A partnership between the city of Tempe and the Phoenix Veterans Affairs has brought health care to the homes of almost 70 veterans there in its first year.
Here’s how the Veterans Telemedicine program works:
Registered nurses with Tempe Fire Medical Rescue visit the homes of veterans deemed high risk by the Veterans Affairs and connect them to their VA doctors via video conference.
“The target population is those at the highest risk who we believe over the course of the next year, we will see in an emergency setting,” said Kyle Brayer, the Tempe Fire Rescue Department’s medical services captain.
Common diagnoses include diabetes, post traumatic stress disorder and congestive heart failure. Brayer said these visits reduce the strain on the VA but also Tempe’s emergency response teams.
‘We’re getting to them long before the emergency happens,” said Brayer, himself a veteran of the Marine Corps.
Brayer says with grants, the telemedicine program hopes to hire another nurse and double the number of Tempe veterans served.
