THE LONG ARM OF TELEMEDICINE AND DISTANCE LEARNING TECHNOLOGY LENDS A HELPING AND IN RURAL ARKANSAS

State: Arkansas
Grantee: Arkansas Rural Medlink Counties: Fulton, Sharp, Izard, Stone, Searcy, Van Buren, Pope, Conway, Yell, Cleburne, Poinsett, Cross, Woodruff, St. Francis, Lee, Monroe, Phillips, Desha, Lincoln, Drew, Chicot, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Dallas, Cleveland
Subject: Telemedicine, Distance Learning

Twenty-seven percent of the population within the 20 counties that comprise the Arkansas Delta region of north-central and west-central Arkansas live in poverty. Only 57 percent have graduated from high school which contributes to a regional unemployment rate of 9.2 percent compared to a national rate of 6.7 percent. The need to expand pediatric, cardiology, radiology, and trauma services is critical. For example, 67 percent of deaths in Arkansas occur among young children and adults 55 years or older. The leading causes of death are attributed to heart disease, pneumonia/influenza and diabetes. Additionally, the percentage of teen births in this region is 24 percent (U.S.=13 percent), and an infant mortality rate of 11.6 percent (U.S.=9.7 percent ) per 1,000 live births. In an effort to stem the serious health care situation in this region, local health care professionals joined together and created the Arkansas Rural Medlink (ARM).

ARM is a consortium of 5 hospitals which serve the 311,281 rural residents located in this Arkansas Delta region. Its mission is to improve the quality of and access to medical services as well as provide health care education programs through the use of advanced telecommunications technologies. In 1994, ARM was awarded a RUS Telemedicine grant of $497 thousand to purchase interactive digital video equipment link the 5 rural hospitals with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Local hospitals now provide medical consultations that were previously not available at cost effective rates. The need to travel long distances to urban areas for the same services has been greatly reduced. The technology also enables community hospitals to provide continuing education for staff development and community outreach programs. Cooperative arrangements such as ARM in rural regions are successful in improving the delivery of health care services to rural residents as well as promoting economic growth by retaining professionals, thus reducing unemployment and outmigration.

RURAL ARKANSAS FAMILIES RECEIVE FIRST-TIME TELEPHONE SERVICE
State: Arkansas
Borrower Name and ID: Scott County Telephone (AR 548)
Counties: Scott, Polk
Subject: 1st time service

In extreme northwestern Arkansas, 250 square miles was unallocated for telephone service. A large portion of the area is comprised of the Quachita National Forest which is operated by the US Forest Service. For years, telephone companies told 150 Arkansas families who make their home in this part of the state that they would not provide telephone service to their area because it was not economically feasible to do so given its remote location, mountainous terrain, and the cost of maintaining service.

In August of 1991, RUS funds assisted the Scott County Telephone Company in providing telecommunications service to the area. Modern digital central office equipment and 100 miles of buried plant provide local families with the ability to access state-of-the-art telecommunications services which have greatly enhanced the quality of their life. For example, residents can now use the telephone to contact the sheriff, physicians, and ambulance in emergency situations. Prior to telephone service, the only means of communication was to attempt to contact passing vehicles using a Citizens Band radio in the hope that they would reach someone in time.

The extension of telecommunications service to the region has also had a positive effect on local businesses. Two area cattle ranches can better monitor profit and loss margins of their businesses by sharing data with the commodities market in Chicago, stock futures market, and feed stock yards. A new printing business has opened which has created new jobs and two family owned poultry operations have relocated in the area.

Local community leaders are hopeful that a state planned project to improve the county road system coupled with the area’s modern telecommunications will lead to long-term economic growth.

In 1970, Steven G. Sanders left Southern Illinois University as a physics professor to return to his hometown of Flippin, Arkansas, a rural Ozark mountain community located just across the border from the renown country music city of Branson, Missouri. His father had taken ill and needed Steven’s assistance to run the family owned Northern Arkansas Telephone Company (NATCO). Assuming his new role as director, Steven was surprised to find that the much of the technological infrastructure and many of the services NATCO offered were outdated. For example, no individual or business in the two county area with a population of 50,300 had the capability to initiate and receive video conference calls. The new director had a vision to increase economic and personal growth opportunities for the area of Flippin by enabling NATCO to offer integrated services digital network capabilities, making it possible to send voice, data and video over the same telephone lines.

NATCO, however, found a way to make the vision as reality. Thanks to a $2.5 million loan from the RUS, NATCO opened rural Arkansas’ first video conference center. It was also a project that was the first of its kind among RUS borrowers which opened a world of new opportunities for private citizens as well as businesses. Video conference calls are made possible by the high-speed digital line service and the center is equipped with an oversized personal computer monitor with an attached video camera. The video has good resolution and is transmitted in color. Steve Sanders, who has since moved into his father’s position as president, said, “This is interacting instead of just sending video.”

Sanders has another vision. He believes that video conferencing may be able to assist with the delivery of more expedient and quality health care. “Conducting a visit to a medical specialist in a distant city via video conferencing may be one solution to upgrade health care in rural areas,” Sanders said. Video conferencing carries a great potential for this northern Arkansas community as well as other rural communities.