There are few college basketball rivalries bigger than that of the University of Kentucky Wildcats and their neighbors, the University of Louisville Cardinals. But on December 18, 2004, with more than 20,000 fans packing the University of Louisville’s Freedom Hall to watch the two teams battle for statewide bragging rights, basketball took a back seat to bravery.

That Saturday, with the help of BT Conferencing and others, troops at Camp Fallujah and Camp Cooke in Iraq were able to watch a live video feed of the game. And the families of more than 30 U.S. soldiers were able to use separate videoconference links, set up in two small private rooms in another area of the arena, to talk with their loved ones in Iraq.

During the national anthem , the families joined the rest of the audience in the arena, and a live feed of the soldiers in Iraq was displayed on massive video screens hanging above the court. “It was a very emotional moment,” says Rob Sprang, the director of the Kentucky TeleHealth Network and primary coordinator of the event. “We had 250 family members standing on the floor of the arena. A lot of these people had not seen their kids for six or eight months, and they look up on the screen and there they are.”

Freedom Calls at Freedom Hall

Dubbed “Freedom Calls at Freedom Hall,” the event involved the coordinated efforts of a number of organizations, including BT Conferencing, the Kentucky TeleHealth Network, Polycom, and the non-profit Freedom Calls Foundation, which provides U.S. troops abroad with voice, e-mail and videoconference connectivity to their loved ones at home, at no charge to the soldiers.

Interactive videoconference technology has been used in Kentucky for telehealth since 1995, and this extensive technical experience with videoconferencing was key to making the event a success, says Sprang. Rick Phillips, the director of telemedicine at St. Claire Regional Medical Center in Morehead, Kentucky, developed the technical plan with support from BT Conferencing and the technology staff at Freedom Hall. The Kentucky TeleHealth Network is the state-wide telehealth program, and uses videoconferencing systems and medical devices such as electronic stethoscopes to bring together patients and medical specialists at over 70 healthcare facilities across Kentucky. Wire One, which provides all of Kentucky TeleHealth Network’s maintenance contracts, as well as supplying most of its equipment, contributed equipment and helped on the day of the event.