Community Hospital Health Foundation recently granted Community Hospital $10,000 for telehealth/telemedicine equipment for patient care and consultation.

The grant will purchase two telehealth/telemedicine units; one to be installed in Community Hospital’s emergency room and the second to be installed in a consultation room in the Medical Specialists Center. Both set-ups would be HIPAA-compliant, allowing privacy for both the patient and patient health information that is interchanged.

During emergencies, the equipment in the emergency room would allow for a distant physician/surgeon to see the patient located in McCook at Community Hospital and provide appropriate recommendations for care.

The consultation unit for specialists would be installed in a small, private room, suitable for three people. This consultation room would provide the opportunity for doctor-to-doctor conferences, and/or doctor-to-patient conferences.

Community Hospital currently has one telehealth unit in operation in its main conference room.  This unit is used on a regular basis for educational presentations for large audiences of employees and community members. “The telehealth unit we are currently using in our multi-purpose room does not provide privacy required for doctor/patient consultations,” said Julie Pate, Employee Education Coordinator.

The new equipment and private consultation rooms will also benefit the McCook Police Department, Nebraska State Patrol and the Red Willow County Sheriff’s Office, according to a support letter from Red Willow County Attorney, Paul Wood.

“The law enforcement investigators can save travel time by utilizing the video conferencing equipment that Community Hospital would be able to provide,” he wrote. “Instead of driving to Cambridge Hospital or to Kearney Good Samaritan Hospital for teleconferencing with the Family Advocacy Center on Child Abuse and Sexual Assault cases, they could use the proposed private consultation room to speak with specialists and gather all they information they need. In turn, one to four hours of drive time saved could be put towards other avenues of investigation.”