Grant aimed at improving rural health care
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">A $21 million federal grant will help link patients and physicians in rural Illinois to urban health-care providers and specialists.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">The three-year grant from the Federal Communications Commission to the Illinois Rural Health Care Consortium will support a high-speed fiber optic and wireless network connecting 88 locations throughout the state. It is a pilot program that eventually could grow larger.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">The network will help provide "decent health care for everybody, no matter where they live," Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said Wednesday at a Statehouse news conference.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">The speed that voice and images will be transmitted through the new technology "takes it to a very different level," said Alan Kraus, executive director of the Broadband Development Group at Northern Illinois University, one of the partners in the consortium.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">For instance, an emergency room physician in a small rural hospital could consult with a specialist in Chicago, along with sending MRI images and other data-laden material within seconds.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">The consortium consists of about a dozen major health-care providers and research universities across the state.</font>
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