Senators Barbara A. Mikulski www.Mikulski.senate.gov and Ben Cardin www.cardin.senate.gov along with Representative John Delaney http://Delaney.house.gov from Maryland, announced that the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) www.arc.gov awarded $62,000 in grant funds to the Garrett County Memorial Hospital (GCMH) http://gcmh.com to fund a telehealth program connecting seniors and families in Western Maryland.
ARC is a federal-state partnership promoting economic development in 13 states throughout the Appalachian region. In 2015, Maryland received $4.7 million in ARC funding including $1.8 million for 18 local projects and $2.9 million for access road construction.
Garrett County and the surrounding areas face high rates of chronic illness. The shortage of local specialty care services in this rural area pose serious challenges to high need patients with stroke, high-risk pregnancies, and/or renal conditions.
GCMH will use the funds to secure three mobile telehealth units combining high definition video and audio communication with real-time medical data. These units will link patients and providers at GCMH with specialty care providers at the Western Maryland Health System www.wmhs.com, University of Maryland Medical Center http://umm.edu, and West Virginia University www.wvu.edu.
Clinicians at these centers will provide diagnosis and consultations to help patients receive needed care and expects to serve at least 250 patients through the telehealth program within one year after deploying the system.