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the winnetka current | May 24, 2018 | 11
A stately visit to Northfield
Lt. Gov. visits
Josselyn Center
for telepsychiatry
demonstration
Hilary Anderson
Freelance Reporter
Thanks to technology,
the relatively unknown
area of telemedicine
known as telepsychiatry
is making mental health
services more accessible
to people from all walks of
life, including residents on
the North Shore.
And, last Friday, May
18, Northfield’s The Josselyn
Center gave Illinois
Lieutenant Governor Evelyn
Sanguinetti a telepsychiatry
demonstration at
its offices.
Telepsychiatry involves
direct screen interaction
between a psychiatrist and
a client, similar to a business
teleconference or
talking to a friend using
Skype or FaceTime.
Currently, Sanguinetti
is the co-chair of a new
telemedicine task force,
with the purpose of helping
review Illinois Medicaid
regulations and
identify opportunities to
expand access and quality
for Medicaid beneficiaries
while controlling costs.
“I am very impressed by
The Josselyn Center and
how they are using technology
to connect clients
with many of our state’s
top psychiatrists,” Sanguinetti
said. “Telemedicine
technology has the potential
to improve access to
amazing doctors and specialists
for all Illinoisans. I
am excited to break down
regulatory barriers so Illinois
can lead the nation
in our use of telemedicine
technology.”
In the past year alone,
Lieutenant Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti (right) and Nina M. Antoniotti, a nurse and
executive director of TeleHealth, discuss the benefits of telepsychiatry Friday, May 18,
at The Josselyn Center in Northfield. PHOTOS BY HILARY ANDERSON/22ND CENTURY MEDIA
The Josselyn Center has
proved itself a leader in
telemedicine.
“The Josselyn Center
is one of the first adaptive
innovators to make
telepsychiatry available to
clients,” said Susan Resko,
president of The Josselyn
Center. “We started about
a year ago and find we can
provide psychiatric services
without impacting
quality.”
The Josselyn Center
now sees clients down to
children 14 years old.
“Starting in June, we
will make it available to
all ages,” Resko said.
One room at The Josselyn
Center is dedicated to
a telepsychiatry session.
There, the client sits on
a sofa facing a large TV
screen, where a psychiatrist
is projected on it from
chest up. The psychiatrist
can see the client on a similar
monitor, and both patient
and psychiatrist can
hear and speak with each
other.
Additionally, in front of
the psychiatrist is a monitor
that shows the client’s
records and a laptop on
which they can type client
notes or write prescriptions.
The client cannot
see these.
The psychiatrist can
work from any location a
live teleconference is operable.
In The Josselyn Center
demonstration, psychiatrist
Dr. Hossam Mahmoud
was in his Chicago office
and teleconferencing in
to The Josselyn Center.
Mahmoud is a member of
Regroup Therapy, which
provides psychiatrists to
health care entities involved
with telephsyschiatry
services like The Josselyn
Center.
“We also can pull in
other psychiatrists outside
the Regroup Therapy organization
to provide these
services if needed,” Resko
said.
In another room next to
where the client sits and
video chats with the psychiatrist
is Nina Cerda,
The Josselyn Center’s
medical services coordinator.
“I am the on-site facilitator,”
she said. “I am the
individual who welcomes
the client to the session. I
tell the psychiatrist via the
computer whether the clients
are happy, frustrated
or anxious, even whether
they smell like they have
been drinking [alcohol] or
smoking pot.”
During the session, both
the psychiatrist and on-site
facilitator work together
via the computer.
“If the psychiatrist
wants to order a prescription
or have blood work,
I coordinate that with a
drug store or health care
lab,” Cerda said. “He tells
me what care plan he may
have in mind. I can convey
that to another health
care provider if it warrants
that.”
The psychiatrists can
even diagnose certain conditions
watching on their
screens.
“Personal experience
and evidence works diagnosing
certain things,”
Mahmoud said. “I have
been able to diagnose
pre-Parkinson’s. I can tell
a person to roll up their
sleeves to see if they have
been cutting themselves.”
Any client who talks or
Sanguinetti meets with Highland Park resident
Maria Flores, discussing what clients like about
telepsychiatry and whether seeking a psychiatrist
has a stigma attached to it, especially in the Hispanic
community.
threatens immediate selfhurt
is sent to the emergency
room via ambulance,
according to Cerda.
“I feel very comfortable
working this way,” Mahmoud
said. “It provides
care that some individuals
might not be able to
receive, like those in rural
areas or who even do not
want to travel from one
suburb to another. It reduces
delay in care. Our
[psychiatrists’] time is
much better served and we
can see more clients using
telepsychiatry.”
Mahmoud said while the
service is open for teens
through adults, in his experience,
older adults have
not utilized the service as
much as he would like.
“I am not sure, though,
that older clients are as accepting
of this,” he said.
“Younger people are used
to technology and would
seem to be inclined to attend
a telepsychiatry session.”
Highland Park resident
Maria Flores is one of The
Josselyn Center’s clients
who enjoys taking advantage
of telepsychiatry.
“I have no problems
with it,” she said, “nor do
I see any stigma attached
to seeing a psychiatrist or
using this service.”
Additionally, The Josselyn
Center wants locals to
know that the concept of
telehealth and telepsychiatry
is not new.
“The idea of telehealth
dates back to the late
1950s,” said Dr. Nina M.
Antoniotti, executive director
of TeleHealth. “The
University of Nebraska
used closed-circuit TV
for a consult between the
Nebraska Psychiatric Institute
and Norfolk State
Hospital. It was a revolutionary
program.”
The concept may go
back even further.
A CDW Healthcare
newsletter is said to have
mentioned that shortly
after the telephone was
invented, there was talk
about the possibilities of
using the telephone to
connect patients with doctors
thereby reducing the
needed number of office
visits.
“In 1972, Massachusetts
General Hospital set
up a TeleHealth program
at Logan International
Airport,” Antoniotti said.
“It originally was meant
for employees of the airport
but the travelers
loved it. TeleHelp [telemedicine]
is all about the
patient. It is another way
of caring for the patient. It
works.”