Culture Change Needed to Extend Telemedicine Use, Ga. Official Says
Oct. 14--ATLANTA -- It's the early stages for Hancock County's telehealth ambulances, but their tech on wheels could prove to be a model for the state.
"This is very encouraging for me, for those counties where, for example, we don't have enough providers. But we have providers in other parts of the state who are happy to see those patients," said Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health.
She and others were on hand Tuesday for a telehealth demonstration at a Board of Public Health meeting in Atlanta. Dr. Jean Sumner, associate dean for rural health at Mercer University School of Medicine and a Wrightsville physician, showed the board her tablet computer streaming real-time, up-close video of the eyes and ears of a medical tech back in Sparta.
Telemedicine is a "partial solution" to the lack of doctors in some rural communities, Fitzgerald said. She pointed out that county public health departments already have stationary telemedicine setups where patients dial into appointments with specialists in other cities.
Fitzgerald said she hopes the ambulances are rolled out elsewhere.
Sumner wants the Hancock Telehealth Access Initiative, which is a pilot, to grow beyond simply evaluating people who call 911. Eventually, telemedicne-equipped emergency medical technicians could do house calls, bring more tools out for exams that are not emergencies or could work as the eyes and ears of city doctors who need to follow up with rural patients.
"It's about a culture change. It's about empowering people to care for themselves and understand care," Sumner said.
Macon neonatologist Dr. Mitch Rodriguez is one of those specialists who are rare outside Georgia's cities.
He is also a member of the Board of Public Health. After Sumner's demonstration, he said he was optimistic that the Hancock system might turn out to be a new way to connect people with health care.
"On the front end, I think it's a great move, a fantastic way to get access," he said.
It could change culture, he said, if that mobile telemedicne turns out to be a way to follow up with distant patients, take a look at them and make sure they're taking their medicine, for example.
Sumner said the Hancock County program participants are collecting data and still working out difficulties, but their goal is to forge a model that can be replicated across the state.
To contact writer Maggie Lee, e-mail mlee@macon.com
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