Hawai'i Program Brings Telehealth - and Digital Literacy Training - to Libraries
The state is targeting access to care and the digital divide with a federally funded program that will bring telehealth services and digital literacy training to 15 libraries serving underserved communities.
Hawai’i is launching a new program to bring digital literacy and telehealth services to libraries in underserved parts of the state.
The state’s Department of Health is partnering with the Pacific Basin Telehealth Resource Center and the Hawai’i State Public Library System on the program, which will use mobile health units equipped with telemedicine equipment. The program is funded by a $3.7 million Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant through the American rescue Plan Act of 2021.
“This collaboration is a unique opportunity to help Hawai‘i families in underserved communities move towards health and digital equity,” Sylvia Mann, the DOH’s genomics section supervisor, said in a press release.
Some 15 libraries will be included in the program, which will begin before the end of the year.
The program is similar to project being launched in several state to improve access to care in underserved communities by bringing telehealth and mHealth to them – through locations like libraries, hair salons, malls, low-income housing complexes and community health centers.
It also aims to tackle the belief that underserved communities aren’t accessing connected health because they don’t understand how to use the technology. The Hawai’i program will address this digital divide by training and employing high school and college students to be health and digital navigators, helping people learn how to use computers to access telehealth as well as other resources.
Aside from the mobile vans, the libraries will also set aside equipment and private rooms for telehealth visits, and will lend out cellular hotspot units so that those who don’t have broadband access to connect from their homes.
Officials hope to expand the program next year, sending the mobile health units to community centers and homes to further expand telehealth access.
