RICHARD MORLEY | CVMC Vice President of Support Services
LEO MARTINEAU | CVMC Plant Facilities Foreman
Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) Program
SBIRT is a public health approach to early intervention and treatment for people who have – or are at risk of developing – substance abuse disorders. In 2013, the medical center received a five-year federal grant to implement the SBIRT model into the Emergency Department. The model involves an initial patient screening to assess alcohol and drug use, and then, depending on a person’s level of need, a connection to treatment options. Initial data from the project showed a significant decrease in alcohol use in patients at their six month follow up appointment. The success of the ED’s SBIRT project fueled a second two-year grant in 2014 to implement SBIRT into the primary care offices. Then in 2015 additional funding was secured to expand the SBIRT model into the Women’s Health practice. Since it began, the ED SBIRT program has screened approximately 13,000 patients.
ExpressCare
After the success of CVMC’s first walk-in ExpressCare facility located on the Barre-Montpelier Road in Berlin, the medical center went to work renovating a second clinic in Waterbury Center. Located at 76 McNeil Road, off Route 100, ExpressCare Waterbury offers the same quick and easy medical care as the first location. Designed as a safety net for adults and children with minor illnesses and injuries, who cannot access their primary care provider, the clinic is open every day, 365 days a year. The 6,000-square-foot location is similar to the Berlin clinic and offers on-site X-ray and lab services. Medical records are tied into the medical center system, all insurances are accepted and no appointments are necessary.
Concussion Care
The medical center concussion team recently collaborated with students from the Digital Media Arts class at U32 High School to produce a video educating young people about the impact of a blow to the brain. It features interviews with CVMC providers about the anatomy and physiology of the head and conversations with students who suffered concussions. The goal is to engage teens, coaches and parents through social media to create discussion about the importance of taking care of your brain after an injury. The multidisciplinary concussion team is made up of members from emergency medicine, neurology, pediatrics, sports medicine and rehabilitation therapy.
Hospital Efficiency
In the past five years the Energy Savings Initiative team reduced the medical center’s energy consumption by 24%. Working closely with Efficiency Vermont, the statewide energy efficiency utility, the team embarked on a multi-faceted program, starting with a hospital-wide energy audit followed by an energy master plan. Use of new and innovative technologies has led to an annual savings of 97,000 gallons of fuel oil and $440,000 per year in energy costs. It’s also saved over two million kilowatt-hours of electricity, which is equal to unplugging 277 homes in Vermont permanently.
