Those in rural communities will soon have a chance to be face to face with a doctor at R.I.H, without making the trek to Kamloops.
Royal Inland’s Manager of Cardiac Services, Ian Wood, says improvements to the telehealth clinic will help people in smaller communities, who normally would have to make the trip in to Kamloops to see their doctor.
“Newer stuff that I’m doing with the cardiac services program, in developing some remote pace maker checks, for people who live in Williams Lake or Revelstoke so they don’t have to come here.”
For instance, Wood says, if someone needed to see a neurologist but couldn’t make the drive, then they could set up a video chat with the doctor.
“With the B.C Children’s Hospital, in their emergency department, we would pull a monitor and camera in front of them, and the physician is on that monitor, and the family and the child are on the other side, and they’re talking to that physician.”
These technological improvements are made through a recent partnership between Interior Health and Telus.