Written/Filmed by Christina Guessferd of WCAX , March 16, 2020
As coronavirus concerns plague the United States, technology companies are doing their part to connect potential patients with health care services.
Many primary care offices in our region have been using telehealth for years, but they say utilizing the technology universally is more critical now than ever before.
Officials say medical professional-patient interactions through telecommunication are a nice option to have in a time where there’s a lot of uncertainty.
Appletree Bay Primary Care in Burlington has been using telehealth technology since 2018 when the nurse practitioner-led office collaborated with the University of Vermont Medical Center to launch a pilot program testing out video visits.
The original idea was to limit the number of patients coming through the doors who don’t actually need to be seen in person. Now, nurse practitioners like Jennifer Allaire say telehealth is preventing potentially sick patients from spreading coronavirus.
She says it also keeps medical professionals healthy, so they can do their jobs.