Connect to Care Project
Connect
to Care is a telecommunications project linking rural health
facilities with tertiary care centers housing perinatal specialists.
Live telecommunications allows high risk pregnant women and
infants and their local health care providers to obtain important
medical advice without leaving their own communities and traveling
far distances. Connect to Care also allows for medical and nursing
education at the rural sites and access for obstetrical referrals.
Connect to Care is currently a pilot program. Fifteen rural
healthcare sites are participating with the three West Virginia
hospitals providing high risk prenatal and newborn care. The
project is funded by a Rural Utilities Service Grant from the
United State Department of Agriculture and matching funds from
eighteen partnering West Virginia hospitals and community health
centers. Technical assistance and training for this project
is being provided by Charleston Area Medical Center Health Education
and Research Institute, a partner organization of the West Virginia
Perinatal Partnership. Dr. Luis Bracero, maternal fetal medicine
specialist and member of WVPP's Central Advisory Council serves
as Principle Investigator for the project.
Spring, 2011 Connect to Care Live Webcasts
The Connect to Care project hosted a series of three workshops in webcast format for the rural health care facilities participating in the Connect to Care Project. Advance registration is required to participate in the live webcasts. A catalog of these live webcasts can be found here. Handouts from these webcasts may be obtained by clicking on the ‘links’ for each webcast.
This series was designed as a service to Connect to Care participating facilities who would otherwise have to travel far distances to Charleston to attend in person. As specialized telehealth equipment is made available to participating sites, those sites will also be offered the opportunity to participate utilizing that new equipment.
Downloads
- Core Standards for Telemedicine Operations, American Telemedicine Association (November, 2007)
- Sample Credentialing Delegation Agreement
- Health Care Telemedicine Presentation, Maggie McCabe (March, 2011)
Connect to Care Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
For scheduling and coordinating program steps, email Ben Francis, Educational Coordinator "Connect to Care", or call him at 304-388-9968.