Internet Connection for Rural Primary Care Clinics

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) School of Nursing (SON), based in Portland, operates 3 rural campuses for graduate and undergraduate-nursing education. The SON campus based at Eastern Oregon University (EOU) in La Grande operates 2 nurse practitioner-managed rural primary care clinics. The Union Family Health Center (UFHC) and Elgin Family Health Center (EFHC) are located 15 and 22 miles from La Grande respectively. This Internet Connection Grant for Health-related Institutions proposes to install gateway equipment to connect the two clinics to the state educational system network via EOU. Currently, there is not a high-speed Internet connection that serves the health care providers at these sites. Activities proposed in this grant have three clear aims: 1) Provide nurse practitioners, graduate and undergraduate nursing students, and managerial staff at these remote clinics with high-speed access to Internet-based information and library resources; 2) Establish secure electronic mail services between the clinics, the University, and outside resources, such as national and state agencies, and other sources of biomedical information; 3) Provide health professionals and students with state-of-the-art information technology and access to resources, such as NLM databases, in support of clinical decision-making and patient care, and 4) Establish a connectivity infrastructure to support future telemedicine development between the rural clinics and medical specialists at OHSU Medical Center, and the implementation of an electronic medical record. To accomplish these goals, grant funds will be used to purchase and install gateway hardware and software at UFHC and EFHC, and one year of telecommunications line charges to each site. OHSU and EOU will provide training and technical support to Internet users at the outset of the project and on an ongoing basis. OHSU is committed to establishing a permanent telecommunications system aimed at providing high quality and easy access to information (voice/video/data) to improve the health of Oregon?s rural residents.