Although there is a 24-hour medical station at St. Martin De Porres Hospital, it is mainly manned by family medicine doctors, so if a patient requires further consultation by an ophthalmologist, it cannot be handled in a timely manner. After visiting the mountainous areas, the Rotary Club of Linkou saw the needs of the remote villages. As it is committed to taking care of the underprivileged, it has fundraised with all other branches and joined hands with Unison Healthcare Group to donate the “InTouch Health Medical System” and “Eye Examination Equipment Set” to St. Martin De Porres Hospital this afternoon (9th), hoping to shorten the distance between urban and rural areas through technology, so that the delivery of medical care can be extended without hindrance.
Medical care in the rural areas has always been a major concern for St. Martin De Porres Hospital. Having worked in the mountainous region for many years, they feel strongly about the lack of medical supplies and the inconvenience of traveling long distances for medical treatment. Even though they have set up a medical station and dispatched doctors to visit the station regularly, it seems that it is not enough to bring comprehensive and immediate medical services to the residents. In cooperation with St. Martin De Porres Hospital, the “InTouch Health Medical System” and an “Ophthalmic Set” donated by the Unison Healthcare Group, including an autorefractor, an ophthalmoscope, a tonometer, and a slit lamp, were collected for the rural areas of Alishan through the guidance of former Chiayi County Health Bureau Director Nian-feng Chu and the generous support of Rotary clubs and Unison Healthcare Group. These devices enable patients to receive more accurate medical diagnoses and improve the quality of care.
With the aging society, the triage of patients, and the reduction of the burden of medical resources, a tide of telemedicine is created, said Wen-chun Chen, director of the Department of Community Medicine at St. Martin’s Hospital. Through high-tech medical equipment for remote consultations and on-site subspecialty examinations, the purpose of creating a hierarchy of health care, preliminary screening, and remote guidance operations is achieved. It can also save patients in remote areas from the hardship of traveling. The donated medical equipment will be installed in Alishan Medical Station and St. Martin De Porres Hospital so that our medical resources can be immediately connected to provide better medical services to residents in remote mountainous areas.
The teleconsultation equipment donated is the InTouch Health Medical System, which is approved by the U.S. FDA and the Health Ministry of Taiwan with a CLASS II medical device certification, and the whole process of information transmission complies with HIPAA regulations to protect patient privacy. The images produced by the medical examination equipment can be integrated into the same system, including the images of horus scopes, ophthalmoscopes, and endoscopes, so that specialists can diagnose immediately without the need to spend time on transportation to and from the countryside, making it possible to address the shortage of specialty doctors in rural areas, and seize the best time for treatment.
The director of St. Martin De Porres Hospital, Mei-hui Chen said that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Thanks to the love and dedication of the charitable directors and members of the community, patients in remote areas can receive immediate professional medical care, relieve their eye diseases and continue to witness the light on their journey of life. Together, we can touch lives with our actions and care for society with our services. St. Martin De Porres Hospital will continue to uphold the spirit of “going wherever there is a need,” and continue to invest in sending medical resources to mountainous regions to protect the health of rural residents and to provide the community with the positive energy of love.
