Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/606231
TheTimes-Standardstaff Rolling down the hall- ways of Mad River Commu- nity Hospital is the future of medicine, and her name is "Madeline." Standing for Mad River On Line, Madeline is the newest In-Touch Health telemedicine robot used by the hospital to give doc- tors and patients access to specialized care from out- side the county. Due to the county's rural setting, the new technology is key to increasing the quality of patient care, according to Steve Engle, Mad River Community Hospital chief operations officer. "Due to the increasing shortage and cost of special- ist care, rural communities are depending upon tele- medicine more and more. If we want to continue to provide high quality local care this is one methodol- ogy," Engle said. He said the robot's use is determined on a case- by-case basis. If the local hospitalist determines that someone needs additional services or a higher level of care, they work with out-of- area specialists to connect them with patients. "This allows our local patient to stay local while accessing a specialist that may not be available lo- cally," Engle said. He said the hospital has been using the technology for the past three years. However, the newest up- grade has improvements to the wi-fi connections and allows physicians to better view the patients. "We decided to invest in the new hardware as it makes it easier for the tele- medicine physicians to op- erate and provide those specialized services we need to avoid patients be- ing sent out of the area," Engle said. When a doctor thinks a specialist is required, the robot can be called re- motely to each room of the hospital. Equipped with sensors, the device is able to detect obstacles in its way and is programmed to stop and wait for objects to pass before continuing its route to the hospital room where it was called. The robot is considered a cost of care and was paid for through normal hospi- tal operating expenses. En- gle said the hospital chose to invest in the technology to increase patient care by keeping care local. Engle said Redwood Me- morial Hospital is also us- ing a similar system. MEDICALTECHNOLOGY Therobotwillseeyounow New device connects patients to specialists from out of the area CYNTHIAM.KEENE—CONTRIBUTEDPHOTOS The robot waits for instruction as nursing students look on. Mad River Community Hospital IT Manager Barron Clark programs the robot's destination into an iPad. The robot, in turn, moves to the pre-programmed destination point. By Ashiah Scharaga Chico Enterprise-Record CHICO A new county proj- ect is empowering smokers to put down cigarettes by providing them with ac- cess to services. Bruce Baldwin, Califor- nia Health Collaborative cessation coordinator, is at the helm of the Prop- osition 99-funded proj- ect, which is reaching out to local health care, be- havioral health and sub- stance abuse treatment providers. The project's launch is particularly relevant as the 38th year of American Cancer So- ciety's Great Smokeout was last week, which en- couraged smokers to set plans to quit on the date or shortly after it. "When I quit smok- ing 24 years ago, it was like, 'Good luck, buddy,'" Baldwin said. "And now we find that when peo- ple have a support group and use nicotine replace- ments and have their doc- tor's support, they quit at much higher rates. That's the goal, to raise aware- ness and provide the basic information that health care providers need to make sure they're being as helpful as possible." In Butte County, 21.2 percent of adult males and 13.8 percent of adult females said they were smokers in 2009, accord- ing to a UC San Francisco smoking cost study. The cost per smoker for that year was $5,773, higher than the state average of $4,603. These costs in- clude health care and lost productivity. "As the number of peo- ple in California who smoke has gone down, helping people quit has kind of gone off the radar," Baldwin said. "Unfortu- nately, in Butte County we still have high numbers." The project focus is get- ting services to those less likely to receive them, he said. About three of every 10 cigarettes smoked by adults are smoked by those with mental illness nation- ally, and 30 to 34 percent of mentally ill adults in California are also smok- ers, according to a 2013 Centers for Disease Con- trol and Prevention report. "The more likely you are to need the help, the less likely it is to be avail- able to you," Baldwin said. "People in recovery, quit- ting alcoholics and drug addicts, there's this per- ception: Don't try to quit smoking, that's too much. But research shows if they quit smoking at the same time they quit drinking, they're more likely to get sober." Baldwin has presented to health care, behavioral health and substance abuse treatment provid- ers in the county to get the word out since funding be- came available in July. The grant funds five years. Over time, he hopes the project will greatly reduce the rate of smoking in the county, he said. It should become natural for health care providers to imme- diately ask every new pa- tient if they smoke and of- fer them information on how they can quit if they do, he said. "It's that simple to make a huge difference," he said. "As always, it's up to smok- ers to want to quit and uti- lize the services. But right now, we don't have the ser- vices, so even when they want to quit, they don't have the help." REGION Butte County project to snuff out smoking | HEALTH | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2015 4 A