Last month, a 25-year-old came to Baptist Union County unable to move her arms and legs. Doctors quickly realized they needed to consult an infectious disease physician. But there isn’t one in New Albany.
Fortunately, the hospital was able to consult with Dr. Manoj Jain using our telehealth technology. He thought the patient might have an infection in the spine; an MRI confirmed he was right and that the patient was becoming paralyzed. The health care team transferred the patient to Baptist Memphis, where their team saved her life and limbs. If we didn’t have telehealth technology, the patient couldn’t have been diagnosed in New Albany and may have been a paraplegic.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Brendan Carr heard this story and much more during his visit to our Patient Placement Center and TeleGuardian eICU. The FCC is establishing a $100 million Connected Care Pilot Program, which will fund telehealth projects to help improve broadband connectivity to low-income patients.
I am so proud Commissioner Carr visited us because it shows that national leaders are taking notice of our telehealth program’s success. And that’s because of the work you do. All the technology in the world wouldn’t make us successful. You do. The beauty of telehealth is that it expands our team and enables us to communicate with one another more effectively. It combines the knowledge of our strong team members and creates a strong team.
Do you have any experiences with telehealth that you would like to share? Email them to me, tweet me @jason_m_little or find me on LinkedIn.
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