05/16/06 Telemedicine

Telemedicine help on the way. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. There was a time when the doctor came to you. There was no multi-level healthcare system to get lost in. You simply called the doctor and they brought their little black bag right to your bedside. Having that kind of access to medical help is coming full circle again with the advent of telemedicine. Applications for grants to aid rural communities in strengthening telemedicine, and rural health care as a result, are now available through USDA's Department of Rural Development. DORR: This allows people who are very interested in living in rural areas to do so with the realization that their access to healthcare has not been limited in fact in many cases has been substantially enhanced. USDA's Under Secretary for Rural Development Tom Door believes in the program. They've recently offered 20 million dollars in grants for rural communities to strengthen telemedicine capabilities. DORR: What we are finding is that the administrators and the owners of these facilities, frequently municipalities, are able to provide broadband access and ultimately provide better diagnostic; better care all the way around. And while it's not quite as good as having a bedside visit from your physician, it is the next best thing for rural communities. DORR: And it comes with everything from actually having a real time interview with a patient to transmitting radiology information and other sorts of tests back and forth over the internet if you may in a very high speed manner. And it enables us to provide a much higher quality of healthcare in rural areas than would have been the norm 10 years ago. In addition to the telemedicine, distance learning is being promoted. Distance learning projects provide funding for computers and internet hookups in schools and libraries. Now, students living in sparsely populated rural areas can obtain the same quality of education previously offered to suburban and urban areas. Telemedicine provides clinics and health care centers and their in rural areas with instant access to physicians hundreds or thousands of miles away, without any travel involved. The physician can do anything from conversing with the patient to making visual examinations, to running complicated tests - all in real time! Visit the USDA's Rural Development web site for more information. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.