If you have an inpatient procedure scheduled at CVMC, we encourage you to take the time to learn what to expect while you are here at CVMC. Knowing what to expect can help make your experience less stressful.
You can also download our "Patient's Guide to Healing" which contains all of the key information you need to know about your inpatient stay at CVMC.
Preparing for Your Stay
Financial Arrangements
Contact your insurance company or the benefits specialist at your workplace to make sure you have met your plan’s requirements for prior approval and second opinions, and to understand what portion of the bill your insurance will cover.
For more information about insurance, click here.
Financial Assistance
If payment of your medical bills creates a financial hardship, you may be eligible for free or reduced cost care.
To find out more about your options, click here.
Advance Directives
In the event you should be unable to make decisions in the future, you can control decisions about your health care by completing an advance directive (living wills/health care proxy). To download the form, click here.
For more information about Advanced Directives, go to Vermont Ethics Network.
What to Bring
To avoid losing any important belongings during your hospital stay, please bring only what you need. This might include:
- A list of your current medications
- Toiletries
- Nightclothes, bathrobe and slippers
- A book or magazines
- Insurance cards
- A means for payment of co-pay or deductible
- Medical equipment essential for your hospital stay
- A copy of your advance directives (living will/health care proxy)
DO NOT bring: valuables, non-essential items, extra clothing or your actual medications.
During Your Stay
Admissions/Registration
Your first stop when you arrive at CVMC is Patient Admissions/Registration, which is located directly off the main lobby.
Our Health Care Providers
During your stay at CVMC you will come into contact with different types of doctors and nurses who will be responsible for your care.
To learn more about your health care providers, click here.
Patient Support Services
While you are in the hospital you will also have access to a variety patient support services:
- Care Management: Organizes appropriate care before, during and after a patient's hospital stay.
- Palliative and Spiritual Care: Palliative Care enhances quality of life by relieving pain and suffering, improving the quality of living and dying for people with chronic, terminal or life-limiting illness.
- Ethics Committee: Support in making decisions about treatment options.
Interpreter Services: Support for non-English speaking and hearing impaired patients is available. Arrangements can be made by speaking with a nurse or care manager on your health care team or by contact us at:
802-371-4357
Monday to Friday
7:30 am and 4:00 pm
Hospital Routines
While your experience in the hospital may vary from day to day, there are typical daily routines that you can expect to experience while you are at CVMC.
To learn more about hospital routines, click here.
Hospital Amenities
- Room Amenities: Most patient rooms have televisions, telephones and internet access. Please be considerate of your roommate when using these.
- Private Rooms*: Single occupancy rooms with private bathrooms are available in the 2 North wing of the hospital.
- Meal Service: Our Nutrition and Food Services department oversees all patient meals while you are at the hospital.
- Other Amenities: The hospital has a gift shop, cafeteria, ATM machine and more.
Visiting Hours and Policies
Family and friends, in good health, including children accompanied by an adult, are welcome to visit during visiting hours or as arranged to accommodate patient and family needs. Each unit has a waiting room for the use of visitors.
View Visiting Hours and Policies.
Discharge from the Hospital
Your discharge from the hospital may be a simple one back to your own home, or to your own home with care from a local home health/visiting nurses agency or another community resource, or to a rehabilitation or nursing facility such as Central Vermont Medical Center’s Woodridge Rehabilitation and Nursing.
Whatever the case may be, there are many things to consider before leaving the hospital, and CVMC has many resources to help in your planning.
Care Management
Care Management will work with you and your family to ensure that you are being discharged to an appropriate environment and with sufficient support. The nurse and care managers can connect you with community resources and help you with other practical and financial concerns related to your hospitalization, including insurance and reimbursement issues. They are available to support you and your family throughout your hospital stay—our goal is to effectively and efficiently promote the best possible outcome for patients, families and the community.
To learn more about care management, click here.
Discharge from the Hospital
Other things that you will need to consider prior to your discharge include:
- How will you get home from the hospital?
- Who will be at home to help you?
- What limitations will there be on your activity?
- When can you return to work, driving, etc.?
Discharge Instructions
- Get written instructions that you can understand for follow-up care and be sure to ask any questions you have regarding the instructions.
- If you are going home with medical equipment, make sure you understand how to use it or make sure you know who will be visiting you at home to demonstrate the use of the equipment (often times the Durable Medical Equipment supplier does the teaching).
- Get written instructions for use of medical equipment. Know who to call in case you have questions about the equipment.
- Get a list of the medication(s) you will take at home, written instructions on how to take them, and written restrictions, such as foods to avoid and activities to avoid.
- When picking up medication from your pharmacy, read the label. Be sure it is what your doctor prescribed.
Please be sure to follow your discharge instructions, when you return home!
Patient Survey
You may receive a survey from us through the mail. It does take some time to complete, but we are very interested in your feedback, so please do take the time to fill it out. Several people have suggested that we use a Vermont survey company instead of one from out of state. There are only two survey companies that work with hospitals in the United States that are able to supply us with comparison data so we know how we perform compared to our peers. We regret that neither of these companies is located in Vermont.