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Virtual Hospital Lets Veterans Get Help from Home

The VA Virtual Medical Center project brings together simulation training, telehealth and modern-day gaming technology and graphics.

(TNS) -- On Heroes' Beach, the water is always calm. The sun is about to set. And there are large bonfires, gently crackling.

The bonfires each have a sign perched in front of them: diabetes, asthma, PTSD. A veteran can pick one and sit around with a group of friends and chat. There may even be a health provider there to coach the discussion.

The goal for setting up these bonfires is simple: help veterans get the health information they need without leaving the comfort of their homes.

Because Heroes' Beach is virtual.

It's stretched right outside of the VA Virtual Medical Center, a complete VA "hospital" that's being built from the ground up, code by code, avatar by avatar, here in Central Florida at SimLEARN, VA's National Simulation Center in Orlando.

The project is still at its infancy. It's been about a year in the making and is still undergoing beta testing. But if all goes as planned, it could be the real thing in a year or two, with 3D graphics that are comparable to today's high-quality games.

All veterans will need is a link and a log-in. They will then be able to build their own avatar and walk in the virtual VA. With a button, they can see their electronic health records, search for medical information, talk to a virtual medical adviser, and if that avatar isn't helpful, they can do a live e-consult with a physician.

Providers can also hold virtual training sessions with each other or with patients.

The project brings together simulation training, telehealth and modern-day gaming technology and graphics.

"You can see how it speaks to the younger generation of our veterans, because they are doing social media and online banking. They're doing mobile phones and mobile apps and using iPads. They're gamers. So this technology really brings health care to that modality for them," said Manny Dominguez, Employee Education System deputy chief learning officer at the VA Simulation Center.

The virtual hospital is the brainchild of Dominguez, a former marine with a Ph.D. in education technologies who at one point worked with the air force surgeon general.

It was two years ago that his boss called him up after seeing an avatar-based diabetes education program at a major health system. He brought up the idea to Dominguez as an option for helping diabetics in the Air Force.

"A week later I flew to him and I said, 'you want a virtual diabetes world? I think I've got one that's better," Dominguez recalled. "How many hospitals do we have in the Air Force? He said 72. And I said let me build the 73rd. Only this one's online."

The VA eventually recruited Dominguez, where he has continued building his virtual hospital.

Dominguez works with the University of Central Florida's Institute for Simulation and Training, software engineers, people from gaming industry, quality assurance testers and graphic designers. But other details — like how the operation will be funded and if it will have its own doctors and nurses — are still down the road.

For now, Dominguez works out of a one-story building near the airport, which is the temporary home of SimLEARN, or the "Simulation Learning, Education and Research Network," which was established in 2009 as a program for the Veterans Health Administration. Within a year, SimLEARN will move to a state-of-the-art facility located on the campus for the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona.

The center has high-tech mannequins and several training rooms for VA staff who gather from different corners of the nation on a regular basis and practice real-world situations and scenarios to perfect their protocols and practices.

"Simulation is a technique to replicate the real world in a safe and effective environment," said Dr. Haru Okuda, SimLEARN's national medical director.

The virtual hospital isn't meant to replace the brick and mortar ones. There will always be a need for those. But the virtual-hospital-in-the-making is one of the first of its kind.

"Veterans get to go visit the VA, without having to go visit the VA," said VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson. "It's an environment that's generally familiar to them and they're able to explore. It puts the veteran in control, and they can do it in a comfortable way."

©2015 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.