Forest Hills Hospital Launches Telehealth Tool For Burn Victims

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — A hospital in Forest Hills launched a telehealth technology that helps doctors treat burns immediately after they happen.

Long Island Jewish Forest Hills is piloting "teleburn," a telehealth tool that helps emergency medicine doctors at the hospital assess whether burn patients can be treated onsite or need to be transported via ambulance or helicopter to the burn center located in Staten Island.

Physicians will virtually examine the size and depth of the burn, smoke inhalation injuries, and the resources a patient might have to treat the injuries.

Second-degree burns involving at least 15 percent of the body and third-degree burns affecting at least 5 percent of the body would need to head to the hospital.

"This will ensure that patients present at non-burn hospitals will have direct access to our expert specialists,” said Jonathan Berkowitz, medical director of the Center for Emergency Medical Services at Northwell Health.

in Queens and Long Island to conduct virtual consults with specialists at Staten Island University Hospital’s Regional Burn Center.

Long Island Jewish Valley Stream and Long Island Medical Center, both in Long Island, also launched the teleburn pilot to connect with specialists at Staten Island University Hospital’s Regional Burn Center.