In this Issue:

Updated Contact Information

REACH Coordinating Council Meeting

Clinical Services Schedule

Deb Hall: What’s happening with infrastructure and broadband videoconferencing?

Rural Early Access to Children’s Health

News from the REACH Telehealth Network

Oct. 6, 2004

Contact Update

REACH has a new e-mail address that will not change even if we change administrative staff. The address is REACHCDD@salud.unm.edu

REACH Coordinating Council Meeting

The REACH Coordinating Council met in Albuquerque at the Center for Development and Disability on 9/29. A panel of consultants discussed successful clinical services that have happened over the past six months. This included psychology/behavioral consultation, pediatric consultation, speech therapy evaluation and ongoing monthly consultation, physical therapy and occupational therapy consultation, and speech therapy/autism intervention consultation. The second-year sites had the opportunity to collaborate with first-year sites. Sites developed goals and activities for year two.

The UNM Center for Telehealth reported on the teleconferencing infrastructure in New Mexico. The network currently has three HIPAA-compliant sites. They are: Hidalgo Medical Center in Lordsburg, Southwest Counseling Center in Las Cruces and Eastern New Mexico Medical Center in Roswell.

REACH presented monthly trainings beginning in May on various topics that were identified by the first-year sites. Albuquerque was connected with Las Cruces, Carlsbad, Lordsburg, Alamogordo, and Roswell. The training on Sept. 17 experienced technical difficulties, which we are aware of and have worked out. The next training is Friday October 15 and the presenters are Elisabeth Ceysens, nutritionist, and Pat Lilley, speech therapist from the SAFE feeding clinic, who will talk about Feeding and Nutrition of Young Children with Disabilities. Remember to register for the training: REACHCDD@salud.unm.edu

Referral Schedule

In order to make the clinical services easy to schedule, we have dedicated Speech and Language Therapy and Psychology/Behavioral time slots for you to access. Contact REACHCDD@salud.unm.edu to refer.