Army Veteran Daryll Martin had a history of severe hypertension and a collection of pill bottles intended to help him manage it. His physicians questioned whether he was taking his medications routinely and whether they were even the right medications for him. They knew an appointment was needed, but Martin also suffers from narcolepsy, which makes traveling an hour to his nearest VA medical center complicated.
When he ended up at the hospital instead, Martin's VA care team decided it was time to try a different approach: home telehealth. He agreed — and began working with Jasmine Pace, telehealth care coordinator at the Northport VA Medical Center in New York.
"Jasmine sent me a machine that monitored me and sent my information out. It finally got to the point where she decided to send some (community) nurses out to see me. We got my blood pressure down in, like, two weeks. I was shocked."
Martin's mental and emotional wellbeing also began to improve, thanks to the trust he placed in Pace and home telehealth. "Jasmine was like an angel that came from nowhere, how caring she was. It really meant a lot. As far as I'm concerned, telehealth saved my life."
