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Distance Learning
and Telemedicine |
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USDA Awards Over $25.8
Million for Distance Learning and Telemedicine Projects
Other Topics: Electronic Medical
Records EMR, Health
Information Technology – National Director
Agriculture Under Secretary for Rural Development
October 2, 2006
Three West Virginia Recipients to Share Over $1 Million for
Education, Health Projects
Charleston, WV -- Agriculture Under Secretary for Rural
Development Thomas Dorr today announced the award of 103
Distance Learning and Telemedicine grants totaling $25,853,991
to provide improved educational and medical services to
residents of 38 states. Dorr made the announcement during a USDA
Rural Development sponsored broadband telecommunications
workshop in Charleston, W.Va. |
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"This program
connects communities to medical services and educational
opportunities they would not otherwise have," said Dorr. "Our
focus is to ensure that all rural Americans have access to state
of the art services through our rapidly expanding
telecommunications system."
The Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant program (DLT) was
created to encourage, improve, and make affordable the use of
telecommunications, computer networks and related technology for
rural communities to improve access to educational and/or
medical services. Fifty seven of the grants announced today will
fund projects designed to provide improved medical service and
46 will provide improved educational opportunities. Since 2001,
483 grants totaling over $166 million have been awarded under
the program.
Three of the grants, totaling $1,051,652 will be provided to
West Virginia. Fayette County Schools will use over $490,000 to
install distance learning centers in six high schools, the local
vocational-technical facility and the New River Family Health
Center. Two West Virginia hospitals will also receive funds.
Pleasant Valley Hospital of Point Pleasant will develop a home
telemonitoring system for rural residents of Mason County and
Wetzel County Hospital in New Martinsville will receive funds to
install a system to digitally capture and store patient imaging
studies, reducing the need for patient travel.
Another of the successful applicants is St. Joseph's Hospital
Foundation of Kentucky. The hospital will receive $326,893 to
assist the Eastern Kentucky Mobile Health Service to provide
medical services to six additional communities. The foundation
will help expand primary care and provide specialty
consultations to nine school-based health clinics, increasing
access to health care for 1,800 students and their families. The
DLT funding will be matched with funds from the Appalachian
Regional Commission and other project participants. Eastern
Maine Medical Center will receive a $500,000 grant to link five
Maine hospitals to provide critical care using Electronic
Intensive Care Unit technology. The system will allow intensive
care specialists to provide around the clock specialty care to
critically ill patients in rural hospitals. Specialists at one
hospital can interact with patients, physicians and caregivers
at other hospitals and access patient data from monitoring
devices. The system will use a Wide Area Network to connect the
hospitals. A complete list of the successful DLT applicants is
available at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov.
USDA Rural Development's mission is to increase economic
opportunity and improve the quality of life in rural
communities. As a venture capital entity, Rural Development has
invested over $72 billion since the beginning of the Bush
Administration to provide equity and technical assistance to
finance and foster growth in homeownership, business
development, and critical community and technology
infrastructure. Over 1.2 million jobs have been created or saved
through these investments. Further information on rural programs
is available at a local USDA Rural Development office or by
visiting USDA's web site at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov. |
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