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And Say, ‘Ahhh!’

Geography, it seems, makes the East End grand, but it also makes it isolated. In an interconnected world, that means heading more and more in the direction of virtual contact for services.

That includes health care. Instead of being a pure negative, though, it could be that the new move toward telemedicine is a godsend for the region, which for years has had issues accessing some kinds of essential health care. As the recent pandemic proved, virtual isn’t as good as face to face — ever — but it can get the job done when direct contact is either impossible or impractical.

Virtual options have fiscal benefits for the various medical organizations targeting the South Fork in particular. As noted last week, COVID jump-started a move toward telemedicine, even though the infrastructure has been widely available for well over a decade. As Susan Wilner, assistant director of behavioral health services operations for Stony Brook Medicine, put it, “I’m not grateful for the pandemic, but I feel like if we’re looking for silver linings, this may be one of them.”

Stony Brook, Northwell Health and other providers are adding a mix of telemedicine options. Northwell Health’s ER on Demand is a notable example: Thanks to technology, an ER visit can begin immediately, at home — or, in fact, can be avoided, as happens in literally nine out of 10 cases. A variety of specialties, including psychiatric and social work providers, can use telemedicine to keep closer connections to existing patients and add new services for patients who otherwise might not be able to access them in person. And there’s a growth in technology that turns a cellphone into a medical monitor, checking a variety of vital signs and even keeping tabs on something as advanced as a pacemaker.

A new regional hospital is set to be built on the Stony Brook Southampton campus in the coming decade, and a new emergency room facility is coming to East Hampton even sooner. But the expanding use of telemedicine suggests that a much needed expansion of health care is already underway — and your modem at home is the portal.