In a new story from STAT News, one rural hospital in Alabama became a safe haven for many COVID-19 patients in the state, through telehealth technology and a team of specialists.

With the help of the specialists, Whitfield Regional Hospital in Demopolis, Alabama has been able to care for the surge of COVID-19 patients at their facility without having to transfer them to the metro facilities, freeing up bed space in ICUs across the state.

From the story: “By providing tele-critical care, Whitfield hasn’t just enabled more patients to receive advanced care closer to home. It has also become something of a backstop. “We’re now accepting transfers from smaller hospitals in the community, and even from places two and three hours away,” said Kamilah Spencer, one of Whitfield’s two hospitalists and medical director of its hospitalist program. “They have really sick patients who are on the vent and they’re unable to find an ICU bed.””

To read the rest of the story at STAT, click here.

SOURCE: www.statnews.com