NNLM Discovery | Virtual Health (Audio Described Version)

When COVID-19 struck, one rural library in Texas made a bold move to help their community. They reached out to NNLM about funding opportunities for a virtual health room in Pottsboro, Texas. This had NEVER been done before, having an established room in a library dedicated to tele-health appointments. On this episode of the NNLM Discovery podcast, Region Three Executive Director Brian Leaf shares his story with host Yamila El-Khayat about how he and Jessica Rangel, Executive VP of Health Systems University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, helped Pottsboro County Librarian Dianne Connery use an NNLM grant to establish a nationwide model to harness the power of telemedicine to overcome the lack of access to healthcare in much of rural America.
Building on the pilot’s success, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission has expanded this funding model for more libraries to implement similar telehealth spaces, including Austin Public Library.
Non-AD version - • NNLM Discovery | Virtu...
Find the podcast episode here - www.nnlm.gov/podcast/virtual-...
The NNLM is the outreach arm of the National Library of Medicine with the mission to advance the progress of medicine and improve the public health by providing all U.S. health professionals with equal access to biomedical information and improving the public's access to information to enable them to make informed decisions about their health. The seven Health Sciences Libraries function as the Regional Medical Library (RML) for their respective region, with Region Three consisting of: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. To learn more about Region 3 visit: www.nnlm.gov/about/regions/region3
Join Outreach Services Librarian Yamila El-Khayat every week through March 17 for a new episode of the NNLM Discovery podcast. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, or on our website www.nnlm.gov/podcast. Please be sure to like, rate, and review the show!
Transcript:
Dianne Connery
In Pottsboro, Texas, a rural community 90 miles north of Dallas, people have to travel to get to the doctor, and that's difficult for a lot of people here, and it's time consuming. There's no public transportation, nor is there any ridesharing available. So we stayed open throughout the pandemic so people could come here, because people didn't have computers or Internet subscriptions at home.
Dianne Connery
Then we started getting a couple calls from people who wanted to have doctors appointments. Libraries are perfectly positioned to work with with telehealth, because we are oftentimes the fastest Internet connection in town. People trust librarians. It's a neutral space. We're accustomed to helping people with digital literacy skills. So it all came together to request funding to start a virtual health room here.
Brian Leaf
The original proposal that they pitched was to create a pilot telehealth site that would allow them to figure out best practices that they could distribute as a model to other libraries or other community organizations that are looking to do the same thing. And in that respect, it has been a resounding success. A crucial partner in this was also HSC Health, which is sort of the clinical support that they got for managing schedules, for setting up appointments with providers.
Jessica Rangel
So as it stands right now, there are 77 counties that don't have a hospital. Telemedicine can be a real solution to a lot of these problems if we have both the equipment, and then you have to have someone special there to help lead the way and to acknowledge that it's actually safe.
Dianne Connery
NNLM made it possible for us to convert this old storage room filled with old books into a virtual health room, a room where people can come in, connect with health care providers, get the care they need closer to home. It's leading to people being healthier.
Jamie Kimberlin
During COVID, I did not want to go sit in a doctor's office and expose myself to bigger things when I just had a minor health issue. So this made it to where my safety came first and it was private, easy, convenient. That's why I chose it.
Jessica Rangel
It's a great model. And in fact, we've created a playbook because this is not about secret sauce. This is about, let's make our communities healthier. Here's what we learned from this experience, and here's what we wish we had done a little bit differently. How fabulous would it be if all rural communities had this kind of access. Healthy people become healthy communities.
Dianne Connery
Whenever Pottsboro, Texas is on national news, I know we've done something worthwhile. And I am proud of being the first pioneer to do this, to be able to help other libraries across the country make this happen. And it's a reality now that would not have happened without NNLM.
#audiodescription