Dr John Pawlovic, he is the Chair in Rural health with the University of British Columbia and a family doctor who has dedicated his career to improving the health of rural, remote and Indigenous communities. We will talk about an innovative project -the Real-Time Virtual Support network which aims to address inequitable access and barriers to healthcare faced by rural, remote and indigenous communities.  Dr Pawlovic is the virtual health lead for the Rural CoordinationCentre of BC which heads the RTVS program.

Episode summary:

01.45  RTVS - how it started

03.50  Development of the Edge of Care documentary

05.15 How did he decide to practice rural medicine?

06.45 Where does he work now?

09.15  I give a brief overview of the RTVS program and reflect on the interview discussion

Key messages:

Idea started as a way to support remote and indigenous communities.

Outcome of decades of work in the virtual health space.

Supporting equitable access to high quality care.

Two arms of the program, one faces patients and the other providers.

Bringing together technology with on the ground care - hybrid care.

Resources:

Edge of Care Documentary: https://rccbc.ca/initiatives/rtvs/edge-of-care/

RTVS website: https://rccbc.ca/initiatives/rtvs/

Article published about he program: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/08404704231183177

Thank you for listening to the Rural Road to Health, contact me via ruralroadtohealth@gmail.com

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