DATE/TIME: TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 11:45 a.m.-2 p.m. (12:45-3 p.m. Tuba City time)
PLACE(S):
-Indian Health Service Tuba City Indian Medical Center, 167 N. Main St., Tuba City
-Department of Corrections, Conference Room, 363 N. First Ave., Phoenix
-Arizona Telemedicine Program, UA College of Medicine, 1501 N. Campbell, Tucson
-Flagstaff Medical Center 1200 N. Beaver St., Flagstaff (for information, please call Keli Openshaw, 520-214-3711)
Medical Writers/Assignment Editors Note: Media are welcome to cover this unique event and participants will be available for interviews. To make arrangements, please contact Alison Hughes, (520) 626-7946, e-mail: ahughes@u.arizona.edu
The Arizona Telemedicine Program (ATP) at The University of Arizona College of Medicine will hold a "virtual celebration" at four of its sites as it formally inaugurates a full-service telemedicine site in Tuba City on the Navajo Reservation.
Established by ATP, in cooperation with the Indian Health Service Tuba City Indian Medical Center, the Tuba City site will be inaugurated Tuesday, April 6, 11:45 a.m.-2 p.m. (12:45-3 p.m. Tuba City time) at the Tuba City Indian Medical Center.
However, news media in Tucson, Phoenix, and Flagstaff also will be able to cover a unique four-site "virtual celebration." Although the program will be launched in Tuba City, it will be possible for media members to participate in Phoenix through the Arizona Telemedicine Program's secondary hub site at the Department of Corrections, conference room, 363 N. First Ave., (across from the YMCA). Reporters can cover the event in Tucson through the Arizona Telemedicine Program hub site at the UA College of Medicine; and in Flagstaff, where a medical image will be transmitted from Tuba City to physicians at the Flagstaff Medical Center, the program's newest "secondary hub."
As a full-service site, the IHS Tuba City Indian Medical Center is connected to the ATP via the Arizona Rural Telemedicine Network, a statewide telecommunications infrastructure for telemedicine. The network makes possible "real-time" online medical consultations in cardiology, neurology, dermatology, psychiatry, radiology and other specialties. By bringing medical specialists "virtually" to the Tuba City hospital, the need for patients to travel long distances for specialized medical consultations and services will be reduced greatly and medical care can be provided in a much more timely manner. The network allows video interaction between a physician and patient at Tuba City and a specialist at The University of Arizona Health Sciences Center in Tucson. Originally funded by the Arizona Legislature in 1996, ATP now serves 12 sites throughout the state, including the Department of Corrections Health Services Office in Phoenix and the prison complex in the Somerton/Yuma area. Other Native American sites connected to the system include Ganado, Sells and Whiteriver hospitals serving the Navajo, Hopi, White Mountain Apache, and Tohono O'Odham nations.
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