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Informatics |
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Loyola University Health Sciences Library |
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©1995-2008 Loyola University Health System, All Rights Reserved Loyola University Health Sciences Library 2160 South 1st Avenue, Maywood, IL 60153
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Spring 2008 |
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Telehealth & Learning Resources |
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Can I call her tomorrow?” I asked.
“I’ll call her and let her know you’ll talk to her then,” was the answer.
It had been a busy Tuesday when a phone call came to the library. Someone in the Chicago area was asking to use the library’s videoconferencing facility. She had tried other Chicago locations and had been turned down. Her child had a feeding disorder. The mother had learned about the Children’s Feeding Program at Children’s Hospital of Richmond in Virginia. The Feeding Program staff agreed to evaluate her child via videoconferencing. But the mother was desperate, having been turned down elsewhere.
The next day I called her. We spoke briefly. We had done a videoconference a few years before for a family in the Chicago area to see family members at a hospital in Montana. The mother explained that she was concerned for her child’s life. Sixteen months old, the child only weighed ten pounds and had been through a recent period when her weight was even less. We agreed to work on this videoconference for the mother and her daughter. We got contact information for the Children’s Hospital of Richmond and said that we would let them know when we had tested videoconferencing to that location.
When we run a videoconference for people, they are sometimes amazed that the technology works. We tell them that although the technology can be unstable at times, but generally it is pretty reliable. And that the real hard part of videoconferencing is the people part: the scheduling, making sure everyone at all the locations are ready at the same time, and any additional logistics issues. This is exactly what happened. First some paperwork that needed to be completed prior to the videoconference was not done. The mother was a little frustrated because she felt that she had not been told about all the paperwork at first. We assured her that we would keep times open for her videoconference so that once the paperwork was completed, we would be able to accommodate her quickly for the consultation.
Eventually, all the administrative details were resolved and the mother and child came to the library on Halloween day for the videoconference. We had two earlier videoconferences that day. When we arrived at the library to initiate the videoconference connection to Children’s Hospital of Richmond, the mother and her child were already there. We connected the videoconference—to find that the staff of the Children’s Feeding Program were in their Halloween costumes for the interview. While they interviewed the mother and child, we stayed to control the camera and make sure the videoconference technology worked fine. During the part of the interview when the staff were interviewing the mother, the child was crawling around the meeting room, exploring this new place. After about an hour, the staff of the Children’s Feeding Program agreed to accept the child into the program, to begin in January 2008.
We were pleased to be of assistance in helping this family provide for the health of their youngest member.
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