Telemedicine links Omaha Tribe’s veterans to VA specialists

By Michael Linck
Rapid City Journal

Omaha Tribal Chairwoman Eleanor Baxter and Al Washko, the director of the Veterans Administration Hospital in Omaha, Neb., will sign an agreement Thursday, giving local Native American veterans access to the medical specialists they need without leaving Thurston County.

Wehnona St. Cyr, director of tribal health and of the tribe's Carl T. Curtiss Health Education Center, said the agreement will create a telemedicine link between the center's clinic in Macy, Neb., and doctors at the VA hospitals in Omaha and Lincoln, Neb.

Patients who come to Macy will be aided by specialists at the VA hospitals via a video camera for problems ranging from dermatology to cardiology, St. Cyr said.

She said the system, which will be up and running around May 1, will benefit about 500 American Indian veterans in Thurston County; about 200 already have signed up, filling out the VA hospital system forms. The VA has trained several clinic staff members to help with the process, so others can be enrolled as they come to use the service.

All American Indian veterans qualify to use the telemedicine consulting, but eligibility for further treatment through the VA system would be determined by their military service and the VA's complex benefits ranking system.