Eastern Plumas Health Care has just been awarded nearly $200,000 in telemedicine equipment, through a grant funded by UC Davis Health System and the California Telehealth Network (CTN). This Model eHealth Community Grant was awarded to 15 community groups across California to advance health using telecommunications technologies.

EPHC collaborated with Tahoe Forest Health System and other community and healthcare organizations throughout Plumas, Sierra, and Nevada counties in a project spearheaded by Susan Ferrier, Executive Director of Connecting to Care (a non-profit agency dedicated to helping rural health care organizations connect to high speed, medical grade broadband).

This grant project, the Sierra-Nevada Model eHealth Cancer Community, will allow cancer patients to receive much of their care in their home communities while still receiving the best cancer care available. Patients will have a nurse practitioner perform an examination, which is directed by their cancer specialist, who is available onscreen thanks to grant funded telemedicine carts and services.

The state of the art telemedicine equipment provided through this grant will provide Eastern Plumas Health Care the opportunity to expand telehealth and e-health services at their Portola hospital, clinic, and long term care facility, as well as at their rural clinic sites in Loyalton, Graeagle, and Greenville.

Mark Schweyer, EPHC’s Director of Nursing is the self-effacing mastermind of all things telemedicine at the hospital. He envisions a robust program that connects patients to specialist providers in areas as diverse as psychiatry, endocrinology, pulmonology, nephrology, rheumatology, and diabetic education, along with the Pediatric Emergency Room Intensivist program with UC Davis.

With telemedicine equipment in all of its clinics, patients in this rural, isolated community will be able to tap into quality specialist services at the flick of a switch. The telemedicine cart, which looks more like a robot, has a camera mounted above its video screen that follows movement, so it can focus on the patient. If the specialist on the other end wants to see something on the patient more clearly, he can zoom in and observe even more closely than if he was in the room with the patient. And, the high end digital equipment offers top quality images and sound.

According to Schweyer, “Advancements in technology have allowed us to communicate very rapidly and very effectively even in the most remote parts of the world. We see this technology in action when we text one another, utilize programs such as Skype, and enjoy high definition video and enhanced audio quality in our living rooms while watching a movie. Consequently, we’ve gotten comfortable communicating in a remote fashion. It may feel awkward at first, but patients really forget they’re communicating in this fashion after just a few moments. Patient satisfaction studies regarding telemedicine have been overwhelmingly positive.”

The first program that Schweyer says will be up and running at EPHC, will be Telepsychiatry, with Dr. Jagdeep Garewal, M.D., who works through Clinical Telemedicine Group out of Bakersfield. Dr. Garewal is board certified in Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and has been practicing for over fifteen years.

Schweyer sees telemedicine as the wave of the future, especially for isolated communities like those in Plumas County: “Telemedicine will definitely change the landscape of health care in rural communities. We will see broad access to expert specialty physician services in our communities for the first time. This program is a huge asset to help improve the health of our communities. It opens the doors to so many exciting possibilities.”

To make an appointment or for further information, call the Telemedicine Helpline: 530.832.6605.