Spinoff story
Mobile Health Unit
A real-world story of NASA technology finding a life beyond the mission.
About this technology
Overview
People in remote areas benefit from a system that enables a physician to help patients separated by great distances from his own physical location. Key feature of STARPAHC (Space Technology Applied to Rural Papago Health Care), is Mobile Health Unit, a medical facility on wheels which visits the villages of Arizona's Papago Indian Reservation. Papago is 70 miles from Tucson, and although there are some paved highways, many roads are unpaved, slow and hazardous. Large van contains clinical equipment and the communications gear for contact with STARPAHC's base of operation. A patient's medical history is displayed on a console instantly when summoned from stored records. Physician can see, talk with and figuratively touch" patient in the unit miles away. Unit can take and send electrocardiogram and picture of patient to hospital."