SEARHC - What's New - SEARHC kicks off telenutrition service in rural communities

SEARHC kicks off telenutrition service in rural communities

Over the past few years SEARHC has offered telemedicine and telebehavioral health services, and a telepharmacy project is scheduled to start this spring. In April, SEARHC added another service to the list of those offered by Polycom when a dietitian in Juneau met with a patient in Haines for the first time.

"The appointment was quite smooth and the only kinks were the education materials that I sent (through) interoffice mail," said Christy Wallace, a Juneau-based SEARHC Community and Diabetes Dietitian, who adds that the patient received the materials later in the week.

SEARHC dieticians normally travel to the smaller communities about every three months or so, but staff turnover meant some villages had gone without a visit for more than a year, said Juneau Health Promotion Manager Alan Travasso. He worked with Juneau Clinic Administrator Brenda Sturm to design and implement the new telenutrition program, which included drafting all the policies and procedures from scratch.

"This new program will basically have a dietitian's consult on demand," Travasso said. "It will provide a service at the click of a button, and those patients will receive care on a regular on-going basis, rather than just once every three months."

Christy still plans to travel to the smaller communities to maintain rapport with the clinic staff and patients. "Telenutrition delivers service to clients with immediate acute needs or for those who want to follow up with the dietitian more promptly than the next community village," said Wallace, who provides nutrition services to Haines, Klukwan, Kake and Angoon. Libby Watanabe, Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital Chief Dietitian, said she hasn't done a telenutrition appointment yet, but she's excited about the new service.

"The new service will save on clinical costs, create more revenue from a virtually untapped source and bring a more-cohesive, high-quality service to the villages," Travasso said. "This program is a win-win situation for both SEARHC and patients."

* PDF files require Acrobat Reader