Mass General Neurologist Offers Support to Sunbeam’s Telemedicine Work

BAR HARBOR, ME — “Monday, April 15, I spent an amazing day at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) thanks to Anand Viswanathan, MD, PhD,” said the Mission’s Island Health Director Sharon Daley, RN.

Director Daley’s was somewhat of a full-circle visit. In May 2018, at the invitation of then-Mission President Scott Planting, Dr. Anand spent three days accompanying Sharon aboard the ‘Sunbeam V’ for her regular telemedicine run.

Dr. Anand, a Neurologist, is a member of the Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and is a staff neurologist in both the Stroke Service and Memory Disorders Unit. He also works with patients in remote areas, such as northern Maine, via telemedicine. His work and the Sunbeam’s island work are a natural fit.

After that trip, Anand wrote to Sharon, “…I think you guys are doing really outstanding and important work, although not always glamorous. I think you guys are really the unsung medical heroes of the Maine islands.”

During her recent visit with Dr. Anand at MGH, Sharon attended “a meeting where the newest research was presented,” she said. And she “was also shown [MGH’s] stroke telemedicine program.

Sharon explained, “Dr. Anand and other physicians provide stroke telemed and consultations to Maine hospitals. The technology enables the physicians to [remotely] see all of the scans, labs, and the patient.”

But, Sharon added, what “impressed me more than the technology is the dedication I saw in the people I met.”

Mission Health Director Daley said the MGH “team was very interested” in the ‘Sunbeam’ telemedicine work. “Anand and the team offered to do anything they can to support [that work] any way they can,’ Daley said, which is great news for the Mission and the island communities with which we work.

To learn more about the ‘Sunbeam V’ telemedicine work click here.