A Fun Fact about Telehealth

One fun fact about telehealth is that it has been around for over 150 years! The first known example of telehealth occurred in 1879, when Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, used his invention to conduct a medical consultation with a patient who was located in another city.

The patient, a deaf woman, had developed an infection on her hand and was unable to travel to see a doctor. Bell used his telephone to transmit a description of the patient's symptoms and a drawing of the infected area to a doctor in another city, who was then able to provide a diagnosis and treatment instructions.

This early use of telehealth demonstrates that the concept of providing medical care remotely is not new, but has evolved over time with the advancements in technology.