E-Newsletter

Telemedicine Advances in the Ninth

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit a facility right here in the Ninth District that is making strides in health care innovation and improving patient care.

At the Radford Health and Rehab Center, some of the nurses will be wearing “smart glasses” as part of their wound care program.  These glasses are equipped with a tiny camera, and will transmit a live feed of images the wearer sees to the supervising nurse.  This will allow the supervisor to assist with assessing wound types and ensuring patients get the most accurate diagnosis and appropriate care.  Additionally, a supervising nurse will in essence be “following” the nurse doing wound care, as if that supervising nurse were actually in the room.  The supervisor can assess, evaluate, and assist nurses remotely, just as they might do in person.

We were able to watch from the Radford Health and Rehab Center’s conference room as a wound was being treated – a nurse in one room was advising a technician in another how to treat it.  It was remarkable.

Patients may opt out of this program, but with less people in the room as a result of the smart glasses, their use by the nurse may make the patient feel less nervous and more at ease.

The Radford Health and Rehab Center is the first long term care facility to use this technology, though approximately 30 hospitals as well as Brown University make use of smart glasses to assist in training and improve their quality of care.  Medical schools and emergency services training programs also use smart glasses.

While this technology is helpful in training medical students, it also seems to be beneficial to doctors.  If doctors are able to see an image of a wound being transmitted to them from a long term care facility such as Radford Health and Rehab, the doctor would not necessarily have to travel to the facility to help with care.  I can’t help but imagine that increasing the use of this sort of technology could help to address the shortage of doctors, especially in more rural areas.

From time to time, I learn of developments in health information technologies that not only amaze me, but that are truly innovative and have a significant impact on advancements in medical care.  Previously, I have discussed in this column an internal medicine specialist at Toronto General Hospital and his team using an iPhone 4s, an $8 ball lens, a flashlight, and double-sided tape to create a sort of microscope that was then used to diagnose intestinal worm infections in students in rural Tanzania.

I am very intrigued by this smart glasses technology, and am pleased to see such advancements taking place here in our area.  I have no doubt that many more great things are to come from the Fighting Ninth.

Serving You

A role of my office is to serve as a liaison between the Ninth District and the federal government.  My team and I are willing and able to assist constituents with legislative concerns, in communicating with a federal agency, scheduling a Capitol tour, etc., and encourage you to be in contact with us should there be anything we can do.

We have established monthly traveling office hours throughout the district at which a team member or I will be present.  A schedule of upcoming traveling office hours can be found on my website, www.morgangriffith.house.gov.

We regularly receive requests from constituents dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Internal Revenue Service, Medicare, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Labor (Black Lung issues), and many other agencies.  We can often intervene on a constituent’s behalf to answer questions, find solutions, or cut through red tape.  We also can assist you with requesting or renewing passports, requesting expedited processing of these documents, and dealing with travel visa issues.

Before we can obtain information about your situation, we must provide the agency with your written authorization.  Completing our privacy authorization form, which can be found on my website, is one of the first steps you must take in order for us to be able to assist you.  You may also obtain the form by calling or visiting my offices or our traveling staff office hours.  When returning this form to us, please take care to include any pertinent information and claim numbers we may need.

Constituent services such as these are typically handled by members of my team based out of our Abingdon and Christiansburg offices.  You may call or visit either location for assistance, or drop by our staff traveling office hours discussed above.

As always, you can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671.  To reach my office by email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov.

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