Carmen Cooper-Oguz is a World Famous Telehealth Superhero

By Robyn Marlow

Earlier this year, North Sunflower’s own Carmen Cooper-Oguz went to the other side of the world to advance the cause of telemedicine, especially TeleRehab. She was one of four people from the United States to participate in the 2019 Symposium on the Culture of Disability in Xi’an, China.

With funding from the U.S. Department of State, the symposium was an opportunity for healthcare professionals from China and the United States to exchange ideas. These included the intersection of culture and disability and contemporary rehabilitation issues in both countries. Interestingly, population health concepts were infused throughout many of the presentations.

Prevention and health promotion efforts are relatively new directions for professionals in both countries. Dr. Xue Jiaxin is the Deputy Director of the China Health and Medical Development Foundation. He discussed the importance of finding and addressing the root causes of illness and disability. He also addressed improving care service coordination and continuity across the life-course. And he talked about enhancing data interoperability across systems of care. These strategies are often cited in the United States for engaging in effective population health management.

Overcoming Barriers with Telehealth

At the conference, Carmen compared barriers to access to healthcare issues between the United States and China. She offered several action plans to solve these issues, including the wider implementation of telehealth, something that has been close to her heart for many years.

As Carmen tells it, TeleRehab (for physical therapy services) offers more ‘cans’ than ‘cannots’. Research has proven that this clinical service model is effective. At a minimum, TeleRehab should have a reimbursable, hybrid model to provide more broad access to care. She further pointed out that China is leading the world in 5G installation and implementation. And Russia has contracted China to install/implement its 5G network. But the United States still has many rural areas that are not able to access any network services.

The telehealth train has left the station. Now, the United States has a real opportunity to expand telehealth/TeleRehab options. These can ultimately address the challenges of rural healthcare.

Virtual Physical Therapy

But that’s not all …

In August, Scientific American featured Carmen in an article about Virtual Physical Therapy. You can read it here. Scientific American, founded in 1845, is one of the most widely respected scientific journals in the world. They have published articles written by Albert Einstein, Jonas Salk (inventor of the polio vaccine) and Linus Pauling (two-time winner of the Nobel Prize). That’s not bad company Carmen is keeping.

Just in case you let your home subscription lapse, here is what the August magazine said about our big-time physical therapy celebrity:

Carmen Cooper-Oguz has been a physical therapist for 22 years. She lives in rural Mississippi, where, she says, most physical therapists have multiple jobs because the demand is so great. Early in her career, when she finished her day job, she would drive 30 to 45 minutes away to care for elderly patients in nursing homes. “I would go to bed feeling like ‘Did I give enough care, spend enough time with patients?’” she says. “Telerehab no doubt would have allowed me to touch more lives in a more effective manner. I could have used that 30 to 45 minutes spent driving to treat a client.”

Carmen Cooper-Oguz is continuously working on developing the next generation of health care. We are so very proud she is part of the North Sunflower Medical Center Family.