Boise VA Medical Center

Sec. Shulkin and President Trump visit with a veteran patient and VA staff using telehealth.

Behind the Scenes at the Recent White House Announcement

While the entire country watched as President Donald J. Trump and VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin announced three new initiatives that will expand access to health care for Veterans, VA staff were working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure everything went off without a hitch.

In August, President Trump and Dr. Shulkin conducted a live demonstration of VA’s Telehealth technologies and VA Video Connect, conducting an example appointment between Dr. Shulkin in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, and a Veteran at the Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) in Grant Pass, Oregon.

During the appointment, Dr. Shulkin successfully spoke with the Veteran, investigated an area of concern, and brought in a specialist from Cleveland, Ohio. The goal was to display how VA can get medical expertise from anywhere in the country immediately to support Veteran needs.

Meanwhile, Sean O’Connor, Telehealth Technology Coordinator for VISN20, was managing the technical aspects of the virtual presentation and switching back-and-forth between the different Telehealth applications. While telehealth appointments through these types of connections successfully occur daily, this example was technically unusual, as it required connecting with White House equipment outside the VA network or information technology (IT) control.

“I was essentially the behind the scenes guy, flipping the switches and making sure everything worked the way it should,” he said.

In preparation for the event, Sean drove 4.5 hours from Portland, Oregon to Grant Pass, Oregon, where the live demonstration took place, to help ensure everything was prepared to announce the Veteran Telehealth Initiatives. He assisted in making sure the staff had the equipment ready, provided the necessary connectivity protocols, dial-in addresses and calling plans.

As the live event was streaming, Tracy Dekelboum, Chief of Telehealth at the Southern Oregon Rehabilitation Center & Clinics, was supervising the connection with their site.

“We did everything we could to ensure our equipment was working, and that we were available for tests with the central office and the medical clinic of the White House,” Tracy said. “We were all very dedicated to make sure it would be a success.”

On the day of the event, Mr. O’Connor, Ms. Dekelboum, and Grants Pass CBOC PACT staff accommodated Central Office hours, and were at the facility at 5 A.M. to conduct pre-testing and receive support from the information technology (IT) experts to be sure everything was working properly. Thankfully, Tracy explained, it required minimal troubleshooting even with the presentation of multiple technologies.

“For this important announcement, our site worked seamlessly,” Tracy said. “We didn’t have any issues.”

VA plans to continue expanding Telehealth Services to support convenient, high-quality care for all Veterans. To watch the Veteran Telehealth Initiatives announcement, visit https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2017/08/03/president-trump-and-secretary-shulkin-announce-veteran-telehealth-initiatives. To find out more about VA’s Telehealth program, visit https://www.telehealth.va.gov/.