Press Release
Faith Regional Health Services of Norfolk – as well as five other Northeast Nebraska hospitals – soon will be able to take greater advantage of telemedicine technology.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced earlier this week that Faith Regional is the recipient of a $194,000 telemedicine grant.
“This program connects communities to medical services and educational opportunities they would not otherwise have,” said Thomas Dorr, USDA undersecretary for rural development. “Our focus is to ensure that all rural Americans have access to state-of-the-art services through our rapidly expanding telecommunications system.”
The grant will allow Faith Regional and the hospitals in Creighton, Lynch, Osmod, Plainview and Tilden to collaborate on telemedicine efforts.
“This is great news for the hospital and affiliates who will use the service,” said Mike Nolan, Norfolk city administrator.
Under the grant program, Northeast and North Central Nebraskans seeking medical care at the five smaller hospitals will benefit from an electronic linkage to Faith Regional in Norfolk.
One of the key pieces of equipment the grant funds will provide bedside monitoring systems for patients at the smaller, rural hospitals. The data collected by the monitors will be evaluated and read by staff and doctors at Faith Regional.
Staffing at the smaller hospitals doesn’t allow for constant monitoring as nurses get called away to emergencies and other situations, Faith Regional officials said. The bedside monitoring also means physicians in the smaller communities don’t have to remain in the hospital constantly to monitor patient conditions.
For the smaller communities, it also means keeping health care dollars at home while having access to specialists in a larger community like Norfolk.
“This keeps patients in their hospitals, while also providing faster disease intervention and better patient outcomes,” the Faith Regional grant application said.
Overall, the USDA announced 103 distance learning and telemedicine grants totaling more than $25 million. Two other Nebraska hospitals received telemedicine grants and three Educational Service Units received distant learning grants.
The Northeast Nebraska Economic Development District helped work with Faith Regional on the grant application.
- Story Courtesy of the Norfolk Daily News
