In Aotearoa, digital health is becoming an increasingly important tool to support the wellbeing of people living in rural and remote communities. With services such as telehealth, more specifically real-time telehealth, many of our whānau no longer need to travel far just to see doctor and/or specialist. While there are promising technologies, not everyone has equal access to these. No/difficulty access to devices, poor internet connection (in some cases, no broadband access at all), data costs, and poor digital literacy mean that these communities miss out. Again. This topic is very close to me as someone who is living and working in health on the East Coast of Aotearoa. What do people think rural communities need to make digital health more accessible and effective?
They need to consider what options that can be made available to scale for their communities. With zero data initiatives running on Rural Broadband Initiative, include Rural Connectivity Group cell towers being rolled out, it cuts the problems of data and connectivity out of the equation.
However, it then is devices and confidence in literacy of usage.
Rural communities ‘need’ what they themselves identify. Therefore what do you ‘need’ to enable accessible timely healthcare? Consider ‘what’ you need and the ‘how’ becomes the innovation part. Often we too quickly jump to the ‘how’ and try to bend the ideas, using our own knowledge - confined by the knowledge/experience we have - to the ‘what’ that needs to be met. This allows a far greater degree of design and creativiy, pushes for greater inclusion of minds and enables ownership since the ‘what’ remains with the community at the centre of the need.
Thanks Tyler - it is very depressing that the same challenges/inequalities remain almost a quarter of a century after the first digital strategy was published. Tried to point out at the time that the Telcos’ willingness to roll out fibre connecting the main centres would not go further than that unless they were made to cover Northland, West Coast, East Coast to counter existing inequity so that the potential benefits of ICT could be shared equally. Marilyn