Area Hospital Staffs To Get Wired To Nic

North Idaho College and five North Idaho hospitals have received $345,412 for an interactive video system to televise classes and meetings.

“It’s like a televised conference call,” said Carol Wilson, director of the North Idaho Rural Consortium, which seeks grants for local hospitals. “It’s pretty high tech for all of us.”

The money comes from the federal Rural Utilities Service (formerly the Rural Electrification Administration). The five hospitals are: Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d’Alene, Benewah Community Hospital in St. Maries, Bonner General Hospital in Sandpoint, Boundary County Community Hospital in Bonners Ferry and Shoshone Medical Center in Kellogg.

Wilson said the system allows nurses and doctors to meet and take classes without having to travel to Coeur d’Alene.

“Bonners Ferry is almost two hours from here, and St. Maries is an hour south. That’s so much time on the road,” Wilson said.

In the future, she said, the hospitals hope to hook medical diagnostic equipment, like X-ray machines or electrocardiograms, up to the system. It would allow doctors at remote hospitals to easily consult with each other.

Wilson said the system should be in place by spring.

, DataTimes