Lynn C. Woolsey: “Mr. Chairman, I, too, am in support of this amendment, an amendment to bring the delivery of health care into the 21st…”

“Mr. Chairman, I, too, am in support of this amendment, an amendment to bring the delivery of health care into the 21st century. Telemedicine is an innovative and fast growing field that provides real access and necessary access to medical care, particularly to areas that are not close to major medical facilities. That is why this year the gentleman from California (Mr. Thompson) and I requested funding for a telemedicine network located in Santa Rosa at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital to provide access to the children and families in northern California's remote and underserved population. Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital is in my district, and the majority of the families that it would serve are in the district of the gentleman from California (Mr. Thompson). Together, that was a partnership to take care of the children in our area in general. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has classified portions of our districts as medically underserved. Specialty and trauma care are often limited and episodic at best, making telemedicine the only viable answer to making care accessible to these families. The children who need state-of-the-art medicine, but do not have it in their rural communities, will be served greatly by this amendment. We have the technology to fix a problem. Now, let us have the courage.…”