About Telehealth:

Telehealth is a technology advanced, home monitoring system that enables specially trained VNA nurses to assist frail, older adults in managing their illness from the convenience of their own home.  The VNA offers two tiers of Telehealth programs:  video and non-video.

Video Units: Phase 1

Since 2000, the VNA has used video telehealth units to monitor selected patients with a primary diagnosis of heart failure and/or other chronic illnesses who are at high risk for hospitalization.  These patients initially are homebound and require visiting nurse services.  The telehealth units are used to augment the nurses’ visits and engage the patient in necessary self-care.  It has also been demonstrated that use of these units decreases re-hospitalization and for many isolated patients, provides an enhanced sense of well-being.  To date we have 25 units in use.

The video units provide: 

• Live, on-screen, two-way monitoring with visual access for a cardiac trained RN to monitor overall patient care.
• A monitoring unit that has the capacity to check heart and lung sounds, blood pressure and blood oxygen levels.
• A telehealth nurse for counseling, education and assessment of the health of the patient.

Non-Video Units: Phase 2

In 2006, the VNA introduced 25 non-video, Turtle 400, telehealth monitoring units.  This technology has been utilized to expand the services to patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes, chronic cardiac or pulmonary disease and hypertension.  These units enable patients to take their blood pressure, weight, measure their blood oxygen levels and record this data for the nurse to retrieve and review seven days a week.  This fosters self-care and health education and can have a lifetime of use.  As with the video units they are a tool to reduce visits to the emergency room and re-hospitalization.

The non-video Turtle 400 units provide:

• A small, self-contained computer and user friendly, color touch screen monitor to capture vital sign data.
• A trained RN to review data, on a daily basis, and monitor patients’ vital signs.
• Patient-specific alerts and reminders and an education module to reinforce teaching on specific disease process.    

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