Video-link psychiatry offered in Watertown

North country residents hit by a shortage in mental health providers won't have to travel to Syracuse for treatment anymore.

Patients can attend teleconference sessions at North Country Children's Clinic, 238 Arsenal St., with experts at Upstate Medical University, Syracuse.The telepsychiatry facility is at the children's clinic, but is available to other community health care providers, clinic executive director Aileen G.Martin said.

Twenty-eight north country medical facilities are connected by the325-mile fiber-optic network. The clinic's telepsychiatry unit is the first telemedicine application in use, but neurology and cardiology appointments in this area also will be offered soon via video link.

"We want to make it available to as many folks as possible," Ms. Martin said at the facility'sopening ceremony Thursday.

The network was developed jointly by the Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization and the Development Authority of the North Country.

Rep. William D. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, who attended the event, is trying to secure $430,000 for the organization, which is leading the $2.3 million project. The Federal Communications Commission already has provided $1.98 million.

The facility means less travel and less separation for families.

"Very often, children have to be sent away and that's just heartbreaking and heart-wrenching for families," Mrs. Martin said.

A teleconference appointment is not much different from online video chatting. Patients sit in a room that houses a large monitor. A camera, controlled by both parties, sits on top and can swivel and zoom. The therapist zooms in to see facial expressions and zooms out to see family reactions.

The patient's microphone can be turned on only by the patient to ensure private moments remain private. Children seem more comfortable than therapists when using the equipment, said Dr. Mantosh J. Dewan, a member of the hospital's psychiatry department. He answered questions via teleconference from Syracuse.

"Children take to it very well," he said. "They like being on TV. They like being on YouTube."

Denise Young, executive director of the health planning group, said the network was made possible through the cooperation of Samaritan Medical Center, Carthage Area Hospital, Lewis County General Hospital, Low-ville, E.J. Noble Hospital, Gouverneur, and River Hospital, Alexandria Bay and the health departments in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties.