“Nobody wants to go to the doctor,” shares Great Cranberry resident Sharon Morrell, “And when they do go to the doctor, the doctor will say, When is the last time you were here? And they are counting back decades.” Sharon says getting to the doctor, even on an island with regular transportation, can be costly and often take a whole day. A missed ferry or bad weather could mean an appointment that was scheduled months ago is missed. Sharon also points out older residents that may have mobility issues sometimes struggle to get on and off the mail boat. For some islanders, this hassle of leaving the island causes them to forgo most healthcare appointments.
This is where the Mission has stepped in. A nurse has been a fixture of Mission programming for more than a century, and the Sunbeam has offered telehealth since 2001. The idea of a telehealth appointment is not new for most islanders, and in the past few years, more providers have pivoted to telehealth to meet the needs of remote communities. To meet these expanded needs, the Mission has partnered with MCD Global Health to offer telehealth backpack kits on five islands—Great Cranberry, Isle au Haut, Islesford, Monhegan, and Matinicus. These kits include a laptop or tablet along with medical instruments routinely used by providers in routine examinations.
Sunbeam Nurse Taylor Wood shares, “These backpacks will enable the community to do more types of telehealth appointments in their own home. They include a lot of extra supplemental equipment that will let people stay on islands more often for their health care appointments.”
Alongside a laptop or tablet is a vitals kit which has a digital thermometer (for either the forehead or ear), blood pressure cuff, and pulse oximeter, as well as a digital scale, stethoscope, otoscope (for ear), and a handheld camera wand which can transmit high resolution closeup images. Most of these instruments can connect directly to the computer and transmit images and sound to providers over videoconferencing platforms in real time. With the technology in the kits, islanders often have what is needed to attend both primary care and specialist visits as well as urgent care visits.
Abigail Hiltz, a resident of Isle au Haut, believes the kits will be beneficial not just for herself but for her whole community. She sees herself using the kits when she has a tick bite or ear infection. Usually, she would have to go off the island to see the doctor, but with the kit’s equipment, she will be able to send a photo of video while talking with the provider.
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She also sees the wide-ranging impact it can have on the health of Isle au Haut, “Especially once people get comfortable and understand that this is a really good option, over time there will be an increase in people utilizing it. And then as a community, we should all be healthier.” She adds that with easier access to telehealth, she believes islanders will also be more likely to make appointments and possibly catch issues or make diagnoses much sooner.”
Taylor and other Sunbeam crew are working with a “guardian” on each island who is responsible for the kit and will work with any islanders who might need extra help figuring out the technology. Taylor explains that as the kits continue to be used, staff will work with islanders and guardians to see if the kits meet their needs and if they need to be updated or changed in any way. She also hopes to make more kits for other islands, with a planned expansion to Matinicus already on the horizon.
Learn more about the kits at https://seacoastmission.org/telehealth and islanders can request their island’s kit at https://seacoastmission.org/telehealth-patient/.