Driving two hours from Columbia, John Lewis and Julia Shillinglaw set out to get a glimpse of what school-based telehealth is like in rural Greeleyville, South Carolina. They arrive at C E Murray High School and meet with the school telepresenter, Lynn Floyd. This story is all in an effort to elevate public understanding of telehealth in South Carolina.
What is Telehealth? Telehealth is the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration, through the South Carolina Telehealth Alliance, a collaboration of stakeholders working together to make quality healthcare services accessible to rural communities and underserved populations
Through the human stories of patients, families, clinicians and others, Lewis and Shillinglaw have been providing stories from around the Palmetto State through the series, My Telehealth.
“I love meeting with patients and families. It's really rewarding to tell their stories and show how telehealth has improved their lives,” says Lewis.
Each of the videos tells a different story of how patients from around the state are being affected by this combination of healthcare and technology. South Carolina Public Radio also hosts the My Telehealth podcast.
"I think my favorite thing about working on this project is meeting people who are so passionate about what they do and delivering care to underserved areas, even if it means sometimes that they are giving free telemedicine services in remote areas. Just recently, we did a story about how Telehealth is being used globally, so that doctors in a remote place in Uganda, Africa can have access to specialists at MUSC at no cost, and that otherwise wouldn’t even be imaginable in such a place. I think if Telemedicine is being driven by people who really want to make a difference, it will make a great impact, not only in our state but across the globe," adds Shillinglaw.
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