Telemedicine is the name for when doctors give advice to patients by telephone or the Internet, or when health care providers in rural areas connect with specialists in big cities. Telemedicine has existed for a long time, but the rise of smartphone, tablets and webcam-equipped computers is raising telemedicine to new levels. Some health care systems in the United States now offer Virtual Urgent Care, so patients can see a doctor by video chat without having to leave home.

Diana Rae recently showed how Virtual Urgent Care works. She used an iPad tablet and Skype — the video chat service.

Doctor Green first has the patient describe her symptoms (症状). Then the doctor performs a physical exam by showing what he wants her to do. Doctor Green decides that the problem is an infection (感染) and gives her some medicine. He says about 3 out of 4 patients who have health problems can be treated like this — through Virtual Urgent Care, which means a video chat could substitute a visit to the doctor’s office.

The Franciscan Health System charges $35 for this kind of virtual house call. That is much less than the cost of going to an emergency room, a doctor’s office or an urgent care clinic. After trying the video conference, Diana Rae says she would be happy to pay the 35 dollars, when she was recently home with a bad cold. “I would have paid twice that for the convenience of getting taken care of without having to sit in a waiting room, wait, and get exposed to everyone else’s germs (细菌). ” Rae said.

But a company official says state rules have not kept progress with development in telemedicine. The workers who provide Virtual Urgent Care must be licensed separately in each state where the company does business. For now, that means Franciscan doctors can treat patients in Washington state and California, for example, but not in neighboring Oregon or Idaho.

It was a cold March day in High Point, North Carolina. The girls on the Wesleyan Academy softball team were waiting for their next turns at bat during practice, stamping their feet to stay warm. Eighth-grader Taylor Bisbee shivered (发抖) a little as she watched her teammate Paris White play. The two didn’t know each other well — Taylor had just moved to town a month or so before.

Suddenly, Paris fell to the ground. “Pairs’s eyes rolled back,” Taylor says. “She started shaking. I knew it was an emergency.”

It certainly was. Paris had suffered a sudden heart failure. Without immediate medical care, Paris would die. At first, no one moved. The girls were in shock. Then the softball coach shouted out, “Does anyone know CPR?”

CPR is a life-saving technique. To do CPR, you press on the sick person’s chest so that blood moves through the body and takes oxygen to organs. Without oxygen，the brain is damaged quickly.

Amazingly, Taylor had just taken a CPR course the day before. Still, she hesitated. She didn’t think she knew it well enough. But when no one else came forward, Taylor ran to Paris and began doing CPR. “It was scary. I knew it was the difference between life and death,” says Taylor.

Taylor’s swift action helped her teammates calm down. One girl called 911. Two more ran to get the school nurse, who brought a defibrillator, an electronic device (器械) that can shock the heart back into work. Luck stayed with them: Paris’s heartbeat returned.

“I know I was really lucky,” Paris says now. “Most people don’t survive this. My team saved my life.”

Experts say Paris is right: For a sudden heart failure, the single best chance for survival is having someone nearby step in and do CPR quickly.

Today, Paris is back on the softball team. Taylor will apply to college soon. She wants to be a nurse. “I feel more confident in my actions now,” Taylor says. “I know I can act under pressure in a scary situation.”

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), a long term psychological therapy, is a specific type of cognitive behavioral therapy which reduces post-traumatic stress disorder (创 伤 后 应 激 障 碍 ) symptoms after natural disasters. Typically, CPT is delivered over 12 sessions to help patients learn how to modify negative attitudes and the practices related to their trauma. The goal is that the patient then creates a new, more positive view and understanding of the traumatic event, which reduces on-going negative effects on the patient’s current life. It specifically focuses on the core trauma themes of safety, trust, power and control it, etc.

Delivered both individually and in structured group sessions, it allows for multiple different paths to receive effective treatments. In some studies, it has shown to be helpful in cases where medicine alone has not worked. Because CPT focuses on retaining thoughts and behaviors to form practical strategies that can be applied to everyday life. Compared to other talk-therapies, it has been especially successful, because it can be completed in a brief period of time, allowing for a lower patient dropout rate. It also enhances brain connectivity, which lessens long-term impacts of trauma. This increased connectivity is why cognitive behavioral therapy is often argued to be more effective than medicine.

On the other hand，there are also multiple disadvantages to CPT. Due to its structured nature，it may not be suitable for people with more complex mental health needs or learning difficulties. Additionally, since it involves facing up to emotions and fears，patients may experience initial periods of additional anxiety or discomfort. Some therapists also argue that because it only addresses current problems, and because it focuses on the individual’s capacity to change themselves it does not address wider symptom problems that have a significant impact on a patient’s health and well-being.

However, focusing mainly on post-natural disasters. regardless of pre-disaster health, CPT has been repeatedly proven to be a rather successful treatment approach. Although there have not been studies generalizing CPT for children, it is an effective treatment for adults. The clear effectiveness of CPT demonstrates the importance of patient-specific therapies that are unique to the experiences of individual patients.