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Mammoth Hospital participates in UC Davis Telemedicine program |
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Thursday, 31 July 2008 |
 Mammoth Hospital joining with UC Davis SART programMAMMOTH TIMES PHOTO/ERICK SUGIMURA
The program is funded through a grant awarded to UC Davis from the Health Resources and Service Administration–Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Federal Government. Through this grant, Mammoth Hospital will receive telemedicine equipment and assistance from the UC Health System to improve evidence collection and increase the quality of care for abused children; the hospital has a dedicated private room in the emergency department for this type of examination.
According to Todd Graham, Deputy District Attorney for Mono County, his goal in acquiring the telemedicine program at UC Davis was to broaden the county’s SART (Sexual Assault Response Team) expertise. The UC Davis team sees dozens of SART cases each year and are truly the experts in the field. He also believes that Mammoth Hospital medical staff would feel more comfortable handling SART cases if they knew they could consult and be advised by the experts at UC Davis.
According to Kathleen Alo, RN, Mammoth Hospital Chief Nursing Officer, UC Davis is the largest telemedicine provider in the country. The nurses at Mammoth Hospital will receive mandatory training through UC Davis to operate the equipment in evidence collection and will be guided through the examination. Alo believes it will improve the quality of care for these patients.
The UC Davis Center for Health and Technology received the President’s Award for the Advancement of Telemedicine from the American Telemedicine Association at its 11th annual international meeting in 2006. The award recognizes the center’s overall leadership and innovation in using the latest in telecommunications technology to improve the delivery of health care. It also recognizes the breadth, depth and effectiveness of UC Davis’ telemedicine, telehealth and e-health programs, which enable patients from throughout California to receive direct clinical and specialty care without leaving their own communities.
This is not the hospital’s first experience with telemedicine. Sierra Park Pediatric clinic at Mammoth Hospital has participated in telemedicine for several years with Cedar Sinai Medical Center’s program for behavioral health.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 07 August 2008 )
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