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Colorado Teams Up With Gulf States to Promote Telehealth at Home Project Click here to read statement in PDF format. HCAC Executive Director Ellen Caruso and
Lobbyist Betsy Clark Murray teamed up with the Gulf States
for a two-day blitz on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, October 26 & 27. Their mission: To
seek funds to rebuild the health care infrastructure in the Gulf Shown at right against the backdrop of the U.S. Capitol is Ellen Caruso and her Congressman Tom Tancredo, who is a strong supporter of the project. With them is Warren Hebert of New Iberia, Louisiana. The two day blitz included visits with 12 congressional representatives and their staffs. Among them were Colorado Congressmen Bob Beauprez, John Salazar, Tom Tancredo, Mark Udall, Congresswomen Marilyn Musgrave and Diana DeGette, and Senator Wayne Allard.
Shown at left is Hebert, Caruso and Colorado Congressman Mark Udall. The project seeks to build a telehealth care at home network that will stretch limited resources in rural communities by allowing patients to remain in their homes rather than be placed in more expensive institutions where they do not wish to be. The project will also ensure that the most necessary health care services will continue to be provided in the homes of the nation's elderly and most severely disabled citizens no matter what disaster occurs. Caruso said all members of the Colorado Delegation expressed strong support for the project, regardless of political affiliation. The Colorado State Legislature passed Senate Joint Resolution 38 in 2004 urging all funding agents to support research about the use of telehealth care technology and its effectiveness in delivering quality health care, especially to patients in rural and remote areas, and urges all health care providers to seek funding options to extend their effectiveness through technology. The statement distributed by HCAC's representatives said in part,
"When the dust settles, when the wind stops
howling and the water starts receding, when the quarantine has been put
into effect, when the sun comes out in the morning . . . the cadre of home
care nurses, therapists and aides may well be the only responders
available in the nation's health care infrastructure. Shown at right are Murray, Congressman Bob Beauprez, Caruso, and Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave. Murray and Caruso thoroughly briefed leaders and their staffs on the need for funding and left a statement for follow up. To read the complete statement in printer friendly PDF format, click here. |
States and to prepare for the future health care delivery in rural America by supporting
Colorado's expanding Telehealth at Home Project. Representing the Gulf States of
Louisiana, Alabama, Texas and Mississippi was Warren Hebert, Executive
Director of the Home Care Association of Louisiana.
