UNMC provides psychiatric care to airmen via telehealth

Air Force eyes UNMC autism program Aside from the help UNMC will provide the Air Force in terms of mental health, the medical center also may lend its autism expertise to the Air Force. Air Force officials are exploring bringing the expertise of Wayne Fisher, Ph.D., and others in the UNMC autism spectrum disorders program to Air Force families via telehealth technology. “We are trying to help fund research that will use innovative imaging technology to provide better supervision for home therapy for families and children who have autism,” Dr. Lacy said.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a toll on the mental health resources available to troops in the United States Air Force.

The number of men and women who need this type of service outweighs the number of available Air Force psychiatrists.

In order to meet the need, the Air Force and UNMC have forged a unique partnership in which medical center psychiatrists will provide servicemen and women help via telehealth technology. The university has sought for congressional funds to start this program and is optimistic that congress will support it.

“There is a serious need for psychiatric care,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Timothy Lacy, M.D. “We just don’t have the capacity to meet the need and UNMC has a long history of telemedicine success.

“UNMC has seen our need and reached out to us with this proposal. We are excited and appreciative of the university’s initiative.”

Currently UNMC provides telehealth services in psychiatry and dentistry to rural communities in Nebraska.

Ben Boedeker, M.D., Ph.D., professor of anesthesiology for UNMC and the Omaha Veterans Administration Medical Center and director of the Center for Advanced Technology and Telemedicine, came to Dr. Lacy with the idea.

“I knew the need was there and that we had the expertise to help,” Dr. Boedeker said.

“There is a serious need for psychiatric care. We just don’t have the capacity to meet the need and UNMC has a long history of telemedicine success.” Lt Col. Timothy Lacy, M.D.

The problems troops present with range from post traumatic stress disorder to depression and substance abuse.

The UNMC Department of Psychiatry will take the lead on the project and James Sorrell, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry, will head the effort.

Once in place, telepsychiatry services will be offered regionally at first to service personnel on Air Force bases in Nebraska, Oklahoma and Wyoming, as well as bases in Korea and Japan.

“Ultimately this project will help meet mental health needs in the state of Nebraska,” Dr. Sorrell said. “The difficulties faced by the military and by rural communities are very similar.

“Both have high demands for psychiatric services and critical provider shortages. Lessons learned from this partnership will allow us to provide cutting edge psychiatric and behavioral care to underserved communities in rural Nebraska.”

In addition to the project, UNMC and the Air Force are working on developing portable devices, as small as a Blackberry, that can enable psychiatrists in Nebraska to provide services to people in remote locations, Dr. Boedeker said.