@evamarie

Yes. And turn around manufacturers for what is needed now, masks, ventilators, new hospitals Like if it were wartime. Bcz it is. Also food production and delivery, different type of services, maintaining critical structures (like garbage, recycling), getting creative abt that, new ways. Mental health, services, dentists, everything is affected and will domino. Need to get creative.

@artemis

Agreed. We need to get really creative about a lot of things. Hawaii invented telemedicine and it needs to ramp up. We need to figure out medical supplies and vents.

@evamarie

I did not know that about HI. Am all ears :--)

@artemis

It was originally developed by the largest health plan in HI (a BCBS licensee) to bring medical and mental health services to remote outer island locations with few resources.

@evamarie

So ppl use it? like tele-video-medical visits? routinely?

@artemis

Yes, even on Oahu. You have to see your provider at least once in person, but after that, you can use tele-medicine for both mental and physical health services. Our neighbor islands don’t have enough healthcare providers and telemedicine really has bridged a gap.

@evamarie

Awesome. Do people like it?

@artemis

Everyone I’ve talked to who has used it simply love it. Very convenient.

@evamarie @artemis Just in case it isn’t clear, “Oahu “ as Eva-Marie mentions is our so-called most advanced island in Hawaii according to “western civilization” standards (not my standards, but anyways...). So, the point being if even they’re using telemedicine successfully, that’s pretty remarkable.

@catie @artemis

Good point. The neighbor islands don’t have nearly as many healthcare providers per capita.

@evamarie @catie

Wondering whether they look at safety/medical errors comparing telehealth vs. traditional.

@artemis @evamarie I know on the big island, our med errors were minimal and outcomes good because the majority of our health providers were culturally competent, which is a far more important factor than whether your health provider talked to you on the computer vs in person. Ymmv.

@catie
That's a great point. Very interesting.
Are they culturally competent just because they are, or they were trained to be so?

@evamarie

@artemis @evamarie Mostly column “A” though

@catie @evamarie
Thank you, both for sharing this info.
I may come back with questions, some day (-:

Good nite, friends.

@artemis

Goodnight Artemis

@evamarie

So beautiful and poetic ! Thank you 😍

Wishing you a nice, peaceful day.

@artemis @evamarie yes, HI was at the forefront of telemedicine. And testing is still an important part of isolation and reducing infections. Both need to happen at the same time. As an isolated territory HI has been more innovative in health treatment than the mainland.