Sessions offer high-tech, low-tech answers to health care problems

Published: 2006-06-07

ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) -- A cutting-edge telemedicine system that brings specialists into rural hospital rooms and a low-tech, hands-on approach that takes immunizations to children in poor urban neighborhoods were among the projects featured in "innovation forums" at the Catholic Health Association's 91st annual assembly in Orlando. In all, 28 projects were chosen from more than 120 proposals for four workshop sessions during the June 4-6 convention. Pat Herr, director of Avera eICU Care at Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., described the eICU Care system as "a sort of air traffic control for ICU (intensive care unit) patients." Through T1 lines, live video feeds and computer interfaces, a remote, centralized care team in Sioux Falls provides support for on-site caregivers at four rural hospitals in South Dakota, Minnesota and Nebraska. A T1 line is a high-speed fiber optic line that transports data.

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