On Dec. 4, members of the College of Rehabilitation Sciences from the departments of physical, occupational and respiratory therapy met with health officials from Newfoundland and Labrador to discuss current initiatives in rural and remote health.
The group from Newfoundland included six directors and managers from Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services. The group is exploring ways to provide telerehabilitation and telemonitoring.
Dr. Amine Choukou, associate professor of occupational therapy, and Dr. Diana Sanchez-Ramirez, assistant professor of respiratory therapy, presented their research on sensing technology and telerehabilitation and telemonitoring to support and facilitate remote patient care in the urban, rural and underserved populations of Manitoba.
Dr. Mark Garrett, head of the physical therapy department, and Sherie Gray, patient care manager with the Riverview Health Centre, presented their work on a new model of care in rural Manitoba that will provide a hybrid telerehabilitation service. This is a joint project between Riverview Health Centre, Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, Pinaymootang Health Authority, Lake Manitoba Health Authority and the college. The service will include physiotherapists from Riverview Health Centre, local community workers, and telerehabilitation and telemonitoring technology, and build on telerehabilitation rural outreach work previously completed by physiotherapy students in the college’s annual student-led interprofessional clinic. The college will supply the technology and oversee the program’s evaluation.