Ladysmith's Susan McAdam saw the toll travel took on her ill 85-year-old mother as they drove to a respiratory specialist in Victoria.
She was stressed and in pain, with her condition only worsening during the hour-long ride.
"It was really hard on her," McAdam said. "We'd have to travel down to Victoria only to have a 10 minute appointment and turn around."
The experience has McAdam pushing for Telehealth service in Ladysmith, which can link patients through video conferencing with medical specialists anywhere in the country. She's $35,000 away from making it happen.
There are 23 sites across the Island but with popularity for the technology growing, there could be 30 at the end of the year, according to the Vancouver Island Health Authority.
The authority wants to see Telehealth in every community eventually and says it will support Ladysmith with staff and awareness programs if residents contribute to the equipment.
With Telehealth, patients can connect to consulting doctors or medical specialists in large city centres without having to leave their community. Health centres are fitted with a private room where people face a screen and camera that sends the patients image to the specialist and the image of the doctor to the patient.
The images are high-resolution and transmitted without time lags, making this much more advanced than an Internet service like Skype, said Heather Dunne, manager of the Ladysmith Health Centre.
Examination camera equipment can also be used by a nurse to send information to the specialist.
There is a stethoscope for a doctor to listen to the heart and a specialized camera that can be applied to the skin for high definition views of a patients' skin.
The technology is being used by thoracic surgeons, psychologists for addictions and opthalmologists, which can now remotely screen eye diseases related to diabetes.
"It's like an online clinic," Dunne said. "If you need to see an oncologist you walk down the street to the local health centre . . . the technology is so advanced that it's as if you are sitting in a room with them."
Patients from Ladysmith currently have to drive to Nanaimo or Duncan to use Telehealth services. That there's the chance for the community to get its own equipment is "exciting," Dunne said.
A room has already been earmarked in the health centre for the service.
McAdam is leading the charge on fundraising, contacting local service groups for help. There are 15 communities with Telehealth, she said. Ladysmith is one of the few Island communities still without.
Getting the technology is a no brainer, she adds.
"This makes health care more accessible to everyone," she said. "It can be expensive for people without vehicles to get a taxi to Nanaimo ... or for people to take time off work to drive family down to Victoria."
According to a report by notfor-profit Canada Health Infoway, $70 million was saved in personal travel costs in 2010 by Canadians who did not have to travel from their home communities to medical consultations.
An estimated $55 million was saved to government health care systems that would have gone to subsidized travel.
The health authority estimates about 180,000 Islanders leave their communities each year to see a doctor.
Margarita Loyola, manager for Telehealth at Vancouver Island Health Authority, said the program is a huge boon for the health care system and is more environmentally friendly, with people no longer having to drive great distances for short consultation appointments.
It's also helping to limit the feeling of isolation in small communities.
Loyola said VIHA will cover the costs of medical staff, ongoing technology programs and medical camera equipment if Ladysmith residents can cover the $35,000 capital cost of room renovations and equipment.
McAdam hopes to get enough money by the end of the year to fund the program.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Tamara Cunningham
Quelle/Source: Canada, 03.10.2011
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