USC, LOGICON TEAM TO BRING MEDICAL SERVICES TO CATALINA ISLAND
Logicon Media Contact: Gus Gulmert (703) 713-4620
USC Media Contact: Steve Stumpf, EdD (323) 442-3671
HERNDON, Va. -- April 10, 2000 -- Logicon Inc., a Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) company, and the University of Southern California (USC) have teamed to bring medical expertise to a remote location in the State of California, Catalina Island.
Highlights
- Via telemedicine, Logicon, USC bring essential medical care to Catalina Island
- Program launched by National Library of Medicine grant Successful program will continue in the years ahead
- Efforts to expand, improve program are in development
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A telemedicine consortium, led by the USC Advanced BioTelecommunications and BioInformatics Center (USC-ABBC), has helped fill the healthcare void on Catalina by establishing a high-speed data network that enables physicians on the mainland to examine patients on the island.
Catalina Island, a well-known tourist destination and popular scuba diving site, is located about 20 miles off the Southern California coast. Although the 75-square-mile island welcomes about one million visitors annually, it has only 3,000 full-time residents.
Healthcare is limited at the island's only hospital in Avalon. In addition, there are no full-time physicians in residence at the island's hyperbaric chamber at Isthmus, the primary facility for treating victims of scuba diving accidents. The chamber is the only healthcare facility for the approximately 500 residents living in this particularly isolated area, which is a 60-minute land ride to Avalon.
Through the use of advanced diagnostic and treatment technologies via telemedicine, island residents can obtain consultations from USC specialists, immediately increasing their access to more standard healthcare. The technology also allows USC physicians to provide prompt emergency medical care. This results in significant cost savings for patients when their medical status can be appropriately downgraded from "urgent" to "stable" and they avoid the cost of air ambulance transportation to the mainland.
Beginning in 1996, the USC-ABBC was funded by a three and a half-year grant from the National Library of Medicine. Team members supporting the Catalina Telemedicine Project include USC-ABBC, Logicon, Pacific Bell and Rand. Although the primary funding ended in 1999, the project is continuing to save lives and provide specialty care to the residents of Catalina Island.
"Many projects fade away when grant money ends, but the continuation of the Catalina Telemedicine Project speaks to the important role it is playing in the Southern California health network," said John Beecher, network technologist, Logicon.
USC also remains committed to the project.
"The USC Keck School of Medicine has demonstrated its commitment by providing services to the island for the latter half of the 1990s. Our plans are to strengthen and improve that service into the next century," said Family Medicine Department Chair, Ricardo Hahn, MD.
At Avalon Municipal Hospital, Logicon designed, installed and maintains a scaleable audio and video conferencing center for doctors, staff and patients. The system is easily expandable to meet new requirements, such as transferring medical telemetry data.
"The Avalon system is versatile. It can be used for general rounds or to address acute illness when weather conditions prevent transportation to or from the island," said William Boswell, MD, executive director USC-ABBC and executive vice chairman USC Radiology. "Perhaps the biggest benefit of the system is that it enables patients on Catalina Island to have access to the full range of medical specialists who are affiliated with the USC Keck School of Medicine. This is a range of expertise not commonly available to a rural, 12-bed hospital."
Logicon equipped the hyperbaric chamber at Isthmus with a two-way interactive audio and video system that links the facility with Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center. The system includes three, high-resolution remote cameras, including one located inside the chamber, an integrated audio system, and an expandable system architecture.
"The company's experience in developing systems that can operate in harsh environments paid dividends at the hyperbaric chamber," said Beecher. "Concerns over fire safety in a pressurized environment, picture resolution and data transmission speed all had to be addressed."
The University of Southern California Health Sciences Campus is the world's largest academic medical center. The USC Keck School of Medicine is an internationally recognized leader in medical education, biomedical research and healthcare delivery. USC-ABBC is a pioneer in demonstrating and prototyping advanced informatics applications and telehealthcare technologies. USC-ABBC has received grants and contracts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Library of Medicine, the California Telehealth and Telemedicine Center and the California Department of Commerce to develop and deploy ongoing telehealthcare applications.
Logicon Inc., based in Herndon, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corporation, and a leader in advanced information technologies, systems and services. One of the top systems integrators in the country, Logicon's healthcare expertise also includes full systems life-cycle support, electronic records management, information assurance, telemedicine systems implementation and quality improvement services.
