Northern Montana Health Care hosts Ukranian doctors

Northern Montana Health Care welcomed a Ukrainian Delegation for the Open World Leadership Program.

NMHC hosted these delegates Tuesday as part of their Montana learning opportunity. The focus of their visit to the area was telemedicine.

The five participants are guests of a State Department program entitled “Open World Leadership Program.”

The Open World Leadership Program is a U.S. exchange program for countries of the post-Soviet era, most specifically Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Typically these visits include meeting with government agencies, medical professionals and other groups key to the mission of expanding their knowledge in medicine.

These delegates, including doctors, hospital administrators, an interpreter and a facilitator, visited Benefis in Great Falls with the focus being on telemedicine and how it applies to rural communities. While in Havre, they met with Jen Durward, APRN to discuss her telemedicine application for NMHC.

Telemedicine allows face-to-face visits and the exchange of medical information from one site to another via electronic communication to improve a patient’s medical care. Originally intended for use in remote areas, telemedicine has now become an integral part of many health care agencies. The practical applications include specialist referrals, remote patient monitoring, consumer medical and health information, and medical education.

“Here at NMHC, we are currently using telemedicine in our psychiatry area,” said Durward, a provider at Northern Montana Specialty Medical Center. “The use of telemedicine allows us to have contact with our patients for the purpose of refilling current medication, without the need for travel, which is especially helpful here in Montana.”

While in Havre, the delegates were able to see a demonstration of the telemedicine link between Havre and Malta. They also were able to participate in a demonstration of remote cardiology equipment by listening to the heartbeat of a person on the other end of the telemedicine connection.