Helping seniors in a pandemic: donating devices for telehealth

University students in more than 20 states, including Washington, are now working to help senior and low-income communities, gain access to telehealth.

The pandemic's changed the way a lot of people now interact with their doctors and other medical providers.

More and more clinics now offer telehealth appointments, where doctors connect with their patients over the phone or a computer.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that nearly half of all Medicare, primary care visits in April, happened through telehealth. Just two months earlier, virtual visits accounted for less than one percent of those appointments.

While many seniors have access to a phone to get them into the most basic telehealth appointment, not all have video-enabled devices, which can make the appointment more worthwhile.

“The video access is important for creating that patient and provider connection it also allows the provider to visualize what problem the patient might be referring to for example a rash,” said Katie Li, a resident of Redmond, who’s getting her public health degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Li And Nhu Nguyen, want more people to gain this access, so they're volunteering with telehealth for seniors, to get more video-enabled devices to them.

“We are trying to keep them safe by making sure that they are able to receive care at home being able to access telehealth programs with our devices,” said Nguyen, a student at the University of Washington, also working on a degree in public health.

They’re doing it through partnerships with local clinics and organizations that serve this population.

“The ICHS clinic had requested 140 devices when we started the partnership with them and we were able to collect 60 devices you know throughout the summer," said Nguyen.

She said she then learned about a grant opportunity. the group applied for it an got it, so they bought 80 devices, to meet that goal for ICHS, which includes both a clinic and an assisted living facility.

Nguyen said they’re now working on new partnerships outside King County.

And yes, they’re happy to take your donations of cash or old devices for this purpose.