Mercy Telehealth Network Uses Wireless Remote Robots to
Connect Mercy Specialist Physicians to Patients in Rural Hospitals
SACRAMENTO, CA, November 1, 2012 – The Mercy Telehealth
Network, which connects Mercy stroke specialists to stroke patients in
emergency rooms at rural and community hospitals, has expanded its network
reach with the addition of Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital in San Andreas.
The Mercy Telehealth Network’s telestroke service uses InTouch Health
wireless remote robots to connect stroke patients to neurologists from the
Mercy Neurological Institute in Sacramento.
This technology is the only FDA
approved telehealth technology available. Stroke
specialists at the hub “control centers” remotely control the wireless, mobile
robots located at 12 Northern and Central California hospitals in the network,
which enable them to examine and talk directly to patients, consult with
on-site physicians, assist and help direct therapy and interact directly with
the family. The Mercy Telehealth Network hubs are located at Mercy General
Hospital in Sacramento and Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael.
Starting October 1, the Mercy Telehealth Network began providing
physician specialist expertise for stroke services to Mark Twain St. Joseph’s
Hospital. Patients who arrive in Mark Twain’s emergency department with stroke
systems will be evaluated immediately by a Mercy Neurological Institute Stroke
Specialist via the hospital’s new InTouch Health RP-Lite robot.
“Our partnership with the Mercy Telehealth Network is so exciting here in
Calaveras County,” said Randy Smart, MD, medical director of the intensive care
unit at Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital. “Our patients will now have immediate
access and great stroke care from Mercy neurologists during a critical time,
right here at Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital.”
Mark Twain’s robot has been named “Lynnie,” after Lynn Gates, a hospital
nurse who died of a stroke in 2009. “We received more than 42 suggested names
from staff members,” said Peggy Stout, a member of the patient advisory
committee for the robot naming. “It came down to choosing a name that had both
history and connection to someone who exemplified the values we all strive to
embrace.”
Gates was a registered nurse who worked for many years at Mark Twain St.
Joseph’s Hospital. She was the director of education and then became manager of
surgical services.
Her family still lives in Calaveras County. They were both honored and
touched at the opportunity to memorialize Gates by naming the telehealth robot
after her, symbolizing the importance of good health and early stroke
diagnosis.
Lynnie the robot is five-feet-six-inches tall and has a flat-screen
computer monitor “face”, on which patients and family members can see and interact
with the physician in real time. A zoom-lens camera and microphone on top of
the screen enables the physicians to see and hear patients during examinations,
read patient charts, see test results and view certain images.
According to the National Stroke Association,
stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. On average,
someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and someone dies of a stroke every
four minutes. Stroke is a leading cause of serious, long-term adult disability in
the United States with about seven million stroke survivors alive today.
The Mercy Telehealth Network benefits patients by connecting them to
highly trained specialists who might not be available in their home town
hospitals and allows patients to be treated in their own communities, close to
home. The network can help provide consistent and timely delivery in the
treatment of acute ischemic stroke. Patients can be evaluated by highly skilled
stroke neurologists and when appropriate, receive thrombolytic agents, which
must be given within a narrow window after the onset of symptoms.
“Telestroke improves care and provides better access for patients who
need specialty care,” said Alan Shatzel, DO, medical director of neurology at
the Mercy Neurological Institute. “Our goal is to be at the bedside remotely in
10 minutes. We want to deliver therapy as quickly and efficiently as possible.”