Lindsay, June 9, 2006

Ross Memorial Hospital staff, physicians and patients now benefit from telemedicine through the use of NORTH Network, a partner in the Ontario TeleHealth Network.   This program was celebrated with an open house today that included a demonstration of this important technology.

NORTH Network is Canada's busiest telemedicine program.  It uses communications and information technologies to support the delivery of clinical care, professional education and health-related administrative services.

“Using live, two-way videoconferencing, NORTH Network clinicians apply the latest tele-diagnostic instruments - including digital stethoscopes, patient examination cameras, endoscopic equipment and digital imaging facilities - to examine and prescribe treatment,” said Janice Oberlin, Manager of Staff Education and TeleHealth Co-ordinator.

This technology means that a patient in a more remote area can "visit" an out-of-town specialist from their home community rather than having to travel.

"The Ontario Telehealth Network is invaluable in bringing highly specialized care to patients in the City of Kawartha Lakes,” added Dr. Paul Hacker, Medical TeleHealth Coordinator. “Timely access to such care, without the need to travel great distances, is an important benefit to our community, particularly our seniors."

In addition to supporting access to clinical care, NORTH Network supports continuing professional development and continuing medical education activities, with up to 3,000 people participating in more than 275 educational sessions per month.

“Education and administrative sessions started in October 2005 and since then, we have participated in over 100 educational events,” added Oberlin.  “We started facilitating physician consults in February 2006 and as of May 31st, we had participated in 37 consults, 3 of which were with our hospital offering the consultant to other hospitals.”

NORTH Network is a membership-based program of Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. NORTH offers technical and operational services to more than 100 Ontario members, including academic health science centres, community hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, clinics, nursing stations, long-term care homes, community care access centres, public health units and educational facilities. 

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For more information contact: 
Julia Bryan, Employee & Community Relations
Ross Memorial Hospital
(705) 328-6246