San Antonio, TX May 16, 2010 – The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) announced yesterday that ORBIS International is the recipient of the 2010 ATA Institutional Award for Telemedicine for its Cyber-Sight® telemedicine program. The award was formally presented on May 16, 2010 at the ATA Annual Meeting held at the Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas.
About ORBIS International’s Cyber-Sight® Program – In 2002, Eugene Helveston, M.D., currently the Director of Cyber-Sight, initiated Cyber-Sight®, a telemedicine and E-learning program providing ophthalmologists in developing countries the opportunity to connect with expert mentors through the Internet. Cyber-Sight® is a comprehensive, online resource that provides ophthalmic education, professional mentoring and patient case consultation to eye care professionals in developing nations, where 90% of the world’s blind live.
What started as a simple sequence of e-mail communications during a 1998 ORBIS program in Havana, Cuba, now makes it possible for any ophthalmologist in a developing country to benefit from the knowledge and experience of ORBIS volunteer faculty whenever the need arises.
Through the Cyber-Sight website, eye care professionals in developing countries transmit patient data and digital images to ORBIS volunteer doctors throughout the world for assistance with diagnosis and discussion of case management. Volunteer faculty respond to queries electronically and in a timely manner, entering into a dialog with partners. By 2010, more than 6,000 E-consults have taken place through ORBIS's telemedicine program. The program also makes ophthalmic educational material available online as E-Resources and provides structured course material for study through the E-Learning section of the website.
ATA’s Institutional award, which includes a $5,000 cash award, is sponsored by AMD Telemedicine and recognizes institutional leadership, breadth, depth and effectiveness of programs and services, a model for implementation of Telemedicine/Telehealth, E-health. Considerations for this award included impact on the population served, inclusion of special needs groups, academic output, such as peer reviewed research, presentations, targeted education programs, number of sites, business case or business model, long-term sustainability, and efficacy of partnerships and collaboration.
About AMD Telemedicine – AMD Global Telemedicine is the world's leading supplier of medical technology for telemedicine with over 5,700 installations in 79 countries. This includes medical devices, complete Telemedicine Encounter Management solutions and application software for both live and store and forward telemedicine. AMD has achieved this leadership through quality products, effective services and a respected commitment to our customer. AMD's staff is responsive, professional, and ready to assist with your telemedicine program. AMD offers the expertise and experience of supporting hundreds of telemedicine programs of all sizes and specialties around the world. http://www.amdtelemedicine.com/
About ATA – The American Telemedicine Association is the leading resource and advocate promoting access to medical care for consumers and health professionals via telecommunications technology. ATA brings together diverse groups from traditional medicine, academic medical centers, technology and telecommunications companies, E-health, medical societies, government and others to overcome barriers to the advancement of telemedicine through the professional, ethical and equitable improvement in health care delivery. Established in 1993 as a non-profit organization and headquartered in Washington, DC, membership in the Association is open to individuals, companies and other organizations with an interest in promoting the deployment of telemedicine throughout the world. http://www.americantelemed.org/
About ORBIS International – ORBIS is a non-profit global organization dedicated to saving sight and eliminating avoidable blindness. ORBIS provides the tools, training, and technology necessary for local partners to assess their needs and develop workable and lasting solutions to the tragedy of unnecessary blindness. By building their long-term capabilities, ORBIS enables its partner institutions to develop their own capacity to provide quality eye care services that are affordable, accessible and sustainable. Since its first program in 1982, ORBIS has worked in 87 countries, enhanced the skills of over 234,000 health care personnel and helped establish services that have provided quality eye care treatment to more than 9.7 million people. www.orbis.org
