The objective of Westfield Memorial Hospital? s Internet connection is to improve the quality of health care within its medically underserved rural service area through efficiently accessing and disseminating health care information to physicians, hospital staff, and primary care clinics. In the Hospital?s 300 square mile service area there is a large Amish population; 3 out of every 20 people are either on Medicare or Medicaid; one in five households has an income below $15,000; and 15% of the population is over 65 with one of the highest heart disease rates in New York State. This project specifically provides: a) access to medical databases and library resources; b) the training for productive and long term use of Internet resources with affiliations to training centers with continuously upgraded internet classes and workshops; c) E-mail use to promote communication between colleagues and reduce the sense of isolation many physicians encounter in rural settings; d) the infrastructure to provide institution-wide Internet access and dial-up access for clinics and physicians; e) long-range planning to insure the use of these resources in the years to come; and f) the technical expertise to coordinate, fine-tune, and support users. The project is designed to connect the Local Area Network (LAN) at the Westfield Memorial Hospital over a fiber optic line to the LAN at Westfield Academy Central School. From the WACS? LAN the connection then connects to Board of Cooperative Educational Services Wide Area Network (WAN) over a T-1 line to their Internet provider. The hospital?s LAN will be protected and managed by firewall software and Internet access will be available to primary care clinics and physicians around the clock through a dial-up modem bank. Information of this quality and quantity will save lives and promote new levels of clinical health care by linking knowledge producers with the care givers.
