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Emergency room personnel at Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital have extra help when they need it thanks to modern technology.
Through a partnership with Avel Care, nurses, doctors and even pharmacy staff housed in South Dakota provide assistance when needed for acute cases at Ely’s ER.
“We like to use them for medical emergencies,” said Colin Yahnke, chief nursing officer at EBCH. “Trauma activation, stroke activation, we like to use them. If we are using intubation we like to have them here.”
Overall, about 10 percent of Ely’s ER visits result in the watchful eyes and ears - and expertise - of Avel staff.
Cameras and microphones are set up in three emergency bays at the hospital, and with the press of a button, Ely staff can call on a certified emergency room nurse and board certified physician at Avel’s home in Sioux Falls.
“We have our cameras in 235 ERs in 15 different states,” said Kayla Ourada, an Avel nurse on duty earlier this week.
Yahnke said that the Avel personnel provide enhanced service to Ely’s emergency room patients.
“It’s an additional support,” said Yahnke. “You don’t physically need that person to be there to touch the patient. We are skilled enough here and have enough staff to do all the intervention we need, but this just makes us more efficient. It’s a huge enhancement.”
Yahnke has worked previously in Level I trauma centers and said there staff “have multiple brains to bounce things off - a whole team of people.”
The additional support, made possible by high-speed fiber lines, allow EBCH personnel to “say this is what I’m thinking right now” to Avel staff.
Avel personnel are available to offer advice and feedback to hospital personnel or “can speak directly to the patient.” They may also observe and offer notifications when needed to hospital staff.
The enhanced emergency room care has been in place at the hospital for the last decade or so, and Avel staff have a unique role.
“They have what looks like an ER but no patients,” said Yahnke.
Yanke added that Ely patients who have benefited from the telemedicine initiative have offered “huge positive feedback.”
Avel also has pharmacy teams available and cameras in the back of ambulances in nearly 120 agencies across Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska.
The use of the high speed technology has taken on a new role in the last few years as EBCH looks to advance mental health services in the emergency department through its Minnesota Path to Values Project.
“We have been working hard with our mental health project on improving our care for substance use and those in a mental health crisis,” said Jodi Martin, marketing and communications team leader at the hospital.
Yahnke added that “they do all of our crisis analysis for our behavioral health. They have a professional come on to assess a patient and decide if this person can be released safely to the community.
“Behavioral health is probably our highest usage of it, just for those assessments.”
The telemedicine advances serve to benefit Ely patients, even though the additional help is hundreds of miles away.
“They are ready at a moment’s notice,” said Yahnke.
