The Baltimore Times, July 31 - August 6, 2009 (www.baltimoretimesonline.com) Positive stories about positive people!Page 12

By Zaina Adamu

High premiums and little to no access

to health care were some of the key

points President Obama addressed on a

nationally televised press conference on

July 22. “This is not just about the 47

million Americans who don't have any

health insurance at all,” he said. “Reform

is about every American who has ever

feared that they may lose their coverage,

if they become too sick, lose their job or

change their job.”

UnitedHealth Group and Cisco have

devised a way to shape the reform. It is

called TeleHealth. TeleHealth is the latest

technology that many are saying will rev-

olutionize the future of health care. The

initiative, as the name suggests, connects

the doctor and patient through a secure

communication channel. It provides vi-

sual and auditory connectivity provided

by a high-definition television, and al-

lows the doctor to help with diagnoses

and treatment plans. “The hope we all

share is to provide quality in health care

in order to reduce the cost and further in-

crease access,” said Dr. Jim Woodburn,

vice president and medical director for

Clinical Initiatives at UnitedHealth Care

Optum Health.

UnitedHealth Group and Cisco will tar-

get rural and underserved communities in

an attempt to provide health care access

to citizens who are either uninsured or

lack access. Cynthia Marshall, surgical

technologist at Good Samaritan Hospital

in Baltimore, thinks the plan is a smart

one, but not for all medical conditions.

“Heartburn? Yes. Headache? Sure. But

there are some health problems that re-

quires a patient physically being in a doc-

tor’s office,” she said.

Woodburn is aware of skeptics. “It is not

to replace all doctor visits,” he said. It is to

supplement some visits when the patient

and doctor are both comfortable. This is an

adjunct to the face-to-face visit doctors

have and its just another way of improving

[health care] access to people.”

One day before President Obama’s con-

ference, UnitedHealth Group and Cisco

held a joint press conference on Capitol

Hill regarding TeleHealth. Lawmakers and

industry officials attended the conference

to witness a live demonstration of the new

technology, which showcased patient and

physician interaction via satellite.

UnitedHealth Group is a national care

provider network headquartered in Min-

neapolis, Minnesota. It offers a wide array

of products and services through operating

businesses including UnitedHealthcare and

Prescription Solutions, and serves more

than 70 million individuals nationwide.

Cisco, a worldwide leader in technologi-

cal networking has modernized the way

people communicate. Their partnership

with UnitedHealth Group is the first of

many joint ventures that will make Tele-

Health a common technique in post-mod-

ern day health care.

“It’s going to be a normal way we con-

duct health care. Doctors and patients will

be more comfortable with it,” said Wood-

burn. “In many circumstances TeleHealth

will be more pleasing to the patient and

more effective for the doctor.”

UnitedHealth Group and Cisco Unveils New Initiative to Expand Health Care Access

Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD) (far right) explains the TeleHealth process toExecutive Vice President of UnitedHealth Group Reed Tuckson, M.D. (center)and patient (far left). Courtesy Photo

Franchot, City OfficialsTour Herring Run ParkBy Ron Kipling Williams

Though herrings no longer roam its

namesake, there are large scale plans to

renovate one of the major green spaces

in the city.

Maryland State Comptroller Peter

Franchot and Baltimore City officials

toured the park on Tuesday, discussing

future plans for the 340-acre public

landscape.

“These are tough economic times, but

not too tough to improve the quality of

life,” said Franchot.

Baltimore has 1,100 acres of urban

park open green space, ranked second

largest in the US. The state and the city

will be partnering to maintain its robust

presence.

In January of this year, the Maryland

State Board of Public Works approved $1.2

million in open space funding for Balti-

more City. One hundred thousand dollars

of the funds was allotted for the develop-

ment of a master plan to renovate the ath-

letic field complex at Herring Run.

Many youth and adult groups use the

fields for football, baseball, soccer,

lacrosse and other sports. The concerns

have been for field overlap, turf re-

growth and flooding.

Sewer overflow has been a longstand-

ing challenge for Baltimore, one of the

oldest cities in the nation, faced with re-

building current infrastructures.

This makes it even more an imperative

for parks like Herring Run which con-

nects nine communities to it.

“To get from one part of the environ-

ment to another, I see as a positive in-

ducement,” said Franchot.

Through the new funding, the Balti-

more City Department of Recreation and

Parks intend to implement bicycle trails,

path improvements, as well as the re-

creation of ball fields.

“These are fun and exciting improve-

ments,” said Baltimore City Department

of Recreation and Parks director Wanda

Durden. “It is good to open up to pro-

vide recreational programming.”

However, will the improvements affect

the urban wildlife such as deer and fox

that inhabit those spaces?

“We try to fit into the landscape. We

will be planting more trees to enhance

the wildlife,” said Gennady Schwartz,

Chief of Engineering Services at Recre-

ation and Parks. “It is a unique space,

we try to protect it.”

During the tour, Franchot stopped and

spoke with a group of summer teenage

workers with the Maryland Civic Justice

Corps, an initiative under Gov. Martin

O’Malley.

One day a week, the corps comes to

engage in trash collection. Franchot

stopped to speak to them. He asked them

what they have learned from their expe-

rience dealing with trash. One student

said, “Stop throwing it.” Another said,

“Make sure people are not littering.”

“I’ll probably come back,” said 16-year

old Maritime Academy student Vernon

Jones. “This is fun.”

(L-r) Wanda Durden, director of Balti-more City Department of Recreationand Parks; Peter Franchot, MarylandState Comptroller; Michele Speaks-March, director of the Office of Devel-opment and Communications for theBaltimore City Department of Recreat-tion and Parks; and Mary Porter, Of-fice of Capital Development.

Courtesy Photo