Satellite beams to remote clinic in Dutch Harbor

ar-160929723-jpgexactw620The only clinic in one of the nation’s busiest commercial fishing ports is so remote that even conventional telemedicine for emergencies has been impossible for its limited staff – until last week. A new partnership with an Anchorage hospital is virtually beaming critical care doctors 800 miles away to the emergency room on the island that holds Dutch Harbor, the operations base for the Bering Sea crabbing fleet made famous by the Discovery Channel show “Deadliest Catch.” But instead of transmissions with fiber-optics, which are nowhere near isolated Unalaska Island, the team putting together the system is relying on satellite technology in what is believed to be a first in the country for telemedicine. The new connection is expected to boost outpatient care as needed by clinic staffers, including its two non-emergency doctors. The clinic, Iliuliuk Family and Health Services, brings to nine the number of providers served by the electronic intensive care unit at Anchorage’s Providence Alaska Medical Center. Read the story here 10:03

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