Telehealth hubs the wave of the future, fibre conference told

TORONTO–Telehealth saves money and extends health care to those who otherwise would have difficulty accessing it, a telecom conference was told. The Fiber Broadband Association held a one-day regional fibre connect meeting in Toronto on Tuesday, Aug. 19 Dr. Ivar Mendez is a professor emeritus at the University of Saskatchewan and a director of that province’s Virtual Health Hub. In a virtual presentation done from Saskatoon, he explained to the 300 delegates the benefits of remote health care delivery. “The issue that we are confronting in our county is equitable access to health care,” the physician stated. “How can the remote and rural populations have access to health care?” He noted that northern areas of provinces have trouble getting health care. For the past 10 years, Saskatchewan has been using virtual health care to serve rural and remote regions. Mendez says the province works with local officials to determine the needs of an area before establishing health hubs. Questions arise about the level of telecommunications infrastructure in the region: Does it have wi-fi? Does it have cell networks? Once that has been determined, the province can set up a network of telehealth. Saskatoon serves as the hub of the grid; the smaller centres are hived off into spokes. The professor used the example of treatment at the Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon as an example. Previously, all children from Pelican Narrows, Sask. with major illnesses would be sent to the larger hospital. Now, a nurse practitioner can diagnose a child, send medical data to Saskatoon, and receive instructions on how to treat the patient. Transfers to the Children’s Hospital are currently down to 37 per cent. “That means that 63 per cent of all these children were able to be treated successfully in their own community using this technology,” Mendez asserted. This translates into direct cost savings of $70,000 per patient. Factor in other components like accommodations for family members and child care costs for other children and the savings are even greater. Mendez then cited the cases of treating concussions virtually. A CT scan of an injured person can cost up to $2 million, he said. But a small handheld device can diagnose the patient for a fraction of that price, around $20,000. The hub has been using the devices in hockey rinks throughout the province to treat players who have suffered head trauma during a game. He also heralded the new technology being deployed. A handsfree device worn by a nurse or other care provider allows them to treat a patient while still seeing the instructions from a doctor in Saskatoon. The nurse sees the physician in real time, getting information on the proper care. Mendez praised an ultrasound device developed by the European Space Agency to diagnose astronauts. In Saskatchewan, it is being used to deliver prenatal ultrasound tests on patients in five remote Indigenous communities. Studies show that people on reserves are 50 per cent less likely to have access to prenatal care. As the growth rate of the Indigenous population is greater than that of the general population, this is a concern, he added. The project is funded by two levels of government with the federal government putting up 70 per cent of the money and Saskatchewan the rest. “So after this decade of work using these technologies, we have come to the conclusion that a centralized model of retail health care may be the model for the future,” Mendez stated. There is a shortage of trained health care personnel in the province. The University of Saskatchewan has been ramping up training to help alleviate the shortfall. The professor predicted his hub model will serve as an example for other jurisdictions. “We cannot be doing what we’ve been doing for the past two decades,” he said. “We have to move ahead for real innovation.” ppark@thewirereport.ca

Telehealth hubs the wave of the future, fibre conference told

Telecom |
By Paul Park
| August 20, 2025

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Telehealth hubs the wave of the future, fibre conference told

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