Feature Story

CEO of AET Calls for National Telehealth Center to Deal with Infectious Diseases

While individual states are taking steps to make sure citizens are able to be prepared when it comes to an Ebola outbreak, a number of different experts are saying the United States still needs to do more. One expert in particular, AET CEO and founder Dr. Keith Vrbicky says the U.S. needs to set up a kind of national telehealth network in order to help stem the potential spread of the disease. This network wouldn't be dedicated just to Ebola but the fears over this African-born disease shows just how much the initiative is needed.

Dr. Vrbicky says that one key component of a national telehealth network would be a global communications call center. This call center would include real-time secure video conferencing and data transfer capabilities from anywhere in the world. "A national telehealth network could save thousands of lives by further enhancing cooperation and collaboration between healthcare professionals to diagnose, educate and follow proper protocols for Ebola and other diseases being seen not only in humans, but in animals and potential bioterrorism in our food chain," Dr. Vrbicky said in a recent statement.

Call centers are also the way that states around the country are choosing to deal with the worries of citizens. The one that Dr. Vrbicky is advocating would simply have some more advanced technology in order to battle an outbreak. Dr. Vrbicky believes this brand new call center should be located in Omaha, Nebraska. The city might not be the biggest in the country, but it does house a number of different technological companies. Omaha also has the benefit of being located close to the center of the country. While this doesn't mean as much when it comes to telehealth, it would be symbolic when it comes to helping the entire country, as opposed to just one coast or another. The final selling point for the Omaha call center is that the Dr. Vrbicky doesn't believe it would be remotely difficult to find people who were qualified to work at the center in this town.

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