COVID aid fuels telehealth expansion in rural America

“Can you lift your arms?” physician Luke Van Oeveren asked.

An elderly woman stared blankly at him from the back of an ambulance, where she sat strapped onto a stretcher. After a moment, she complied, but when Van Oeveren added another instruction to the cognition test, she became confused.

“Close your eyes and lift your arms up,” he said.

The two EMTs by her side repeated the request, lifting their arms and closing their eyes in demonstration. The patient smiled, but could not follow the instructions.