Technology gives Danville full-time psychiatrist

Technology enabled Danville-Pittsylvania Community Services to hire a full-time child and adolescent psychiatrist on July 1.

“Without telemedicine here, families have to travel at least an hour, if not two or more hours, to see a child psychiatrist,” said Mindy Conley, DPCS director of behavioral health. “ … Just access is a huge issue.”

Danville and Pittsylvania County are mental health professional shortage areas, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

The local community services board was the first in Virginia to use telemedicine to bridge the gap in access to child psychiatry. The agency had contracted with University of Virginia Medical Center using “telehealth” for 20 hours a week.

Now, Dr. Adrienne Turner of Charlottesville will become part of the local team for 40 hours a week, seeing patients via videoconferencing and a 42-inch plasma TV.

The kids and teenagers live in such an electronic world they’re already comfortable with it, Conley said.

The hire basically doubles the capacity for Community Services. That’s essential as demand exceeded availability with children on waiting lists. Conley estimates the agency would see about 30 percent more patients than before.

Turner had worked with the agency during her fellowship at U.Va., where she logged more than 1,000 hours of telemedicine.

She’ll be conducting initial evaluations and following up with medication management. Mainly, she’ll work with therapists and case managers at the local agency on different counseling options.

The hire allows the agency to improve the comprehensiveness of its services.

“I’m part of a team,” Turner said during an interview via the videoconferencing Friday.

Turner aims to meet the community’s and children’s needs in a timely fashion, using all available local resources and not just medication.

Preventing delays would mean less mental strain and anguish on families who have immediate problems, Turner said. It helps the community by keeping situations from escalating, and avoiding in-patient hospitalizations or residential treatment centers.

Children dealing with attention deficit disorder shouldn’t have to wait until SOL test time to get care that would enable better school performance, she added.

Additionally, Danville’s broadband infrastructure allows such telemedicine, and faster delivery of services, to be possible, Conley added.

Last year, the agency also began using an electronic records system. When Turner types a note, everyone on the team can see it right away.

“Technology is the foundation for us to be able to provide psychiatry for children,” Conley said.

Turner is a member of the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Telemedicine Association.