Telemedicine has been used for years to deliver medical care to remote locations by audio or video links. Now, Canadian researchers are exploring the possibility of using that same technology to provide rehabilitation services to stroke patients in remote areas.
Mention rehabilitation for stroke victims, and you probably think of hands-on therapists working to restore speech or mobility. But when patients live in a remote community hundreds of kilometers from the specialists they need, that kind of therapy may not be possible. Fortunately, for many residents of Northern Canada, a robust telemedicine system of audio and video links is being tried out for rehabilitation services.
Esme French, of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Science
