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Library Web site opens health resources to S.C. by Dick Peterson Public Relations Not exactly the “offer you can’t refuse.” Not in the classic sense. But when the Duke Endowment approached libraries director Tom Basler, Ph.D., with a way to take a pet project to the next level, he wasn’t about to turn a deaf ear. In fact, the endowment’s proposal to fund MUSC’s “Hands On Health” Web site was really a contribution to the health of South Carolinians. Two years in development, Hands On Health was launched in September and has become a living, growing treasure trove of readily available and easy-to-understand health information with a heavy concentration on health issues important to South Carolina. What started it was Basler’s April 1999  presentation to the NIH-sponsored High Performance Computing Initiative meeting in Washington, D.C. He reported on the success of “Enterprise Community” programs launched by David Rivers, Glen Fleming and Bobbie Carlson to place computers in community centers, women’s centers, churches and libraries in areas of South Carolina where health care disparities proliferate. A Duke Endowment representative was in the audience. If the Enterprise Community computers were a door to a world of health care resources available on the World Wide Web, the endowment’s “next level” offer promised to open wide that door to dependable, up-to-date and easily understood health information researched by medical librarians at MUSC.  “As primarily a meta-site, Hands On Health provides annotated links to select health sites evaluated by project staff in the MUSC library,” said project manager Nancy McKeehan. She points to the “Find Out About” section, which offers links to an array of health topics organized in broad categories: diseases, medicines, how to be a smart patient, and staying healthy. “Biggest Health Problems” gives special attention to major health problems in South Carolina: diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, HIV/AIDS, violence and others. “The section provides health information for these issues in easy-to-understand language and in easy-to-navigate format,” McKeehan said. “Essays on each topic answer basic questions about risk, symptoms, testing, treatment and where to get help.” The site also offers a growing list of “Health Resources in South Carolina,” which identifies, describes and provides contact information for all kinds of health resources in the state—clinics, hospitals, county health departments and more. “As the list expands, we plan to integrate them into a large database that will be easy to search so people all over the state can locate the help they need,” McKeehan said. Personal stories of South Carolinians who live active, successful lives with chronic diseases or who have faced serious illness and survived to live full, healthy lives seek to give Web site visitors the resolve to face their own health challenges, Basler said. The narratives demonstrate how to manage and control illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. They include embedded links to appropriate health resources available to the consumer. “One subject of a personal story received a note: ‘[The story] strengthened my inner resolve to fight the disease and get through this most difficult period of my life’,” Basler reported. In addition to the Duke Endowment, funding comes to the project from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine. With this, the library’s Public Information and Community Outreach Division will be adding more personal health narratives from people around the state, McKeehan said. “The connections we have made with other groups working in the state will be valuable resources for identifying subjects to interview.” Formal connections include the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, the South Carolina State Library and the South Carolina Medical Association. Partnerships and collaborations with academic, library, church and community-based groups are part of the project’s strategy to leverage activities, efforts and funding of many projects to expand the impact and reach of each, McKeehan said. One example is a partnership with the 210,000-member AME (African Methodist Episcopal) churches in South Carolina to host and manage the Health-E-AME Web site, http://health-e-ame.com. The library hosts and manages the Health-E-AME Web site and the Hands on Health-SC Web site serves as the broader consumer health information resource. Marilyn Laken, Ph.D., director of the Office of Special Initiatives, serves as the main contact coordinating AME information links to MUSC.  Another partnership—and one of the earliest and most active—is with the Healthcare Pathway students at North Charleston High School. Hands On Health coordinator, Janice May, has worked with Pathway administrators, teachers and students for the past two years. Teen participation has helped develop the Teen and Kids section of the Web site. McKeehan said that new partnerships will respond to the need to eliminate health disparities in South Carolina. A partnership with South Carolina State University to identify rural health issues and another with MUSC’s Carlos Salinas, DDS, DMD, to catalogue dentists who agree to work with patients with special needs. “We want Hands On Health to be a site everyone in our state can turn to for their health information needs,” McKeehan said. “We want them to be confident that the information they turn to is trustworthy and of good quality. It’s a huge challenge and we have a long way to go.”     Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. 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