By Peter P. Giacalone
In 2005, the U.S. witnessed
hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes, among many other natural
disasters. In Mother Nature’s furor, more than two million
lives were destroyed, forcing many to recognize the limitations
of emergency and medical care services – especially in rural
areas.
Throughout American
history, no amount of advanced warning has been able to prevent
natural disasters from destroying rural areas. The Great
Mississippi Flood of 1927 left 700,000 people homeless
throughout rural areas in Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. And, even after the
development of telecommunications and transportation networks
over seven decades later, Hurricane Katrina battered many of
those same communities, leaving 1.5 million people without homes
or prompt medical care.
Following Hurricane
Katrina, more than 1,200 senior citizens living in rural areas
died because of a lack of medical attention. They included many
elderly, disabled and medically-challenged residents who fled or
wanted to flee, but faced the challenges of finding medical care
as their local response teams struggled to respond to such a
daunting crisis.
Such individuals, often poor
and jobless, rarely hit the radar of the public consciousness.
Only through devastation does the American public take notice
and demand their leaders do something to help these individuals.
Today, many disabled and
sick individuals living in rural areas struggle, even without
the wake of a natural disaster. Without doctors or nurses
nearby, it is difficult for rural residents to access emergency
responders or even caregivers who can monitor them for easily
preventable diseases, major
health conditions or day-to-day well-being.
The solution to serve these
communities is telemedicine — technologies that provide long
distance home health care that is priceless to many pregnant
women, terminally ill people and others with disabilities who
require remote home monitoring to safeguard their health.
In recent years, there have
been a number of advances that have pulled technology into the
home health care arena, making the possibilities for improvement
endless. The most remarkable of which is telemedicine — an
affordable, in-home health monitoring system already popular in
Scandinavian countries.
Imagine life though
telemedicine: You wake up, roll out of bed and stand on a floor
mat that automatically takes your weight. You then walk to the
bathroom to wash your face. With the touch of a faucet, your
temperature is instantly taken.
Meanwhile, doctors and
nurses on the other side of the country are receiving your vital
statistics to monitor your health. While you may live in a rural
community, some 50 miles from the nearest hospital, doctors can
use telemedicine for emergency alerts, medication reminders,
long-term disease management, and monitoring such conditions as
diabetes, cardio-pulmonary condition, asthma and pregnancy.
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