USDA awards millions for telemedicine

Projects are spread to far reaches of the country
By Bernie Monegain
10:19 AM

North Carolina
Grandfather Home for Children: $393,368
Funds will be used to install video teleconferencing equipment. Grandfather Home is a facility in Banner Elk, N.C., for abused and neglected children. Video conferencing will provide critical therapeutic services for children and a direct line of communication between children and their foster parents.

New Hampshire
Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital: $498,356
Funds will be used to purchase equipment and software to expand the telemedicine network at the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital to new sites in New Hampshire and Vermont. After this expansion is deployed, the system is projected to provide medical expertise for more than 5,000 rural residents.

Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital: $500,000
Funds will be used to purchase telemedical carts and related equipment for 18 rural sites. The participating sites include rural acute care hospitals, ambulatory care sites, rehabilitation sites and behavioral health centers in
Woodsville, Littleton, Greenfield, Colebrook, New London, Whitefield, Lancaster and Groveton.

South Carolina
Hampton Regional Medical Center: $249,162
Funds will be used to purchase a variety of video teleconferencing equipment and digital exam devices for the medical center and nine end-user sites. Roper St. Francis Hospital in Charleston will serve as a hub site for medical specialists and video system management. The video teleconferencing platform will allow face-to-face consultations between patients and physicians and between local health care providers and medical staff at the hub site.

Washington
Kadlec Regional Medical Center: $329,269
Funds will be used to purchase telemedicine equipment for a consortium of 12 health care organizations serving 19 sites at rural clinics along the Columbia River in Eastern Oregon and Washington. The Medical Center and participating hospitals will offer a comprehensive array of services and consultations.

West Virginia
Davis Memorial Hospital: $74,189
Funds will be used to establish telemedicine consultations between physicians at Davis Memorial Hospital and the Cortland Acres (Tucker County), Pendleton Manor (Pendleton County) and Mansfield Place (Barbour County) nursing homes. Physicians will be equipped with iPads and video-enabling software to increase their availability to observe and provide diagnosis for residents and patients.

Also USDA gave several awards that combined funding for both distance learning and telemedicine.

Missouri
Citizens Memorial Hospital District, $175,989
Funds will be used to provide telemedicine equipment for a partnership led by Citizens Memorial Hospital. The hospital and its hub partners will provide telemedicine services to rural clinics in Pleasant Hope, Rockville, El Dorado Springs, Stockton, Greenfield, Buffalo, Montrose, Wheatland, Hermitage, Humansville, Appleton City and Deepwater.

Montana
Kalispell Regional Medical Center, $363,326
Funds will be used to help Kalispell Regional Medical Center provide 24/7 telemedicine consultation services in its nine
county area. The equipment will create a telemedicine service among the Western Montana Tele-neurology Network, Kalispell Regional Medical Center and critical access hospitals in the region.

New York
Jefferson-Lewis-Hamilton-Herkimer-Oneida Board of Cooperative Educational Services, $487,267
Funds will be used to purchase video teleconferencing units for 37 schools in the Jefferson Lewis Hamilton Herkimer Oneida jurisdiction, 15 of which have never been connected to a distance learning system before. LeMoyne College in Syracuse, Clarkson University in Potsdam, Jefferson Community College in Watertown, and the Syracuse University School of Medicine
will be part of the teleconference network.

Oklahoma
Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, $500,000
Funds will be used to purchase state-of-the-art digital equipment and software for a telemedicine initiative hosted by the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center. The initiative will use video teleconferencing to offer geriatric services to Choctaw Nation clinical sites -- including Stilwell Community Hospital -- and Choctaw clinics in Hugo, Broken Bow, Stigler, Idabel, Talihina and Atoka, and general services to health care facilities in Fort Cobb, Grandfield and Tipton.

South Carolina
South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice, $196,809
Funds will be used to provide video teleconferencing systems for the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice. The equipment will give students a better chance of obtaining work skills and higher education opportunities
 

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