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The Baltimore Times, July 31 - August 6, 2009 (www.baltimoretimesonline.com) Positive stories about positive people!Page 12
By Zaina Adamu
High premiums and little to no access
to health care were some of the key
points President Obama addressed on a
nationally televised press conference on
July 22. “This is not just about the 47
million Americans who don't have any
health insurance at all,” he said. “Reform
is about every American who has ever
feared that they may lose their coverage,
if they become too sick, lose their job or
change their job.”
UnitedHealth Group and Cisco have
devised a way to shape the reform. It is
called TeleHealth. TeleHealth is the latest
technology that many are saying will rev-
olutionize the future of health care. The
initiative, as the name suggests, connects
the doctor and patient through a secure
communication channel. It provides vi-
sual and auditory connectivity provided
by a high-definition television, and al-
lows the doctor to help with diagnoses
and treatment plans. “The hope we all
share is to provide quality in health care
in order to reduce the cost and further in-
crease access,” said Dr. Jim Woodburn,
vice president and medical director for
Clinical Initiatives at UnitedHealth Care
Optum Health.
UnitedHealth Group and Cisco will tar-
get rural and underserved communities in
an attempt to provide health care access
to citizens who are either uninsured or
lack access. Cynthia Marshall, surgical
technologist at Good Samaritan Hospital
in Baltimore, thinks the plan is a smart
one, but not for all medical conditions.
“Heartburn? Yes. Headache? Sure. But
there are some health problems that re-
quires a patient physically being in a doc-
tor’s office,” she said.
Woodburn is aware of skeptics. “It is not
to replace all doctor visits,” he said. It is to
supplement some visits when the patient
and doctor are both comfortable. This is an
adjunct to the face-to-face visit doctors
have and its just another way of improving
[health care] access to people.”
One day before President Obama’s con-
ference, UnitedHealth Group and Cisco
held a joint press conference on Capitol
Hill regarding TeleHealth. Lawmakers and
industry officials attended the conference
to witness a live demonstration of the new
technology, which showcased patient and
physician interaction via satellite.
UnitedHealth Group is a national care
provider network headquartered in Min-
neapolis, Minnesota. It offers a wide array
of products and services through operating
businesses including UnitedHealthcare and
Prescription Solutions, and serves more
than 70 million individuals nationwide.
Cisco, a worldwide leader in technologi-
cal networking has modernized the way
people communicate. Their partnership
with UnitedHealth Group is the first of
many joint ventures that will make Tele-
Health a common technique in post-mod-
ern day health care.
“It’s going to be a normal way we con-
duct health care. Doctors and patients will
be more comfortable with it,” said Wood-
burn. “In many circumstances TeleHealth
will be more pleasing to the patient and
more effective for the doctor.”
UnitedHealth Group and Cisco Unveils New Initiative to Expand Health Care Access
Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD) (far right) explains the TeleHealth process toExecutive Vice President of UnitedHealth Group Reed Tuckson, M.D. (center)and patient (far left). Courtesy Photo
Franchot, City OfficialsTour Herring Run ParkBy Ron Kipling Williams
Though herrings no longer roam its
namesake, there are large scale plans to
renovate one of the major green spaces
in the city.
Maryland State Comptroller Peter
Franchot and Baltimore City officials
toured the park on Tuesday, discussing
future plans for the 340-acre public
landscape.
“These are tough economic times, but
not too tough to improve the quality of
life,” said Franchot.
Baltimore has 1,100 acres of urban
park open green space, ranked second
largest in the US. The state and the city
will be partnering to maintain its robust
presence.
In January of this year, the Maryland
State Board of Public Works approved $1.2
million in open space funding for Balti-
more City. One hundred thousand dollars
of the funds was allotted for the develop-
ment of a master plan to renovate the ath-
letic field complex at Herring Run.
Many youth and adult groups use the
fields for football, baseball, soccer,
lacrosse and other sports. The concerns
have been for field overlap, turf re-
growth and flooding.
Sewer overflow has been a longstand-
ing challenge for Baltimore, one of the
oldest cities in the nation, faced with re-
building current infrastructures.
This makes it even more an imperative
for parks like Herring Run which con-
nects nine communities to it.
“To get from one part of the environ-
ment to another, I see as a positive in-
ducement,” said Franchot.
Through the new funding, the Balti-
more City Department of Recreation and
Parks intend to implement bicycle trails,
path improvements, as well as the re-
creation of ball fields.
“These are fun and exciting improve-
ments,” said Baltimore City Department
of Recreation and Parks director Wanda
Durden. “It is good to open up to pro-
vide recreational programming.”
However, will the improvements affect
the urban wildlife such as deer and fox
that inhabit those spaces?
“We try to fit into the landscape. We
will be planting more trees to enhance
the wildlife,” said Gennady Schwartz,
Chief of Engineering Services at Recre-
ation and Parks. “It is a unique space,
we try to protect it.”
During the tour, Franchot stopped and
spoke with a group of summer teenage
workers with the Maryland Civic Justice
Corps, an initiative under Gov. Martin
O’Malley.
One day a week, the corps comes to
engage in trash collection. Franchot
stopped to speak to them. He asked them
what they have learned from their expe-
rience dealing with trash. One student
said, “Stop throwing it.” Another said,
“Make sure people are not littering.”
“I’ll probably come back,” said 16-year
old Maritime Academy student Vernon
Jones. “This is fun.”
(L-r) Wanda Durden, director of Balti-more City Department of Recreationand Parks; Peter Franchot, MarylandState Comptroller; Michele Speaks-March, director of the Office of Devel-opment and Communications for theBaltimore City Department of Recreat-tion and Parks; and Mary Porter, Of-fice of Capital Development.
Courtesy Photo