Telemedicine: Part 1

Image source: leadingage.org

February 2 2016

Did you know the NASA used the same digital signal processing to enhance pictures from Apollo Lunar landing as do hospitals to enhance pictures of your broken bone?

Did you know that NASA used to measure temperature of planets and starts with the same technology as the thermometer you put in your ear to check for a fever?

Did you know that NASA told satellites how to work with the same technology that keeps patients' heart beating by sending little bits of electricity to their hearts?

Did you know that NASA uses the same lasers to study ozone layer around the Earth as do physicians do to unclog blood vessels?

This is Kaylee Sohng from Montreal. There's a reason I'm starting out with a grand escape to the space. It's because NASA also pioneered a technology that is rapidly being developed in medicine that I'll talk about today, and it's telemedicine.

In 1972, NASA partnered with the Indian Health Service in the US to provide healthcare to a remote tribe of Native Americans on the Papago Reservation in Arizona.. The Papago tribe was very isolated. So they used two-way microwave transmissions to link paramedical personnel located in mobile vans and fixed stations with medical experts at hospitals in Tucson and Phoenix. 

Today, with our country being the 2nd largest in the world, the vastness of our land has posed a great challenge to residents without appropriate access to health care in rural areas. So I spoke with a student at University of British Columbia, Paige Dean. She will explain the definition and significance of telehealth and inform us about her research project over the summer of 2015.

You can listen to this week's show here.