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Osmond Hospital partners with Bryan Health in ‘telemedicine’

OSMOND — It just takes a second to realize you’re already living in the future.

The moment you step up to the Bryan Telemedicine Services unit, you’re at the gateway to safe, reliable and convenient care and it’s all happening within the halls of Osmond General Hospital (OGH).

Beginning Oct. 31, OGH will partner with Bryan Health in Lincoln and bring telemedicine services to its growing number of patients.

“We’re beyond excited to join forces with Bryan in adding these patient-first services to Osmond’s tool-belt,” CEO Lon Knievel said. “We’re a local facility with the highest quality staff, but with this, we can provide real-time communication with specialty physicians in an emergency situation.”

The telemedicine cart and a team of physicians will be available 24/7 and can be moved from room to room, allowing greater access to patients and onsite staff to efficiently utilize all the components.

Across the country, telemedicine has become a standard medical practice for improving access to medical care – especially in rural communities such our own, added Knievel.

Through the use of advanced technology, telemedicine allows healthcare providers and patients in different locations to interact to evaluate, diagnose and treat health conditions.

“We feel Osmond General Hospital is a great institution with outstanding providers and a great staff and together we can collaborate to build something very special for Osmond and its surrounding communities,” said Shane Fleming, Chief Operations Officer for Bryan Telemedicine.

During the past several months, teams from Bryan and OGH began working toward a successful launch date, leading up to the cart’s arrival just 21 days before going live.

“We’ve brought in updates to our network to make this as reliable as possible,” Knievel said. “It’s been an undertaking, but the results will be worth it, and begin to show up immediately.”

The upcoming weeks will include sitewide training, as well as training opportunities for staff and providers from Randolph Family Practice Clinic and Wausa Medical Clinic.

“I personally am very excited to be incorporating telemedicine at Osmond General Hospital.  It will allow us, as a hospital, to widen the services that we can offer to our local and surrounding communities,” said Tiffany Rice, Director of Nursing. “The staff is also excited as this can help them provide immediate critical care when needed with supervision rather than independently while waiting for the on-call provider to arrive.”

Follow the new machines’ first few weeks at OGH on its Facebook page, facebook.com/OsmondGeneral.

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