Veterans in W.Va. get high-tech health care

Associated Press

CLARKSBURG, W.Va.

First thing every morning, Robert Hyde takes his blood pressure, measures his blood sugar and steps on a scale. Then he enters the data on a machine at his Fairmont home.

“It takes about seven to 10 minutes every morning,” said Hyde, a veteran who served in the U.S. Air Force from 1961 to 1968.

Hyde, who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and diabetes, participates in a program through the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center called Telehealth that allows nurses at the hospital to keep track of his vital statistics so they can better monitor the health of Hyde and other veterans.

Telehealth allows patients to communicate their symptoms and vital signs over the telephone, said William H.D. Shelton, a registered nurse and care coordinator at the VA hospital.

“That can be done in several ways,” Shelton said. “In this particular one, we set up monitors in people’s homes. They can enter their vital signs in, such as blood pressures and weights, and also they can do finger sticks.”

The information is transmitted to a computer in Austin, Texas, which is a firewall computer that protects all the information, Shelton said. Then the information is transmitted to Shelton and other RN-care coordinators, who then can monitor the health of the patients in the hopes of catching any symptoms of a potential illness early so treatment can be quick and potentially less invasive and less costly.