Medical student organization hosts veteran telehealth event


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Business in Medicine hosted "The Pulse of Health" on June 3 in the Central Michigan University Medical College Auditorium. 

The event focused on how telemedicine has improved the health of veterans in the U.S. The event was split into two sections with the first half being a presentation from Tamara Hullender from the Veterans Resource Center on campus. 

"They'll be talking about the effects of war on veterans health such as the chemicals they were exposed to," said founding member of Business in Medicine Alex Ghannam. "The second half we'll have nurses from the VA talk about how telemedicine is being used to treat veterans."

Hullender explained specific health concerns seen in veterans during certain war eras. She said the most common health concerns are suicidal risk, trauma and chronic pain. 

"Most people don't know anything about veterans and the military," Hullender said. "Twenty-five percent (of women) admit they were raped or harassed in the military. The DA has even admitted that number is closer to 60 percent. That's military sexual trauma that affects the women veterans."

Hullender said there isn't just one trauma that is present in veterans--it's multiple traumas piled up on top of each other. According to the Department of Veteran Affairs, 22 veterans commit suicide everyday. 

"There is always speculation as to why there is a 500 percent increase of suicidal risk in females. Most of that is because of sexual harassment they've faced," Hullender said. "It's a double jeopardy for women who are victims of sexual assault. This is because they are taught that the military is like a family and then they get abused like that."

The second half of the event was a presentation put on by two representatives from the Saginaw Veteran Affairs Medical Center. Katy Ball, one of the representatives, talked about the disease modules and the criteria health care professionals follow at the medical center, such as health monitoring devices. 

"A clinician is alerted when a veteran is need of medical care," Ball said. "After the physician and veteran are on board, because it's all voluntary, the monitoring devices are sent to the veteran. At the end of the week they send update data to their physician. Nurses will review the data and if its outside of our clinical care we will locate the veteran to the appropriate health care provider."

Katy said one of the benefits of home telehealth services is it minimizes potential for hospitalization and readmissions. 

After the presentations medical students were able to view some of the telehealth technology. 

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