The North Country Children's Clinic has had a tough time trying to get child psychiatrists to come to the North Country.
   
"I've worked with a lot of families whose children have a mental health diagnosis and have been with them through the very tragic decisions that they've had to make and the sacrifices that they've had to make to get their children the appropriate psychiatric care," said the clinic's executive director Aileen Martin.

But now there's hope for those families with tele-psychiatry.

Using teleconference equipment, child psychiatrists at SUNY Upstate Medical University Hospital in Syracuse can talk to a child and observe his behavior.

They can evaluate patients from 100 miles away and pass on their recommendations to health care providers in the north country so children can be treated close to home.

"What it will do is keep folks from having to travel to see those specialists so they'll be seeing the specialists, they'll just be tele-seeing them," said Denise Young of the Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization.

Dr. Mantosh Dewan, chair of the psychiatry department at SUNY Upstate Medical University, says because of the high-quality picture and sound, an evaluation can be done exactly the same through tele-psychiatry as it would in person.

He says children actually take to tele-psychiatry better and faster than the psychiatrists do.
 
"Children have grown up with this. They actually have not only reacted positively, but they even enjoy being caught on youtube, as one little child said," said Dr. Dewan.

"People are getting the kind of care that they need. It's less expensive to do it this way and it improves the quality of care," said north country Congressman Bill Owens (D. - 23rd District).

It's a much-needed way to get children the psychiatric care they need right in their own community.