Telehealth & Community Broadband Tackle COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

Telehealth is important for monitoring coronavirus patients' condition while minimizing healthcare workers' exposure to the disease. But today's show discusses the greater value of using telehealth to offload a sizeable share of non-COVID-19 patients from hospitals and doctors:

• accidents
• mental health treatments
• traumas - strokes & heart attacks  
• post-surgery monitoring
• elderly care

COVID-19 also exposed the faultlines that is inherent in this country's broadband infrastructure. It has made networks groan under the stress of quickly shifting business, schools, and healthcare data to homes. What's the short- and long-term impact of this shift, especially as it pertains to telehealth?

Kim Almkuist, the nurse practitioner overseeing telehealth initialives for the Wilson County [NC] Department of Health, describes how telehealth is improving healthcare. She also explains potential impacts on home healthcare of the feds relaxing restrictions on telehealth. Almkuist has the Wilson Greenlight public broadband nerwork backing her up. 

Chrisopher Mitchell, Director of Community Broadband Network at ILSR, advises how to deal short-term with our broadband faultlines. But also, what can we do in the long-term to address broadband infrastructure? Many grass-roots activities have sprung up after the pandemic hit. Are groups such as these and the Institute of Local Self Reliance the greatest chance for resolving these shortcoming?