what the ten occupational therapists and six occupational therapy assistants who work at SVHC do every day. I hope that everyone will come away with an understanding of how occupational therapy improves lives.

    Who 
    Occupational therapy is an allied health profession performed by occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants. Occupational therapists at SVHC and throughout the world are fortunate to work with people of all ages. We have a passion for helping people do the things they want and need to do. Common occupational therapy patients include children with disabilities who would like to participate fully in school and social situations, people recovering from injury who would like to regain skills, and older adults who would like to mitigate physical and cognitive changes. The patient is an integral part of the therapy team.

    What
    Occupational therapists focus on rehabilitating the patient in order to complete the tasks that are most important to them.  OTs can take that process a step further by adapting the environment and/or task to fit the person.

    Occupational therapy usually starts with a referral from a physician, followed by an individualized evaluation, during which the client/family and occupational therapist determine the person’s goals. Customized interventions improve the person’s ability to perform daily activities and reach the goals. Finally, outcome evaluations ensure that the goals are being met. If not, we make changes to the intervention plan until the patient is able to accomplish what they would like. It is an evidence-based practice deeply rooted in science.  While we sometimes use gym-type equipment or other exercises, we also use the activities themselves (the occupations, so to speak) to help people improve their functionality.

    Where
    Occupational therapists work in many settings, including hospitals and long-term care facilities, outpatient rehabilitation and primary care offices, schools, and sometimes within people’s homes. Throughout the pandemic, we have been delivering therapy sessions to patients at home using telemedicine.

    When
    Any time we are needed, occupational therapists are there. At our outpatient setting, patients make an appointment just as they would for any other medical provider. Usually a series of appointments with some exercises and activities to be completed independently help people make the steady progress needed. In our hospital, if you are admitted with an illness that prevents you from fully completing your activities of daily living, you can expect that our OTs will be a part of your care team.  Additionally, if you ever find yourself needing rehab at one of SVHC’s skilled nursing facilities, you will get to work hand in hand with our occupational therapy team. Together with our occupational therapists, patients build the strength and functionality they need to meet their goals.

    Why
    The limitations imposed on us by disability, injury, or age can be overcome. We want everyone to feel empowered to push through challenges and to do things they had doubts they could. There is no greater satisfaction for the occupational therapist to see that they have helped someone toward a more full and fulfilling life.

    To learn more about occupational therapy at SVHC, visit https://svhealthcare.org/services/rehabilitation/occupational-therapy.

    Michaelia St. Jacques, OTR/L, is the outpatient rehab clinical manager and the Occupational Therapy team leader at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington.  

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