Grace Dresner talks with nurse Lisa McMullen as McMullen checksDresner's vitals, including weight, blood pressure and heart rate.
Dresner is sitting at a table in her living room. McMullen issitting in her office miles away.
They're connected by live, two way video and other 'telehealth'technology, a marriage of medicine and telecommunications that makesit possible for McMullen to check on Dresner and other patients fromafar.
Dresner, 72, is one of 11 people enrolled in a pilot program inColorado Springs for congestive heart failure patients. The goal ofthe telehealth program, conducted by Centura Health at Home, is toreduce hospitalizations and emergency - room visits by providing morefrequent monitoring.
At a time when health care is dealing with a growing nursingshortage and other strains, 'telehealth is a way that maximizes ourresources while providing even more care to our patients in home carethan they would normally receive,' says Erin Denholm, Centura Healthat Home senior vice president.
If the six-month pilot program proves a success, Denholm expectsit to expand to other areas along the Front Range and encompass otherdiseases.
McMullen makes about three video visits a week to each of thepatients in the program, along with weekly in-person visits. She seestelehealth monitoring as a complement to the in-person visits, not asa substitute.
Dresner communicates with Mc-Mullen through an American Tele-CareXR patient station. The station includes a moveable video camera, asmall video screen, a microphone and speaker phone.
Dresner puts a blood-pressure cuff on her arm, and McMullenactivates it from a station in her office. Dresner checks her heartrate and breathing sounds through an electronic stethoscope,following a chart that shows her different spots to place thestethoscope. A pulse oximeter attached to a finger checks oxygensaturation in the blood.
The results are transmitted to McMullen via ordinary telephonelines.
Dresner also checks her weight by standing on a scale that can beattached to the patient station. Sudden weight gain is an indicationthat a patient is retaining fluid, a sign the heart isn't functioningproperly.
McMullen instructs her patients to check their weight every day.
Dresner's daughter, Lori Staples, considers the telehealth programa valuable tool that helps provide peace of mind. She says her motherhad concerns about learning the system, but it proved fairly simple.
'I'm feeling pretty good with it,' Dresner says. Communicatingwith McMullen via video, she adds, 'is like having her right in theroom with you.' And taking a role in monitoring her health iseducating her more about her condition.
Helping the patient achieve greater self-sufficiency is one goalof the program, and of home care in general, says Dianne Newberry,director of case management for Centura Home Care and Hospice.
The program runs until March, and Newberry is seeing positiveresults. The need to change some patients' medications, for example,has been detected through the remote monitoring.
CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0272 or comics@gazette.com
FOR MORE
To learn more about Centura Health at Home's telehealth program,call 272-7500.
