Three of Colorado Springs' largest health organizations -Memorial Hospital, Penrose-St. Francis Health Services and the ElPaso County Medical Society - are launching into cyberspace.
Memorial Hospital:
Web address: www.memorialhospital.com.
The city-owned hospital was the first to set up its own Web site.Since January, the hospital's site has offered free informationabout inpatient and outpatient hospital services, primary care andspecial events.
For patients worried about getting a chronic disease, a freeinteractive health-risk assessment is available.
'You go online and fill out the information,' says Rita Burns,Memorial's public-relations director. 'You get a computerizedanalysis back in the mail which calculates your risk of heartdisease.'
Centura Health/Penrose-St. Francis Health Services (as ofThursday):
Web address: www.centura.org.
Similar services will be offered when Centura Health's statewideWeb site for patients of Penrose-St. Francis Health Services goesonline Thursday.
Services will include a weekly health tip, health tips forseniors and a community calendar that lists upcoming health fairs,screenings and seminars.
By logging onto the Web site, patients can access 10 national Websites operated by the likes of the American Cancer Society, theAmerican Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health.
'It's one-stop shopping,' says Debbie Ginsburg, Centura's director of business and community relations. 'Among those 10resources, people should be able to find out anything they need.'
By September, Ginsburg expects the Web site to offer interactive health-risk assessments as well as a weekly online 'Chat With theDoctor.'
El Paso County Medical Society (as of mid-June):
Web address: www.epcms.org.
The society plans to have its Web site up by mid-June. Servicesfor patients and their providers will include a specialty-by-specialty listing of all practicing physicians in El Paso County, apublic-discussion forum and links to other sites, including thoseoffered by the Colorado Medical Society and the American MedicalAssociation.
Patients also will be offered opportunities to link up onlinewith area health-maintenance organizations.
Services for doctors will include a members-only discussion forumand a bulletin board for posting warnings about whatever infectiousdiseases happen to be spreading through the community.
'We have designed the home page to be a source of information andinteractivity between physicians and the community,' says societyspokesman Carol Walker. 'We will continuously change the page as weidentify community needs that can be served through this vehicle.' -Rick Ansorge
