For Sunday here’s a longer story on the value of broadband. It’s a reminder for those of us who can take broadband for granted and a moment to commiserate for those who can’t, from ALS News…
As my husband Todd’s ALS progressed, trips to the doctor’s office became increasingly difficult. When he was still walking, we used to travel four hours from northern Michigan through Wisconsin to the closest ALS clinic in Duluth, Minnesota. We turned those trips into mini-vacations, bringing the kids along and meeting up with Todd’s family. The kids enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool, eating out, and visiting a toy store. We toured the North Shore of Lake Superior and visited Gooseberry Falls State Park.
We found value in meeting with the different specialists, and we were able to attend an ALS support group. We always learned something that made the trip worthwhile.
We continued going to the Duluth clinic even after Todd was in a wheelchair. We made arrangements for a Hoyer floor lift to be available at the hotel, and I’d use that to transfer Todd into bed and onto the toilet. But as valuable as the clinic was, the ride to get there became too difficult.
I inquired about using telehealth, but the neurologist didn’t have a license to practice in Michigan. So I contacted an ALS clinic in Michigan, but was told that we’d first need to have an in-person visit. If we couldn’t make a four-hour trip to Duluth, we certainly couldn’t travel eight hours downstate. And even if we could have established a relationship in person, telehealth might not have been practical, because back in 2016, we didn’t have reliable internet at our home.