Mitzi Perdue: Telemed process delivers at AGH

Atlantic General Hospital is the first hospital in the nation to partner with Baltimore's prestigious Kennedy-Krieger Institute to deliver services via telemedicine. The focus of this collaboration is the evaluation of communication, learning and development disorders, such as autism spectrum disorders.

The need for this service is enormous. Prior to this collaboration, a family needing help often experienced a series of difficult obstacles stemming from the fact that the nearest and best treatment center, Kennedy-Krieger Institute, is an almost eight-hour round trip from AGH in Berlin.

"You have probably driven to Baltimore," Deborah Wolf, AGH director of the Atlantic Health Center, says, "but imagine the trip with a child who has special needs, who may have difficulty sitting still for the ride or sensory perception issues, who struggles when there are too many changes in their environment."

That may be only the beginning of the obstacles for the parent taking the child to Baltimore. It probably means taking a day off from work, which they may not be able to afford, as well as the expense of gas and tolls.

Often these parents have other children who need to be taken and picked up from school. Being gone for eight or 10 hours represents a true hardship. In addition, the waiting list for an appointment at Kennedy-Krieger Institute could be as long as three to six months.

The extraordinarily good news is that AGH's telemedicine is changing all this. With telemedicine, children in Worcester County and other rural Eastern Shore areas can now receive locally the same level of care that they would receive if they traveled to Baltimore.

Here's how it works. To start with, the wait for a first appointment is under two weeks, as opposed to as much as half a year. Next, the parent and child can drive the relative short distance to AGH.

Now the best part: With the help of two-way audio and video telemedicine services, the child can receive a full-scale evaluation from neurodevelopmental specialists who are actually 125 miles away. With the assistance of a KKI-trained nurse, the child will interact with the provider in the exact same way as they would during an in-person visit.

Cameras on both sides can zoom for a detailed view of how the child is responding. The doctor also speaks at length with the parents throughout the process. Typically, there will be a diagnosis and recommendations for treatment.

Wolf is aware that receiving some diagnoses can be overwhelming for the parents.

"We understand, and do all that we can to support the families," she says. "We help with resources, information and most of all, we are there for them."

Visit www.atlantic-general

-hospital.com or call 410-641-6881.