STAPLES-Lakewood Health System hospital in Staples received a visit from U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson Thursday, who said better health care for rural Minnesotans needed support in Congress.
Hospital officials welcomed Peterson after visiting Washington, D.C., recently to discuss a proposal to fund expansion of the facility's telemedicine efforts. Peterson told a small group in the hospital's dining area that support for expansion of rural high-speed broadband internet was needed to bolster those efforts.
"That's what we need to do in all of these rural counties," Peterson said. "You could save people a lot of time and get them better health care by having telemedicine and so forth, but you need broadband."
Telemedicine, or the examination or diagnosis of a patient remotely through technological means, could be a boon to rural health care centers and patients, officials said. This is because it has the potential to reduce out-of-town travel to see specialists and can enhance the care available locally, said Connie Wells, emergency services manager at Lakewood.
According to the National Rural Health Association, about 10 percent of physicians in the United States practice in rural areas, while about one-quarter of the population calls these areas home. Rural residents are nearly twice as likely to die from unintentional injury than their urban counterparts, and one of the factors contributing to that disparity is travel distance to appropriate care, the association noted.
ADVERTISEMENT
Wells said in January, the hospital began using telestroke services in conjunction with CentraCare in St. Cloud. The equipment allows neurologists in St. Cloud to evaluate stroke patients and give a recommendation for care.
"We've done 10 successful ones since then," Wells said.
Wells said she would like to see the hospital expand its telemedicine services to other areas such as mental health, dermatology, heart conditions and more. Currently, the equipment the hospital is using is provided by CentraCare and can be used only for stroke evaluations. Additional funding and a fresh look at regulations could assist in expanding those efforts, Wells said.
"It'd be great with our mental health patients, call a psychiatrist and let them do their face-to-face on a monitor," Wells said, adding it could reduce the amount of time to get someone placed in in-patient care. "That's one where in the ER, we are really pushing for it, because we have a lot of mental health patients that are having to stay in the ER longer and longer."
Wells said while telemedicine services will not prevent all out-of-town travel for specialist care, it could reduce the number of required follow-up visits or help to eliminate unnecessary visits.
Home monitoring and hospice care are other areas where telemedicine can have an impact, said Stacy Grossman, a registered nurse and Lakewood's intensive care unit coordinator. Lakewood currently uses telemonitors for home care patients with heart disease, breathing problems and high blood pressure. The system reminds patients to monitor their vitals, which are then sent electronically for evaluation by a nurse.
"Research shows that this new technology-used in combination with periodic nurse visits-can decrease the need for trips to the emergency room, the need to stay in the hospital and the length of hospital stays," Lakewood's website states.
The technology is not always reliable, however, when high-speed internet access is unavailable, said Bonnie Johnson, director of home-based services.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We do some on cellular, but it's not very good," Johnson told Peterson.
Grossman said expansion of broadband into the homes of more rural Minnesotans would mean allowing more people in the community access to telemedicine.
"That's where the deficit still lies," Grossman said. "The goal is to bring it to everyone."
Grossman said increasing that access is particularly important to residents of the area Lakewood serves-four of the poorest counties in the state.
"We're a low-income area, if we can save them ten pennies by not having to travel to St. Cloud or the Cities (and) they want to be here, why not keep them here?" Grossman said.
Ultimately, Wells said it's a matter of offering the best healing opportunities possible.
"Our goal is to be able to keep patients in their hometowns," Wells said. "It helps with the healing to be able to stay in their home environment."
CHELSEY PERKINS may be reached at 218-855-5874 or chelsey.perkins@brainerddispatch.com . Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchChelsey .
