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| Jo Murphey The Murphey Saga |
You: "Huh? What? I'm nobody. How can I be a star?"Me: "With telemedicine, my dear."
You: "What's that?"
It's a thing out of old, science fiction novels or World Expos. The wave of the future but in our time. It's now the new buzz in medicine. A way of seeing a specialist in another town or even state to get appropriate treatments and diagnoses all via a television screen. Actually, it's more like a computer monitor. But hey, look at all those YouTube stars. Some have even gone on to real movies and star in their own movies, right?
I first saw the commercial for this system about two years ago. Where I live, there are a ton of blink-your-eyes-and-you've-missed-them towns. They are serviced by clinics from various hospitals and doc-in-a-box type emergency centers. Just after my stroke of a woman in Waycross being diagnosed with a stroke, via this technology, by a Savannah (the nearest "metropolitan" town) physician. That's over 200 miles away.
Thanks to modern technology and the internet, which hear tell Al Gore invented. (guffaw) Even if you live in one of these small communities, you can get access to top notched medical care. Scans, physical observation of a patients, and test results all in real time. No more waiting to have them sent and waiting to get an opinion, waiting for the specialist to have an opening for a consult, or wasting valuable time. For a person suffering a stroke, every second is brain death and a longer recovery time.Luckily for the woman mentioned above, there was a happy outcome. No permanent damage or disabling effects.
Can you imagine what this advent in modern technology could mean in the long run? In my earlier life, I was a life RN/Paramedic. I was the doctor's hands and eyes on the scene. Via a radio, I would describe the scene, mechanism of injury, and the patient's condition. Provided we weren't surrounded by hills and inclement weather, I was always able to reach a physician for more than the usual protocols. What I wouldn't have given for the doctor to see what I was seeing. Now, imagine if I had a satellite smart phone to send images as well as my description. It would be a chance in the race against death. No more second guessing myself after a patient died. It would have saved me a bunch of doubt over fifteen years, but back then, it was all we had.Yes, you too can be the star of your own real life docu-drama. When seconds count, this technological advance is a godsend. Let this fifteen minutes of fame live on and expand. That's my two cents and with inflation, a quarter.
Nothing is impossible with determination.
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