USDA State Director to Visit Copper Queen Community Hospital

Laura Chavez, Hospital Board Member and Chairman of the Development fund committee, Mr. Browning, Margaret Irwin, Manager of Copper Valley Home Health, and Gary Dillard, Board President.

On Wednesday, November 14, Eddie Browning, State Director of the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development Office, will visit copper Queen Community Hospital to officially present the $183,108 grant that was awarded under the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Program that is administered by USDA Rural Development.

Mr. Browning will be greeted by Jim Dickson, CQCH CEO, the Hospital Board of Directors, and the Hospital Leadership Team, and the grant will be ceremonially presented at 10:00 a.m. in the hospital’s conference room.

Copper Queen Community Hospital received one of the three awards given in the state of Arizona. The field of applicants, nation-wide, began with 165 eligible applications. From this group, 78 recipients were selected.

Copper Queen Hospital’s project is designed to improve the quality and quantity of the hospital’s Home Health Telemedicine Monitoring program. Copper Valley Home Health, under the management of Margaret Irwin, R.N., is one of the few remaining Hospital based home health services in Cochise County. The hospital applied for the grant so that the growing number of home health patients in this area could be served more efficiently and effectively.

The grant will fund additional home health monitors, and also provide a mobile unit that can monitor patients at sites such as the Senior Center. The telemonitors, which use phone and video based technology, can monitor patient’s blood pressure, weight, respirations and other vital signs. By assessing the patient in the home, unnecessary trips to the doctor’s office or emergency room can be avoided.

The Distance Learning and Telemedicine grant program was created to improve access to education and medical services through the use of technology, according to the USDA, who state that their mission is to increase economic opportunity and improve the quality of life for rural residents.