Experimental Pandemic on Remote African Island Inhabited by Brits?

[On November 14, 2007, a medical project for remote telecom medicine on
an isolated island 1600 miles from the coast of South Africa
was announced. (Item #s #1-3) The island, called Tristan da Cunha
has one doctor, a 4-bed hospital and no telephones. Its inhabitants are
270 British citizens. US corps --primarily IBM -- and the University
of Pittsburgh are involved and the telemedicine project involves a
satellite link for communications, sharing of medical records for
remote consultation, etc. Sounds nice, right? Suddenly, on Dec 4, 2007,
the island is hit with a pulmonary viral pandemic (Item #4).-NYTransfer]

sent by anon @mouse.com - activ-l

URGENT: STAGED PANDEMIC EXPERIMENT ON REMOTE ISLAND

TristanDC
http://www.tristandc.com/newshospital.php

"Project Tristan officially launched On 14 November, a medical project
called Project Tristan was officially launched by its sponsors in
the USA. The objective of this project, which has been running since
April, is to offer the local Medical Officer the means to have
patient data analysed in the USA over a secure computer link. Project
Tristan combines medical equipment, technology, satellite communications
and remotely supported health record technology.

"Details include:

"* Electronic capture and sharing of medical data and information,
including not only X-Rays and EKGs but also pulmonary function
evaluations and video camera examinations with the University of
Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).

"* Satellite communications that link UPMC clinicians with the island
physician to provide real-time diagnoses and recommended treatments,
including surgeries, even in emergency situations.

"* Electronic patient health records for every resident on the island.

"The Tristan da Cunha community is grateful for the initiative and
generosity of IBM, Beacon Equity Partners, Medweb, the University
of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) in setting up this facility
which compliments existing medical liaison through the Swinfen Trust
(see below)."

***

CNN Money - Nov 14, 2007
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0328939.htm

World's Most Remote Island Gets Advanced Medical Support from Team Led
by IBM, UPMC and Beacon Equity Partners

Real-Time Telemedicine Solution for Tristan da Cunha Brings Promise of
Improved Medical Resources to Isolated Populations Everywhere

The world's most remote inhabited island can now access advanced
telemedical care, thanks to services and support from a high-technology
team led by IBM (NYSE: IBM), Beacon Equity Partners and the University
of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Tristan da Cunha is located
more than 1,665 miles west of Cape Town, South Africa, and is
accessible only by a boat trip lasting a week or more. Some 270
British Citizens call the island home.

IBM, Beacon Equity Partners, and UPMC today joined Medweb and the
Government of Tristan da Cunha in announcing the successful
implementation of "Project Tristan." This tested and proven remote
medical solution combines medical equipment, satellite communications
and remotely supported electronic health-record (EHR) technology,
allowing medical experts from anywhere in the world to assist island
clinicians in their daily practices with medical diagnoses and
emergency support.

Until recently, the island's only physician, Dr. Carel Van der
Merwe, has had to rely upon minimal technology and limited medical
support. Working from a hospital without so much as its own telephone
to provide care for patients, he has often performed life-saving
diagnoses and procedures without proper equipment or specialized
expertise. Lacking a communications system that could accept email
attachments, help in interpreting X-Rays or EKGs, he has depended
on digital images scanned, printed and faxed to specialists thousands
of miles away, delaying diagnoses by days. With no airstrip on the
island, emergency evacuation or outside medical intervention has
been and remains today virtually impossible.

Project Tristan was conceived by Edward Mullen, Chairman of Beacon
Equity Partners, and Paul Grundy, MD, MPH, and IBM's Director of
Healthcare Technology and Strategic Initiatives, as a way to honor
the memory of a close friend, Thomas Wiese. It was implemented with
the guidance and support of UPMC, as well as of Dr. Richard Bakalar,
Chief Medical Officer for IBM, who also established the Navy's first
integrated Telemedicine Office at the National Naval Medical Center
in Bethesda, MD, prior to joining IBM. Dr. Bakalar is also President
of the American Telemedicine Association.

Project Tristan, which is based on open standards and runs on the
Linux Operating System, is expected to greatly enhance the island's
level of medical care and standard of living. The island's physician
is now able to electronically capture and share medical data and
information, including X-Rays and EKGs as well as pulmonary function
evaluations and video camera examinations with physician consultants.
Satellite communications will enable clinicians to provide real-time
diagnostic advice and suggested treatments to the attending physician.

"The ability to share medical data quickly and easily will be a
life saver for our residents," said Dr. Van der Merwe. "By joining
forces, IBM, Beacon Equity Partners, Medweb and UPMC have not only
created the capability to bring critical, patient-centric care to
our remote island, but also to other distant locations around the
world -- on land or sea -- that require constant connection to
expert medical resources."

Contributions from each team member were as follows:

- -- IBM: Solution co-development, integration and project management
for the telemedicine system provided to Tristan da Cunha. Products
and services included staffing, on-site installation of the system
(requiring a 25 day service call because of the limited means of
getting to the island), financial resources, IBM xSeries servers
provided to Medweb and high-resolution monitors.

- -- Beacon Equity Partners: Co-development of the concept and funding
for the project.

- -- Medweb: Medweb servers and software and additional medical input
devices including a computed radiography system for digital X-Ray;
integration of ECG, digital cameras, spirometry and video conferencing
capabilities; configuration and testing, remote installation,
training and sustained support services on an ongoing basis, including
primary technical and help desk services.

- -- University of Pittsburgh Medical Center: With its widely recognized
experience in telemedicine in the U.S. and abroad, UPMC volunteered
to help plan and implement Project Tristan. Additionally, UPMC
offered clinical professional service to the island, including
medical consultations on request; secure and reliable access to
robust and comprehensive multimedia medical data on Tristan patients
from the Medweb Telemedicine solution; and ongoing remote training
to support Project Tristan as needed.

- -- SOAPware: Project Tristan features cutting-edge, remotely supported
Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology courtesy of SOAPware,
Inc. This solution has more installed sites and is in use in more
nations than any other.

"Connecting the most remote inhabited spot on the face of the earth,
Tristan da Cunha, to advanced medical care in real time and over
the Internet is proof that the world is really flat. This is a big
step towards providing everyone access to centers of healthcare
excellence regardless of geographical location," said Paul Grundy,
MD, MPH, IBM's executive sponsor for Project Tristan and Director
of IBM's Healthcare Technology and Strategic Initiatives. "It's now
possible to monitor a patient's heart and remotely change the setting
on a pacemaker or make a complex fracture diagnoses over a satellite
Internet connection -- even in an environment where the closest
advanced care via a ship would otherwise have taken a week to reach
the Island and another to return to the mainland for care."

In dedicating Project Tristan to the memory of Weiss, who was lost
to cancer in 2006 after a lifetime of helping others, the parties
share a vision of the project's potential impact around the world.
"Thomas had enormous energy and enthusiasm for reaching out to
others," said Ed Mullen. "It is in memory of his spirit, resolve
and guiding principles that our team has worked to deploy Tristan
on Tristan da Cunha. Our unanimous goal is to expand this advanced
telemedical solution to improve healthcare in remote locations
around the world."

***

AP via Intl Herald Tribune - Nov 16, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/16/america/NA-GEN-US-Remote-Atlantic-Island-Health-Care.php

IBM and university partner to help residents of world's remotest island

The Associated Press

PITTSBURGH: Only one doctor serves the 274 people who call the tiny,
remote Atlantic Ocean island of Tristan da Cunha home. But now, that
doctor can tap into a vast medical network for help.

Officials with IBM, an investment trust, a medical technology company
and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center partnered with
officials in Tristan da Cunha to create a system that allows the
island's doctor to get real-time assistance from medical experts
thousands of miles (kilometers) away.

The island, located more than 1,665 miles (2,680 kilometers) west of
Cape Town, South Africa, is only accessible by boat. In the past, the
island's lone doctor has had to take digital pictures of X-rays and fax
or e-mail the images to experts in other parts of the world to help
with diagnoses.

Now, Dr. Carel Van der Merwe will be able to electronically record
medical data " X-rays, EKGs, even actual examinations " and share the
information with medical experts in Pittsburgh who can give advice and
suggest treatments.

"It's very handy because it's a much clearer picture than the normal
X-ray," said Van der Merwe, a native of South Africa who has been
working on the island since January. "It gives us more possibilities."

Van der Merwe said he has worked in other remote locations, but always
had the possibility of evacuation if a patient needed more specialized
treatment. That's impossible on Tristan da Cunha, where there is no air
travel and it takes a seven-day boat ride to get to the mainland, he
said.

"It's a pretty unique situation, so having the possibility of backup is
actually I think it's quite fantastic," Van der Merwe said by telephone
Wednesday.

Dr. Scott Harrington, medical director of UPMC's Communications Center,
said the hospital system can tap into its vast resources to provide
specialists to consult with Van der Mewr on virtually any issue that
arises.

Harrington said UPMC already has remote medical arrangements with
several commercial airlines and other clients, but this is the first
time they have a dedicated link-up with a remote community.

Dr. Paul Grundy, IBM's Director of Healthcare Technology and Strategic
Initiatives, and Edward Mullen, chairman of Boston-based Beacon Equity
Partners, came up with the idea for what they dubbed "Project Tristan"
last year after talking at the funeral of a mutual friend. They thought
helping the residents of this small island would be a nice tribute to
their friend, who died of cancer.

Grundy had visited Tristan da Cunha as a young child and again in the
1980s. With an interest in remote travel, Grundy would occasionally
check out the island's Web site and his interest was piqued when he
read that the island was getting Internet access.

"It's one of the few places in the world where you have no other
route," Grundy said. "Just about anywhere else that telemedicine
exists, there are other options in terms of getting out in a meaningful
period of time or getting help in a meaningful period of time."

Grundy blogged about the idea, and a doctor from UPMC contacted him.
Two companies, Medweb and SOAPware, provided the technical know-how.

Van der Merwe said he sees patients of every age; four of the island's
residents are over 90, another four are under the age of 1. He
encounters lots of different maladies on the island, including many
asthmatics, and lots of diseases associated with aging.

The island of Tristan da Cunha, a British territory, was discovered by
a Portuguese admiral, and its namesake, in 1506. Its residents are
mostly farmers and fishermen.

Van der Merwe said he plans to have regular e-mail contact with the
doctors in Pittsburgh so they can get acquainted with his patients
there.

Grundy noted that this kind of technology has been in use by the
military and others for years, but its application in Tristan da Cunha
is one-of-a-kind.

"It really demonstrates the world is flat in the sense that with that
sort of technology you can really link them up and provide care almost
anywhere," Grundy said.

On the Net:
http://www.tristandc.com

***

And now this:

BBC - Dec 4, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/7126563.stm

Remote virus-hit island seeks aid

Britons living in what is described as the remotest community in
the world are seeking help after the outbreak of an acute virus.

Many of the 271 British citizens living on the volcanic island of
Tristan da Cunha, in the south Atlantic, have developed severe
breathing problems.

They need to ensure that their current medical supplies do not run
out.

An international operation to provide help is being led by the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

BBC world affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge said the islanders
were being affected by what appears to be an outbreak of viral-inducted
asthma, which causes severe breathing problems.

Tristan da Cunha's one resident doctor, a South African, has issued
an appeal for medical supplies.

The South African Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre was alerted
first and informed British coastguards.

The volcanic island has no airstrip, making getting medicines there
difficult.

However, merchant ships in the area are unlikely to have the necessary
drugs on board and a coastguard spokesman said there were no British
military vessels nearby at present.

Viruses have swept through the island before but Michael Swales,
chairman of the Tristan da Cunha association, said he could not
recall medicines becoming exhausted on previous occasions.

He said there was particular concern about the health of the elderly
and the very young.

Isolated

Resident Rosemary Glass told BBC Radio Cornwall that the island's
tiny four-bed hospital was full to overflowing last week, but some
patients had since gone home leaving three people in hospital.

"It makes people chesty and it's hard for them to breathe," Mrs
Glass said of the illness mainly affecting the elderly and children.

Tristan da Cunha is situated 2,800 km west of Cape Town, South
Africa, and is part of a small group of islands.

It was at one time on the main trading route between Europe and the
Indian Ocean, but the small community living there is now extremely
isolated.

The community of 275 people describe themselves as living in the
world's most isolated settlement.

The island is famous for a mass evacuation to Southampton in the
1960s after a volcano erupted.

The main island is about 38 sq miles (98 sq km) and the currency
is the British pound.

BBC MMVII

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date: Sun, 16 Dec 2007 14:12:23 GMT author: unknown