
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 25, 1995                   TAG: 9503270029
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HIGH-TECH CARE COMING TO SOUTHWEST VA.

Residents of rural Southwest Virginia are getting greater access to psychiatric care through interactive video based at a state mental health facility in Marion.

The Southwestern Virginia Telepsychiatry Project, also called APPAL-LINK, has been funded by a Rural Health Outreach Grant Program award of $259,173 for the first year and an in-kind contribution of $141,880 from a consortium of three community service boards: Cumberland Mountain, Dickenson County and New River Valley.

A telepsychiatry clinic will be established between Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute and each of the participating boards. Clinic services are aimed at individuals with serious or persistent mental illness who might be able to avoid hospitalization if they have psychiatric counseling resources in their home communities.

Doctor and patient talk with each other through compressed digital video interactive technology delivered by copper telephone lines. Sprint's government services division collaborated with FreBon International Corp. in McLean to design the network, and lines were installed by three phone companies: Sprint United Southeast in Marion, GTE South in Cedar Bluff and Bell Atlantic-Virginia in Clintwood.

The clinic began videoconferencing with patients from the Cumberland Mountain and Dickenson County boards in February. Patients from New River Valley Community Services will be able to receive the service by fall, said Norma Hite, project coordinator.

Dr. M. Anthony Graham, medical director at Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute, will oversee the clinic services.

by CNB