Internet Access – Not a Luxury When Your Health Depends on It (free issue)
A funding plan close to closing down though
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People born after the 1990s have always known about the internet. They may not have had it in their homes, but they saw it quickly became part of our society. In 1993, there were 600 websites. In 1996, we saw one of the first viral videos (The Dancing Baby). The internet and the web grew quickly. It became more than just entertainment in many households. It became a way to work from home, get an education, reach out socially, and access healthcare. According to Forbes.com, there are now over a billion websites, although only about 200 million are active, meaning they are updated and people visit to read or watch the content.
Health and the internet
Anyone who has any ache or pain can look online to try to see what is causing it or how to treat it. I wrote about how to find accurate health information online in this Decipher Your Health blog post, Is Dr. Google Reliable? But the internet has done a lot more for health than provide information. It’s allowed patients to connect with healthcare providers no matter where they are in the country. This is particularly important given the number of rural hospitals that are closing and the increasing isolation of people within their homes, especially seniors and those who aren’t mobile. Telehealth is the new house call and wellness check.
The internet may have seemed like a luxury when it first became public. But now it’s a lifesaver in many ways
Government saw the need
In 2019, the FCC, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) worked together because they saw the need for telehealth and other programs in rural communities. The Rural Health Care Program was developed so funds could go to eligible healthcare providers that would then provide telehealth services to these communities.
The pandemic pushed telehealth faster and further as people weren’t able to get to their doctors or get the follow-up care they needed. Rather than a quick call on the phone, many doctors and facilities set up Zoom calls with patients. This allowed them to look at their patients rather than just hear them. People who needed care from advice or renewed medication prescriptions to counseling could do it from the privacy of their homes. This saved time for both the patients and the healthcare professionals. For the patients, they didn’t have to take time off work, travel long distances, get childcare, or sit in waiting rooms as they saw the minutes (or hours) tick by. Healthcare professionals were able to keep to their schedules more often and they had fewer no-shows, which meant that their patients’ care was more consistent.
Drawbacks
There were some drawbacks to the telehealth boon though. First, you had to have access to a good internet connection and not everyone could afford that or they lived in an area where it wasn’t available. One in five households in the U.S. do not have internet. More than half of those aren’t online by choice, but almost 20% of those who don’t have internet say they can’t afford it (and don’t forget that you have to have the funds for a device to use the internet); 4% said they don’t have internet access in their community.
In May 2021, the federal government launched the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB), which allowed consumers to apply for help to access the internet. The EBB was replaced in November 2021 by the Affordable Connectivity Program. The ACP provided discounts to eligible households not only to get online but also to help buy a device so they could connect. This was a boon to many people who suddenly could access healthcare and other help.
The ACP is now in danger. Over 2 million households could lose their internet access at the beginning of May if the program is not funded again. The program stopped accepting new enrollments in February. According to the CNN article, those who stand to lose the most are people who live in rural communities and, maybe surprisingly, military families, which make up almost half of the ACP subscriber base.
It’s true, the internet can save lives
Telehealth saves lives in many ways. There is the obvious way, such as when a healthcare professional consults with a patient via Zoom and sees that the patient is severely ill, as is what happened with this person who ended up having pneumonia and was on his way to developing sepsis. But there are also the less obvious ways.
According to this study, telehealth visits to review and renew prescriptions resulted in better compliance among people with chronic illnesses like inflammatory bowel disease.
Telemedicine for mental health help may help mental health professionals in a different light. For example, in this Yale Medicine article, the author wrote that children found online visits easier, especially first visits, because they were in their own environment. But the same can be said for adults. A couple of years ago, I wrote an article about mental health in the pandemic period and the psychologist I interviewed said that conversations she had with her online patients had a different quality to them. Her patients often seemed less on guard, and she could see past them into their room or sometimes meet family members (and pets!), which could offer more insights.
But there’s more
Loneliness is an epidemic. U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek H. Murthy, MD, wrote last year, “Loneliness and isolation represent profound threats to our health and wellbeing.”
One of the tools we can use to combat loneliness is the internet. So many families are scattered these days. I have two friends whose children (and grandchildren) live in Australia. Of course, it’s not different from previous generations, with families moving far from home. I remember those onionskin airmail envelopes that we used to write to our family in the Netherlands. We had to write as small as possible and cover every bit of real estate on those pages, which took weeks to get to their destination. Phone calls were limited to tragedies or great news, with the odd scheduled one just to chat for a few brief moments. People of a certain age will remember the ads for long-distance calls being cheaper on certain days. Bell Telephone, in Canada, had a jingle that I remember to this day: “Saturday, Saturday, don’t wait til Sunday. Two-thirds off long-distance every Saturday…”
Now, the internet allows you to do video calls with your family and friends no matter where they are. Adult children can use these calls to check on their aging parents or even use camera set-ups to monitor them if needed. Anyone can find a community related to something that interests them. I belong to quilting groups and writing groups, and I used to belong to greyhound groups when I had some greyhounds in my life. Other people belong to groups dedicated to gaming, parenting, cooking, or just about anything else.
“Loneliness and isolation represent profound threats to our health and wellbeing.”
This study, published late last year, said, “…a study of middle-aged and older English adults found that those who used the internet more than once a day and for communication purposes felt less lonely than those who used the internet once a week during the quarantine, indicating that frequency of internet use is related to subjective sense of well-being.”
People who are diagnosed with illnesses can seek out information and support. Those who have a limited income may find tips and tricks on how to prepare healthy meals within their means, while others who want to learn how to live healthier lives can find new recipes, exercises, and other things that can help them in their journey. The internet also offers a chance to become more educated and increase employment opportunities. And we can’t forget how much the internet has given us more jobs that allow us to work from home, which can be a huge plus in quality of life. For all the bad that can happen with the internet, there is also so much good.
What do you think? Leave your comment below. Let’s get a conversation going.
Fantastic piece. Now to action! For those readers in the United States:
Write your senator in support of the Affordable Connectivity Program before it expires in May! https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm
Write your representative: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative