Army veteran Eugene Rice, who is living on his own with emphysema, low blood pressure and the effects of several slight strokes, gives much of the credit for his well-being to his health care coordinator at the Perry Point VA Medical Center in Cecil County. He even thanks Dee Jones for helping him reach a milestone.
"I turned 80 last month, and I did it all with her help," said Rice of Abingdon. "She has been a godsend to me."
Rice is one of 90 patients whom Jones cares for daily, with the help of technology known as Care Coordination Home Telehealth. Through this program, Jones monitors patients in their homes using vital information, such as blood pressure and oxygen level, that they transmit over the phone. The data enable her to assess a patient's wellbeing.
"It's technology, but I still feel like I am nursing hands-on," said Jones of Bel Air, who recently earned a master's degree in nursing. "Eugene is being proactive with his health and playing a major role in his success."
Since the seven Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics in Maryland put telehealth in place four years ago, officials said, emergency room visits, hospital admissions and the length of hospital stays have dropped.
"Telehealth saves money, while improving the quality of life for our veterans," said Patricia Davis, director of care coordination for the home telehealth program at the Baltimore VA Medical Center on Greene Street. "It decreases the amount of money spent on avoidable admissions and complications."
Nearly 400 chronically ill veterans across the state participate, with at least 130 of them avoiding institutionalized care because of telehealth, Davis said. One 50-year-old veteran, suffering from debilitating heart problems, has shortened his hospitalizations and cut them from six visits a year to two.
Patricia Abbott, director of the Collaborating Center for Nursing Informatics at Johns Hopkins Hospital, said that telehealth demonstrates "team-centered patient care" at its best.
"This is the health care industry working together to achieve optimal health for patients," Abbott said.
"The only downside is that the only people who can participate are those who have the capacity, technically and intellectually, to do so."
Telehealth would work well with HIV patients and recovering addicts, Abbott said, but those patients rarely have the resources to start the program.
