Ai2 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 30, 1997 OR. KEITH NEUFELD may be one of two radiologists based in Terrace but he can now practice his specialty quickly and easily throughout the northwest thanks to a pilot project which has connected health care facilities, The project involves using phone lines to transmit x-ray and other images. Phone lines speeding up northwestern health care A NEW technology is making things easier for physicians and their patients throughout the northwest. Hospitals and clinics are part of a network that can send x-ray and other images via phone lines to radiologists at larger centres for quick interpretations. Instead of a week to 10 day wait for routine exams when film had to ‘be sent out, readings can be done within two days or in just hours in case of emergencies. “I's just so nice to be able to transmit them,” says Stewart hospital administrator Linda Hyde of the $1 mil- lion teleradiology pilot project financed by the provincial government. ‘Tf we have to, we can have something read right away and that’s important when there is an emergency,’ she said, Hospitals and clinics from the Queen Charlotte Islands to Smithers and up to Dease Lake are connected thanks to the pilot project. , The three larger hospitals in Prince Rupert, Terrace and Smithers have on staff radiologists who can easily and quickly read the images for the smaller hospitals. Ifa radiologist is now available in Smithers, for instance, there’ll be one on duty someplace else to provide the ser- vice. A big benefit is also having clectronic access to orthopedic surgeons in Kitimat and in Prince Rupert, said Hyde. “This way we can know quickly if an injury is some- thing that has to be dealt with at a larger hospital or some- thing we can deal with bere,’’ she said. ‘'Sending people out by ambulance by road or by air is expensive, s0 this is a good preventative took,”’ Hyde con- tinued, An added bonus is that medevac and ambulance services are then available for those cases which do require an orthopedic surgeon or other specialists, she said, In total, four hospitals have send and receive systems while seven have send only. Wayne Hay, the former head of the now-defunct north- west regional health board, is overseeing the pilot project, In its first three full months of operation fom Decenvber 1996 to February 1997, 634 batches of routine and 17 emergency images were sent, making for nearly 2000 im- ages in total. The project is still under evaluation for one year but so Health body starts search for workers HAVING A public sector body hiring peopl: nowadays may sound strange given continual government cutbacks but that’s what is happening in the northwest. : The Northwest Community Health Services Socicty, which has replaced the Skeena Health Unit, needs more bodies, It took over from the health unit April 1 and when that happened, a hiting freeze was lifted. The old health unit employed the equivalent of 97 full time people, coming to 130 actual workers because of part time employes, All told there approximately 13 part time and full time vacant positions the new society nceds to fill, says ils inter- im manager, Dave Dennis. **Most of these are part time and they are front line posi- tions in public health nursing, community home care and the like,’’ he said. But the tricky part is that the society is hiring without yet exactly knowing the size of its budget. That’s because the socicty’s spending package i is now being made up of various bits and pieces thal once went out from various sections of ihe health ministry to health unils and other health bodies. ‘While we're hiring we are being careful about our ex- penditures and aboul what we do,” said Dennis, Health bodies such as the new society have also been told there should be more money for comniunity-based health care but how that translates into workers is still un- known, far we’re happy,” said Hay. Although the technology bas been around for more than 10 years, it’s only been recently that refinements have taken place to make possible sharp quality images. Hay’s been fielding phone calls from other northern regions across Canada about the project and how it might work elsewhere. Similar networks are being used by the American milita- ty which is using satelliie uplink and downlink connec- tions instead of phone lines. “The key is to have a communications system for the transmission of the images,”’ said Hay. If you received blood or 7 Benjamin Moore Paint Specials : Interior Paint Sale 108); 3.79 UTBES ULTRA WHITE 310: 04 ; jamin Moore GU Co. y Resular Price® Lares ert gi year End Clearance Year End Clearance on Superseded peg on Discontinued $ 00 Lines ol Deeper | dines of Tintable Paint. FF || Watnaoer Regular oH) (plus 800 ros) = Per double rolt neal alan n Sale, -— Most Wallpaper or more from af % that of the Order Books at ; book prices. Great Discounted Savings. You want io create a new and/or different leok, free in store demonsirations on faux Finishes, please inquire, Videos for loan on Faux Finishes and more. 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