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New
telehealth grants improve access to health care
January 12, 2004
- article originally published on Government
of Alberta website -
Edmonton...Children, seniors, emergency patients and people in rural areas
are among the many Albertans who will benefit from better access to health
care, supported by new telehealth grants.
Across the province, 19 initiatives are sharing more than $1.2 million through
the Telehealth Clinical Services Grant Fund. The projects will enhance paediatric
and geriatric care; improve asthma care and provide diabetes programs in rural
communities, help Albertans receive earlier clinical care in an emergency,
and increase tele-psychiatry services.
Using videoconferencing and, often, specialized medical instruments, patients
can be examined or monitored through telehealth as if they were in the same
facility as their care providers.
" Telehealth is a powerful tool for bringing clinical care to people no
matter where they are," said Gary Mar, Minister of Health and Wellness. "Telehealth
is focused on people; the technology is used to bring people together - patients
with practitioners, family physicians with specialists, care-providers with educators.
Telehealth is as much a human network as it is an electronic one."
" The committee members reviewing the 27 submissions we received were pleased
not only with the exceptional quality, but also the collaborative nature of the
programs proposed," said Pearl Babiuk, Acting Chair of The Provincial Telehealth
Committee, the body responsible for developing and overseeing the Telehealth
Clinical Services Grant Fund.
Alberta's telehealth network includes over 200 telehealth sites across the
province, including 25 that offer tele-ultrasound/radiology services. The many
benefits to patients, families and professionals include:
• convenient
access to distant clinical expertise;
• confidential
care through a secure network;
• improved
specialty assessment and care; and
• improved
clinical and education support for practitioners.
The Alberta government introduced the Telehealth Clinical Services Grant Fund
on July 21, 2003 to help Alberta's health regions improve telehealth's clinical
applications.
Revised: This news release was amended on January 14, 2004.
For further information, contact:
Christianne Dubnyk
Communications
Alberta Health and Wellness
(780) 427-7164
Dial 310-0000 for toll free access outside Edmonton
Access is available on-line at http://www.health.gov.ab.ca
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