A game-changing pilot project that uses robotics to deliver health care in Pelican Narrows will expand to other northern Saskatchewan communities, Premier Brad Wall announced this week.
Remote presence technology is an advanced robotics telemedicine platform that has been used on the northern reserve since 2014. It allows a health-care provider to instantly connect with a patient remotely, performing real-time assessment, diagnosis and patient management.
The technology consists of robotic and portable devices equipped with high-resolution cameras located at the point of care.
A health-care provider connects with these devices from a remote location, using a laptop and a secure wireless network. Diagnostic data gathered at the point of care is transmitted in real time to the laptop.
On Tuesday, the day of his re-elected government’s latest throne speech, Wall listed an expansion of the technology into other northern communities as an election promise that will be kept this legislative session.
In a news release, he said the province will invest an additional $500,000 a year to take the technology to other remote communities, but he did not say which ones.
In a 2014 news release, Dr. Ivar Mendez, who leads the Pelican Narrows pilot project, said the goal of the technology is to eliminate “barriers of distance and time for health care access by rural and remote communities where the need is the greatest.
“The devices can connect to available diagnostic peripherals such as stethoscopes, vital signs monitors and ultrasound equipment making real-time diagnosis and patient monitoring possible. Saskatchewan will be at the leading edge in the utilization of remote presence medical robotic technology aimed at improving health access and outcomes.”
Rachel Johnson, a nurse practitioner in Pelican Narrows, remembers using the technology for the first time when a child came into the local clinic in late 2014. She wasn’t sure how to proceed with the young patient, so she turned to the robot.
“Using the robot is actually fairly intuitive,” Johnson told the StarPhoenix.
A thorough assessment was performed and the child was able to stay in Pelican Narrows for treatment, the newspaper reported.
Speaking on Tuesday, Wall said another priority this legislative session will be moving forward with a plan to privatize 40 government-owned liquor stores. The Creighton liquor store will remain publicly owned.
The province further plans to boost highway repairs, grant residents who are caring for a dying family member 28 weeks of leave per year, and cut health region administrative costs by $7.5 million and redirecting the savings to front-line seniors’ care.
Wall also said an all-party legislative committee would be asked to investigate ways of increasing the rate of organ donations in Saskatchewan.
“Organ donations save lives,” he said. “Unfortunately, the rates of organ donation in Saskatchewan and Canada are much lower than the rates in the United States and many countries in Europe.”
The province will unveil its 2016-17 budget on June 1.
