re: this is great idea!

[Grace Maano]

Hi Alvin,

I've just done a Medical Mission to Polillo Island in Quezon Province
with Ugnayan ng Pahinungod last April and one of the needs identified
(aside from the myriad list of things they are wanting of like
upgrading of hospital facilities and equipments) is HEALTH EDUCATION
both for the community and training for the Medical staff!
Short of bringing the specialists knowledge and skills to far-flung/
inaccessible health facilities, this telehealth program you are
starting is a bridge towards achieving that goal.

In support of this program, I would like to recommend:
1. For funding: to apply for Humanitarian Grant from Rotary
please check out the following link:
http://www.rotary.org/en/ServiceAndFellowship/FundAProject/3-HGrants/Pages/ridefault.aspx
I'm telling you now coz this is all jsut paperworks and if we work on
it as early as now, then we will be in time for the application period
of July-March 2008 and if approved, the funds will be released by
April-June 2009! This entails project proposal then endorsement from
Rotary club and Rotary District foundation (I will be happy to
coordinate with Gosford West Rotary Club which I am a member of). Let
me know what you think.

2. For resource people: Is it alright if I invite the Director of
Obstetrics in the training hospital I am in and some of the Registrar
doctors (they are more senior than me!) in the department? We have
here in Australia an ALSO Course which pertains to Advanced Life
Support in Obstetrics... in much the same way that the ACLS teaches
about life support in the face of cardiac arrest - ALSO teaches how to
manage obstetric emergencies like postpartum hemorrhages, shoulder
dystocia etc. I would suggest that we devise a telehealth program
version of this course which the Medical Officers in far-flung areas
could attend to like a 'distance learning module'.

3. For site identification: I can see the relevance of this
telehealth program especially in island hospitals like Polillo
Medicare Hospital which is a 10-bed infirmary facility. In fact, it
will address two of the NEEDS we have identified for this hospital -a)
HEALTH STAFF EMPOWERMENT AND b) HEALTH EDUCATION aspect. IF we can at
least equip them with the knowledge on basic disease detection and
prevention, that is one hell lot of good we can do for these people!
(The other and bigger need is the upgrading of hospital facilities/
equipment which I am working with Rotary/Provincial government to find
funding for.)

That is all for now.

Thanks and regards,
Grace

[Alvin Marcelo]

I agree with funding. It is also best to have this funding requested by the locals (since most of the funds will be spent on their side -- computers, internet, etc)...I suggest trigerring this process by creating a special group between you, local Rotary, and Polillo RHU on how to request for funds. My estimate is that they will need P150,000k maximum, 50k minimum. See attached FAQs...this is a template proposal we give to RHUs so they can propose this to their mayors and SBs....

The template is for an electronic health record, but the same infrastructure can be used for e-learning and telemedicine.

Once this system is installed in an RHU, the RHU will essentially be online and can tap onto the huge array of information resources on the Net and in this e-health network that we are forming...

Re: ALSO, that is a good idea. If there are ready made materials already and they are available for free, those are the things we need to jumpstart the learning process...Yes, we can start discussions. This is where we see the National Telehealth Center as playing a intermediary role between our respective universities...since we do look at providing eventual certification of competencies to rural health workers...

--
Alvin B. Marcelo, MD (www.alvinmarcelo.com)  

4FE1 93FB 2D0E B3BC D46F  5D5B 09E4 92B1 77B2 00CA

Director, National Telehealth Center
Manager, International Open Source Network
Associate Professor of Surgery (Trauma), University of the Philippines Manila

Telefax: 632-525-6501                      

-----------------------------------------------------------------
IOSN ASEAN+3 was established by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) thru the Asia-Pacific Development Information
Programme (APDIP) initiative. http://www.iosn.net
List: http://lists.iosn.net/mailman/listinfo/iosn-general

[Grace Maano]

Alvin,

I will work on that telehealth resource center project for polillo....  thanks!
Do you mind sending that template again please in a different form if possible? it says binary file which my apple computer cannot open?  thanks!
And I will talk to Dr. Andrew Bisits tomorrow for possibly creating this telehealth learning module in obstetrics.

Grace

2008/5/4 Alvin Marcelo <alvin....@gmail.com>:

--
GRACE MEJILLA MAANO, M.D.
Senior Resident Medical Officer
Hunter New England Health Service Area
New Lambton Heights NSW 2305
Mobile Number: +61416745156
Email: gma...@gmail.com
Jaxtr Phone Link: http://www.jaxtr.com/gmaano

[Alvin Marcelo]

Here are two files:

the generic E-Health FAQ and the specific e-record FAQ (on CHITS)

[Grace Maano]

Dear Alvin,

Just an update, I've asked Dr. Andrew Bisits about a possible telehealth program in O&G for the Philippines and he is very much interested... in fact, he is grateful for the invitation to be a part of this worthwhile endeavor!  He is one of the Board members of the ALSO course that I've mentioned and he thinks the making of a video/learning module for ALSO to be introduced in the Philippines is do-able with 'no money' involved.  Likewise, he said he is keen on teaching online as well although I mentioned to him that language maybe a bit of a barrier if talking to the barangay health workers, but possibly not if giving advise to medical officers working in far-flung hospitals.

So there are two arms in this program:
1. the telehealth teaching video/dvd... if authored by Dr. Bisits, it will be in English - do you think that is alright?  or would you be able to produce a translated version?
2.  the online teaching by Dr. Bisits... is it alright to invite him to the E-health website so he can familiarize himself with the concept and how to go about in the making of the O&G program? His email address:  andrew...@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au.

Now, I have not done these projects before and would need advise on how to go about it... or what to do from here.

Thanks and regards,