Telemedicine Connects Patients To Care

By Chad Petri Reporter
.

AltaPointe Health Systems is using video conferencing technology to bring mental health specialists to rural South Alabama. Telemedicine Connects Patients To Care
Published: Tue, September 30, 2008 - 2:46 am Last Updated: Tue, September 30, 2008 - 4:00 am
Chad Petri
Chad Petri
16-year-old Amanda Parnell is being treated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder from an AltaPointe facility in Washington County. Registered nurse practitioner Dolores Bray is helping her computer in Mobile. She says the telemedicine system helps eliminate distractions.

“Because you don't have any interruptions, you're focused more on the person that you're looking at you have more time to spend with them,” says Bray. Workers here say their caseloads remain relatively the same, while they are able to see more patients. The technology also allows them to see patients in crisis quickly.

“So if someone comes in who's suicidal or homicidal we have the ability right then to hook up with a doctor in one of our other locations to be able to treat that patient so they can live a better life,” says AltaPointe CEO Tuerk Schlesinger. He says the system allows doctors to serve more people in rural areas of mobile and Washington Counties. He says it's care they wouldn't ordinarily get. Doctors spend less time commuting and more time helping patients.


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