The Rio Arriba Family Care Network (RAFCN) is proposing to apply modern data communications technologies to the provision of health care in Rio Arriba County, one of the poorest in the country. It has over thirty member organizations that provide healthcare and community services in the region, but few have been able to efficiently use e-mail, Internet access, telemedicine or computer based video conferencing due to issues of cost and telecommunications infrastructure. RAFCN is proposing to use NLM Internet Connectivity funds to apply wireless networking to make Internet access affordable to over 20 organizations in the Espanola valley, by enabling them to share the expenses of connectivity, infrastructure and support. The wireless network will be installed with a onetime subsidy, and provide permanent network links between RAFCN members. After the grant period, these organizations will have lower monthly Internet connection costs through sharing telecommunications charges. The participating member organizations will use the network to coordinate care and to enable team approaches for health care delivery. In the process of establishing the wireless network, RAFCN and it members will develop skills locally and enhance access to educational resources. Using educational resources provided through a USDA Rural Utilities Service grant to Las Clinicas del Norte, one of the RAFCN member organizations, the network will be used as a tool to present a curriculum for health care providers. Training in the use of Medline and other provider resources will be done by Barbara Hau, a National Library of Medicine fellow working with the La Plaza Telecommunity in Taos, NM. State of the art technologies such as WEP, VPN's and PKI developed for RAFCN's NTIA funded TeleHealth project will be applied to provide for HIPAA compliant security and confidentiality in the exchange of patient health information.
