Story by Mike Faher, Brattleboro Reformer
Doctors are trying out a new tool – videoconferencing – that might fix two persistent problems in southern Vermont psychiatric care.
The increasing use of remote consultations via secure video has allowed the Brattleboro Retreat to recently hire several physicians who live outside the area, thus addressing a recruitment problem that had caused some positions to go unfilled.
The Retreat’s “telepsychiatry” service also is expanding this month to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, where administrators hope to cut down on the number of mental health patients waiting for care in the emergency room.
