case example 1
The Last Good-bye
Harris Hanson didn’t know that
Wednesday, April 3rd, 2002 would be that last time he would
see his wife, Elaine. He also didn’t know the last time he saw her
it would be over the television monitor, with the help of St. Joseph’s
Hospital & Health Center in Dickinson and the Telehealth
Department at St. Alexius Medical Center in Bismarck.
Harris and Elaine Hanson were married
42 years ago on February 23rd, in Mott, ND. Harris worked as a heavy
construction operator for many years, and together they had lived in
numerous areas throughout the United States, including North Dakota.
Elaine was a homemaker for the most of their married life and also a
previous employee of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Dickinson.
In the year 2000, Harris was diagnosed
with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was successfully treated at St.
Alexius Medical Center and fortunately went into remission. Together,
Harris and Elaine rejoiced in his good health. In the later part of
2001, Elaine was diagnosed with lung cancer and had chemotherapy but
unfortunately the disease was progressing.
On Wednesday, April 3rd,
Harris and Elaine’s lives took a turn for the worst when they were
both admitted to different hospitals for medical emergencies. Harris
was seen in the emergency room at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Health
Center in Dickinson, ND, for swelling in his left leg that was
increasing rapidly. He was quickly transferred to St. Alexius Medical
Center in Bismarck, ND for radiation treatment that could not be done
immediately in Dickinson. At the same time Elaine was admitted to St.
Joseph’s Hospital and Health Center in Dickinson. She was
deteriorating rapidly and needed acute care and pain management for
her cancer.
At St. Alexius, a blood clot was
diagnosed in Harris’ left leg so he could not travel to Dickinson to
be with Elaine, for what Harris believed could be be her last days.
One of his physicians, Dr. Glen Hyland, a radiation oncologist from
the Bismarck Cancer Center, stated Harris was weeping and becoming
emotionally distraught knowing his wife may not live through the
night. Desperate times call for desperate and creative measures, and
that’s what happened. He contacted the St. Alexius Telehealth
Department and asked if a telemedicine connection could be made with
St. Joseph’s Hospital & Health Center so Harris and Elaine could
see each other that day. “In caring for the patient we always
look at how to diagnosis and treat the patient, but occasionally we
also have to meet a more serious need, the psycho-social well being of
the patient,” stated Dr. Hyland, and he knew that telemedicine
could do just that. St. Alexius telemedicine coordinator, Andie Eberle,
also concurred, “This example shows that telemedicine is not only
available for doctor-patient and education connection, but it is also
there for the emotional connection.”
Andie contacted the telemedicine
coordinator at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Care Center, Becky Elkins,
who took care of contacting Elaine, her physician and the St. Joseph’s
nursing staff. According to Andie and Becky, coordinating the visit
went very smoothly. All parties involved were very eager to make this
connection happen as quickly as possible.
In the afternoon Harris was brought to
the Telehealth Department at St. Alexius in a specialized chair that
allowed him to lie flat during the tranfer from his hospital room.
Simultaneoulsy, Elaine was taken on a hospital bed to the Emergency
Room at St. Joseph’s where the telemedicine equipment is located.
The reunion was short but very emotional, not only for Harris and
Elaine, but for the staff that participated in the reunion via
interactive video. No one knows what the two high school sweethearts
were thinking as they saw and talked to each other for the last time.
They said good-bye to each other in a way only a lifetime of care,
compassion and love can. After they both said their good-byes, Harris
asked to have another telemedicine connection on Friday, with the hope
that he could return to Dickinson on the weekend to be with her.
Unfortunately that visit never
happened. Elaine passed away Friday morning, just hours before the
next telemedicine connection was to occur. At that time, Harris
remarked the last visit with Elaine meant the world to him, and he was
thankful telemedicine was available.
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case example 2
Kim’s Journey
When 16 year old Kim Wolf was brought to
Ashley Medical Center, a Critical Access Hospital and skilled nursing
facility in rural North Dakota, doctors believed she would never walk or
talk again. A serious head injury sustained in a car accident left the
teenager in a semi-conscious state, unable to sit up, communicate or
even make eye contact, but after intensive physical and occupational
therapy at Ashley Medical Center, Kim is walking with the help of a
cane, reading and doing math problems.
With the help of St. Alexius Telecare
Network, Kim is now able to receive speech therapy services as part of
her ongoing treatment to aide in her recovery from this devastating head
injury . Carrie Selle, Speech Therapist at St. Alexius, notes “Kim has
made remarkable improvement in her cognitive and speech skill. She has
progressed from a level of not being able to verbalize, to currently
being able to use her voice for basic needs and wants. With gains in her
cognitive abilities, Kim has begun to return to her high school
classwork. Her motivation and positive attitude are second to none; with
hard work, determination and this unique opportunity for intensive
speech therapy, she has already far surpassed the cognitive and
communication prognosis she was given by medical professionals in the
first several months after the accident.”
For Kim living in Ashley, North Dakota,
Telemedicine was the difference between care in her own community and
care at a hospital more than 120 miles away. Her parents, farmers,
simply would not have had the time or the resources to travel such a
distance, and Kim would not have made the progress that has given her
the quality of life she has today.
Today, Kim is still making progress in leaps and bounds and recently
attended her junior prom, where there was not a dry eye in the room.
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