December 13, 2004
The holidays are upon us as we move into this second year of the REACH telehealth project. Thanks to all of you for all your work! Here’s what’s new!
REACH successfully completed our first monthly training series from May – November. The Center for Telehealth in Albuquerque connected with Alamogordo, Las Cruces, Lordsburg, Roswell, and Carlsbad. Site availability was a limiting factor for connecting in Las Vegas. Thanks to our REACH partners for identifying topics of interest. Feeding and Nutrition was addressed by Elisabeth Ceysens and Pat Lilley from SAFE in October, and Writing Functional Outcomes was addressed by Debra Billings and Mary Zaremba from ECNet in November.
Project SET from the CDD Southwest Autism Network initiated a monthly training seminar connecting with Farmington, Las Cruces, Roswell, Santa Fe and Albuquerque in November and December. The training information has been well received, but there have been multiple technical difficulties. Project SET is exploring additional technology options for providing training.
Brian Lopez and Sandy Heimerl from REACH presented a poster concerning teleconferencing at the national meeting of AUCD and Zero to Three. Interest in telehealth was generated at the meetings.
Continuing Medical Education:
We had our first CME program for physicians, social workers, and other healthcare
providers (attended by teachers and others as well!), on Attention Deficit
Disorder. Dr. Chilton gave an excellent review of assessment, diagnosis and
medical treatment. We will be developing 2-4 programs for 2005, probably in
the areas of: (a) post NBICU developmental care issues for pediatrics and
family practice; (b) a pediatric neurology topic; (c) something on childhood
depression and anxiety disorders; (d) DD & initial diagnosis, work-up,
referrals, and resources. Let us know if there are other medical topics you
want us to consider.
Lordsburg/HMS: In November, HMS participated in two CEU trainings and provided several clinical encounters. In December, we have two HIPAA trainings and two psychology consults. REACH has provided monthly speech consultation and occupational therapy consultation at HMS. We participated in the REACH and SET Trainings and the CME training.
Las Cruces/TOTS: During the last part of November, Linda visited every meeting the DSs, Therapists, and Service Coordinators had and did some outreach. We are working on referrals from the T or C area and 1-2 in Anthony and participating in the REACH and SET trainings.
Alamogordo/Zia Therapy Center: This month we enjoyed the training "Writing Functional Outcomes." The possibilities of using the telehealth equipment was discussed with the managers of Zia Therapy Center and use was encouraged for the child care and respite programs. One of our local childcare centers was given information about telehealth and appears interested in using it.
Silver City/Life Quest: We got our videophone,
which was the highlight of the month. We used it for our admin. meeting-easy!
Sandy told us that Deming would be a site possibly
in January-imagine the possibilities with two videophones. A nurse in Catron
County is very interested in the REACH project and has emailed a few times
with questions. A foster family there is interested in getting speech consultation
for a child maybe in Jan. Cherry Cullen completed HIPAA training.
Carlsbad:CARC Child Development Center: CARC Child Development Center has been showing the videophone around town! We've been to Maternal Child Health Council, to a group of students at the high school in a child development class, and to management meeting at CARC. We've done one conference successfully in a psychology evaluation, and it was well received! Three home visits are on the horizon. We've had nothing but support and excitement about the idea, so more to come!
Infrastructure Update: REACH, via Deb Hall, has been attending some of the meetings of the Telehealth Alliance, a group that includes the University of New Mexico and others in the state, who are working to get an overall infrastructure for telehealth up and running. We hope to soon have broadband access in Silver City, supported by another grant project, SBIRT (Screening Brief Intervention Referral and Treatment for substance abuse related problems). Thanks to SBIRT! Carlsbad is on the way too, through our partners at NMSU and CARC. A bit at a time, we’re getting there!
REACH has a new e-mail address that will not change even if we change administrative
staff. The address is:
The phone number remains the same: 505-272-3844.
Thanks to all from the REACH staff! Have a safe and happy
holiday season!
