Digital Imaging Delivers Modern Medicine to the Third World

Ms. PACS: I want to share a very special experience and a huge trend in PACS and radiology - delivering modern medicine to developing countries. Just how do you go about doing it? Well, sometimes a primary care physician can show a radiologist the way. In this case it was Dr. Jeffrey Heck, Founder and Executive Director of Shoulder to Shoulder, a non-profit charitable organization, and Professor of Family Medicine at the University of North Carolina.

Before opening the doors of a new medical clinic in a remote region of Honduras, Dr. Jeffrey E. Heck, founder of the sponsoring NGO Shoulder to Shoulder said, “It’s important to offer the same services here as if it were a clinic in the United States.”

Dr. Heck’s vision became a reality when he installed a suite of digital radiology and telemedicine equipment in a clinic serving a resource-poor community of 30,000 plus inhabitants. To drive home the message that Web-based medicine could revolutionize a healthcare system like the one in Honduras, which allocates just $12 per person annually, where patients walk several hours to receive medical treatment, and where digital imaging is virtually non-existent, Dr. Heck arranged a live demonstration. The guest of honor was Honduran Minister of Health Arturo Bendaña.

Once the Minister’s helicopter landed and Bendaña set foot in the new clinic, Honduras took its first step toward delivering modern medical care to its predominantly rural population. The crowd of locals cheered on the Minister who was escorted into the clinic to tour the room labeled Rayos-X/Ultrasonido. Read the Full Story or support Shoulder to Shoulder