Published November 1994 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Expanding the MDTV Network
West Virginia's revolutionary health-care tool -Mountaineer Doctor Television (MDTV) -- is poised to add a new channel to its growing network. Beginning next month, the Clarksburg Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center will become part of the MDTV system, a two-way, interactive television hookup that allows doctors and patients in the state's rural hospitals to consult with specialists at medical hub centers at West Virginia University (WVU) Medical Center in Morgantown and the Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC). In the past several years, I have added more than $5 million to federal appropriations bills to establish MDTV in West Virginia and to expand it into rural comers of our state where health care is not readily accessible. MDTV is an exciting medical outreach program that promises genuine improvement in rural health care in our state. I expect that MDTV will make important contributions to the health of thousands of West Virginians in the years ahead. Currently, MDTV connects its two major hub sites -- at WVU in Morgantown and CAMC in Charleston -to six sites across West Virginia: Wetzel County Hospital, New Martinsville; Davis Memorial, Elkins; Grant Memorial, Petersburg; Boone Memorial, Madison; St. Joseph's, Buckhannon; and the Cabin Creek Clinic, Kanawha County. The Clarksburg VA Medical Center will be the seventh West Virginia medical facility connected to the MDTV hub sites, and is expected to be in operation next month. In addition, I added report language to the Fiscal 1995 Labor/HHS Appropriations Bill to establish two more MDTV hub sites in the state -- at Marshall University in Huntington and the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in Lewisburg. My language also calls for the addition of three new community health centers in West Virginia to the MDTV network, bringing to ten the total number of MDTV remote sites across our state. Access to modern health care and expert medical specialists will be essential for the people of our state in the years ahead. Thankfully, West Virginia's growing MDTV network will afford much of that access, and will ensure vital services and necessary help to widespread patients through the miracle of an expanding communications system. November 16, 1994