New virtual health hub planned for Whitecap Dakota First Nation

An Indigenous-led Virtual Health Hub is being planned on Whitecap Dakota First Nation land to deliver remote healthcare services for up to 30 communities, according to the province.

“Virtual Health Hub will bring state-of-the-art virtual care technologies to provide healthcare to the most underserved populations in Saskatchewan,” health hub director Dr. Ivar Mendez said in a release from the province Thursday.

The hub is the first in Canada and supported by the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine and Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies.

The province is funding one-third of the construction budget for the facility that will be built.

A new Virtual Health Hub will deliver robotic ultrasonography and expand services as technology and training come online, according to the province. Government of Saskatchewan

“This unique and highly innovative facility will bring Saskatchewan to the leadership of virtual healthcare delivery in Canada and globally,” Mendez said.

The hub will deliver robotic ultrasonography and expand services as technology and training come online, according to the province.

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Once student training is complete, graduates will set up technologies in communities across the province and deliver services. Appointment and client data will be sent back to the hub where it will be addressed by clinicians and technologists.

“The Virtual Health Hub will have a positive impact on Canadians,” Whitecap Dakota First Nation Chief Darcy Bear said in a release. “Providing efficient and effective healthcare services through our public health system to First Nation and rural communities.”

The province said the hub will also create employment opportunities for residents in their home communities and decrease the need to patients to travel to large cities for health services.