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Extending
the range of
home tele-services that can be
brought to today's patients.
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Obesity
and Telecare or “Tele-Obesity”: A Workable Solution
Tele-obesity?
It’s using telecommunications (the telephone or computer or automated
reminder systems or all three) to help address the “epidemic”-sized
number of obese Americans who are struggling with the battle to
lose weight and stay well. Numbers are sizeable every way you
look at it: 65% of Americans are overweight or obese. Fully
30%— or 60 million American adults— are obese (having a body mass
index of 30 or more—which you
can tabulate for yourselves here. Cost wise: it’s $117 billion
per year.
Telehealth and
new tools with telecommunications features to plan an attack—is
it do-able? Yes. We’re talking tele-obesity as a two-pronged strategy.
- For introducing
more frequent contact to assist with weight management; and
- For avoiding
or minimizing the severity the chronic diseases like diabetes
and heart disease.
See
our Obesity and Telehealth: A Needed
Match for industry experts’ views on this winning approach.*
Here's
News on what is working and how to get patients (and us!) started
using a tele-strategy for weight management.
| In
the New
How-To Resources, the hottest developing
items in the tele-obesity world are introduced: Web-based group-help/sometimes
self-help sites for weight loss. |
Focused
Group Support
looks at examples targeted for obesity management with African-American
women in Boston and with members of the U.S. Navy on land and
at sea. |
| New
Tele-Help Tools introduces a few telecommunications-ready
devices to meet the challenges of regularly exercising and moving
beyond the kitchen and couch. Multi-featured pedometers and
a videogame that actually requires physical interaction to play
are introduced to get all of us moving. |
Look
Homeward introduces
the views of 3 health industry experts well-versed in healthcare
trench warfare. Each responds to the contention that more communications
with those struggling with obesity can help them manage their
disease over the long term. |
And
References for those of you interested in learning more about the
obesity issue and potential interventions are right
here.
*From
Telehealth Practice Report (2003), 8 (1): 5; 8.
Reproduced with permission of the publisher.
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