High-tech health

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When Alexander Graham Bell uttered these first words via the telephone, "Mr. Watson, come here, I want you," he could not have foreseen the significance of telecommunication to future Canadians.

'Telehealth' is the use of communications and information technology to deliver health care services and information over large and small distances to health care professionals and patients.

Twenty years ago, Canada's first telemedicine program, at Memorial University in Newfoundland, linked doctors and nurses at the university to health professionals in remote outports for continuing education and patient consultations.

Today, telemedicine projects across the country include the linking of 42 health care facilities in Nova Scotia for consultations, teleradiology and education; a network of 36 sites in Quebec for pediatric telemedicine and speech therapy; a medical call center that provides 24-hour telehealth service to nearly 1 million residents in northern Ontario; and a telehealth network in Alberta that links more than 50 sites.