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Internal medicine physician Dr. Christopher Domarew, Janie Hilfiger, president of UPMC Wellsboro and UPMC Cole, and Chad Hunter, project manager of telehealth for UPMC in North Central PA, facilitated a demonstration of UPMC’s telemedicine capabilities at a meeting of the Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative. Tri-County requested the presentation allowing their members to understand the significance of telemedicine better.

Telemedicine allows patients to virtually access physicians and providers from their home or satellite medical offices, allowing greater access to specialty health care in rural communities. Broadband internet is essential to making telemedicine available to residents of Bradford, Potter, and Tioga counties. This presentation also demonstrated the need for additional broadband internet access and the technological advancements being made at UPMC to offer new telemedicine specialties in our region.

When asked about the importance of telemedicine, Janie Hilfiger said, “It has especially come to light with COVID and patients who have been fearful of coming into the doctor’s office and not seeking medical care. So it has been very important that we could do telehealth visits with these patients during this time. I think that it is something that will continue now into the future.”