News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Local & Bistate

Related Photos

  • Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Bringing medicine closer: Stephanie Laws' guidance in developing the Wabash Valley Rural Telehealth Network has earned her statewide recognition as a 2012 recipient of an Indiana Premier Health Achievement Award presented by the Indiana Public Health Foundation.

    MET 110912 LAWS AWARD.jpg

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable as well as posts that are attacking other users. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.
comments powered by Disqus
November 11, 2012

Parke native plays key role in rural health advances

Telehealth platform being instituted around Midwest, nation

Lisa Trigg The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — Drawing on her rural background, Stephanie Laws understands the barriers many people face when seeking medical care.

Whether its fuel costs, distance to travel, or limited income, getting from a rural community to a doctor’s appointment in a distant city can be a challenge that drains patients and their families, both economically and emotionally.

Her own experience growing up in Bloomingdale in rural Parke County helped guide Laws as she worked with medical colleagues to advance the use of telemedicine to fill service gaps and improve the overall quality of health care services through technology.

Now, her guidance in developing the Wabash Valley Rural Telehealth Network has earned her statewide recognition as a 2012 recipient of an Indiana Premier Health Achievement Award presented by the Indiana Public Health Foundation.

Laws was honored last week at The Westin hotel in Indianapolis with an award in the field of Preventive Medicine and Public Health. Her telehealth platform is now being instituted around the Midwest and the nation.

“I was so humbled and really astonished that I was nominated for such and award,” Laws told the Tribune-Star recently. “And to win the award — wow!”

Laws, a 1992 graduate of Rockville High School, had originally planned to pursue a degree in early childhood education. But after two years at Indiana State University, she changed her career path to nursing. By 1997, she was working at the hospital in Clinton, and in 1998 she began working for Union Hospital Health Group to manage emergency, medical-surgical, ambulatory surgery and intensive care departments at Union Hospital Clinton.

In 2008, a position came open at the Richard G. Lugar Center for Rural Health at Union Hospital, and Laws made the move to be manager of the telehealth and innovative technologies department. This past September, she was also named executive director of the Rural Health Innovation Collaborative which has the goal of improving and expanding health care education, especially for rural providers, while also developing health care-related jobs and revitalizing the Terre Haute neighborhood that lies between Union Hospital and the ISU campus.

Telemedicine allows interaction between health care providers and patients in different locations. For instance, a patient in Sullivan who needs to see a cardiologist in Terre Haute does not need to make the long drive north, but instead can be seen at a Sullivan office that has a video link to the doctor in Terre Haute. The video conference allows the cardiologist to speak with the patient and the attending health care provider, and live data from the patient — heart tones, breath sounds and other patient assessment — can be transmitted to the specialist.

“It saves a lot of travel time and expense for both the patient and the specialist,” Laws said. “For instance, if a doctor has to drive an hour to a remote area to see one patient, spends and hour with that patient and the necessary paperwork, and then has to spend an hour on the return trip, that is three hours for only one patient,” she said.

The same time and travel applies to a patient, who may not be feeling well enough to make a long journey, or have someone available to provide transportation for the journey.

Telemedicine also eliminates distance for health care providers needing training, continuing education, and collaborative meetings.

Laws, who has recently had to take time off from work to tend to her young son after he broke his arm, said she has still been in contact with her office through a telemedicine link to her home.

The Wabash Valley Rural Telehealth Network was founded by the Lugar Center in 2010 to provide a short-term sustainability plan for a small group of health care organizations in west central Indiana using live video-interactive telemedicine services. Later that year, the center received a $640,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources Services Administration to formalize and subsidize the WVRTN for three more years.

Since then, the Lugar Center has coordinated multiple independent entities to expand access to telemedicine technologies.

Laws said the support of the Union Hospital administration has been critical in the success of the telemarketing program.

“It speaks very highly of Union Hospital administration to support the Lugar Center for Rural Health, by allowing us to think creatively to access the rural communities and provide needed services,” she said. “There is an altruistic approach to it.”

For more information about the WVRTN’s projects and how telemedicine works, go to the website at www.ruraltelenet.org.



Reporter Lisa Trigg can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or lisa.trigg@tribstar.com.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Local & Bistate
Latest News
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
TribStar.com Poll
AP Video
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country Raw: Texas Gov. Flies Over Tornado Damage NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools Raw: Gun Scare Mars Cannes Film Festival Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics China, Others Want What's Under the Arctic Ice $1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest Raw: Suicide Bomber Kills 2 Americans, 13 Others Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction Raw: Germany Protestors Picket Barbie House One Million Evacuated As Cyclone Hits Bangladesh Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
NDN Video
Twiggy, the Water Skiing Squirrel Sailor Surprises His Mom At Her CU Denver Graduation Ceremony Official: ‘Amazing’ No One Was Killed In CT Train Crash Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country Coffee Stop Leads To Arrest Of YouTube Sensation Wanted For Murder Bearded Dragon Reunited With Owner Marine Reunited with Warzone Companion Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool Beyonce Is Pregnant! SF baseball player overpaid $500,000 RETURNS money -- and team says KEEP IT $1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest Dad returns from Afghanistan, surprises family during Rays' first pitch See Jennifer Lopez's New $10m Hamptons Mansion Woman tricked into taking abortion pill Emma Watson Goes Pantless IRS scandal: Republicans seek to tie Obama to agency's woes Play of the Day: Flipping to Safety Pregnant Kim Kardashian Squeezes Her Swollen Feet Into Stilettos Top Videos of the Week: Angry Taco Bell Guy, Glacier Moves on House, Dog Hates Baths Cindy Crawford Stuns At Cannes
Parade
Magazine
Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
  • -

     

    March 12, 2010

activity
Real Estate News