Vets to receive 'telemedicine'

[MaineDem]

Clinics that use so-called "telemedicine" techniques to diagnose and treat veterans will open in five towns, including Farmington, as part of a national effort to modernize care for men and women who served in the armed services.

Farmington will join South Paris, Dover-Foxcroft, Lincoln and Houlton in landing the new telemedicine clinics, which use computers and digital equipment to assist veterans -- mainly those living in rural towns -- who are enrolled in the program.

The announcement follows a year of national studies and reviews by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. About 33,000 of the 148,000 veterans living in Maine were treated last year at the Togus center and at five existing VA clinics.

http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/local/656484.shtml

Parts of Maine are very rural. It's a hardship for the vets to get to the VA Hospital near Augusta. I hope this is a step in the right direction. I'll be watching this to see how it works.