http://www.windsorpubliclibrary.com/outside/health-gateway/newdefault.asp
What is the Windsor Essex County Health Gateway?
The intention of this page is to provide one easy-access point to health agencies and services in the region. The main page features links to major players in the provision of health information and health services in Windsor Essex County. The site was made possible through the efforts of local non-profit organizations dedicated to helping the Windsor - Essex County community gain better access using information technology. This project has been posted on the web site of the
Windsor Essex County Smart Communities Connecting Windsor Essex ™ Portal as a prototype of community collaboration.
How is the Site Organized?
At the top of the page, there is a phone number for TeleHealth Ontario – a government service designed to provide people access to health advice and health information provided by professional nurses. More information about the program can be seen on the Ministry of Health page for this service: http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/program/telehealth/telehealth_mn.html
In the centre of the page, there are direct graphic links to key agencies in the community. Clicking on any of these leads to a separate window or screen opening to the agency’s website:
On the left side of the page, there are text links to selected subjects such as emergency/walk-in clinic information, regional hospitals, community health agencies, etc. Some of these are also featured in the centre of the main page.
What are Examples of the Health Providers on the Site?
Windsor Essex County Health Unit - http://www.wechealthunit.org/
The site has current topics of interest featured at the top of the main page and there is a general site-map at the bottom of the page. For example, if you would like to view the current health status report for Windsor Essex County, you will find a link to it near the top of the page. The sitemap features “clickable” sections to areas in which the Health
Unit has involvement (e.g. inspections, health and nutrition education programs, etc.)
Information Windsor - http://www.informationwindsor.com/
This information referral service agency has an online database of searchable information (actually you can browse). From the main page, click on “Search our
Database”. You can Search by keyword, Browse by Organization or Browse by Subject.
Each sub-category contains summaries of agencies and their services relating to the subcategory.
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GIS MAP
The new features are; o Health Service Locator: Digital maps of the Windsor Essex region have selectable health service related layers, including hyperlinks to related websites (where available), pan, zoom, identify and search functions: http://wplgis.uwindsor.ca/website/healthgateway/
Current layers include:
Services for New Canadians, Abortion, Addiction, AIDS. Alcoholism, Alzheimers, Asthma,
Autism, Blindness, Blood Donor Services, Breast Screening, Cancer, Caregiver Relief,
Chiropractors, Community Health, Dental Services, Dentists, Depression, Diabetes,
Eating Disorders, Environmental Health, Epilepsy, Family Doctors Accepting New
Patients, First Aid, Head Injuries, Health Insurance, Heart Disease, Hepatitis, Hospitals,
Immunization, Kidney Disease, Learning Disabilities, Lupus, Medical Research, Mental
Health, Multiple Sclerosis, Nursing Care, Palliative Care, Pharmacies, Physical
Disabilities, Polio, Postnatal Services, Pregnancy, Public Health, Repiratory Disease,
Schizophrenia, Skin Diseases, Stoke, Walk-in Clinics, Youth Clinics
Transit Windsor bus routes are included. o Health Parameters: Statistical data was mapped to the Windsor Essex County municipalities. Sources of data included StatsCan; 2001 Census, Windsor Essex Health
Unit RRFSS (Risk Factor survey), Multicultural Council, Information Windsor, Teen
Health Centre. An epidemiologist was contracted to compile statistical data for region related to births, mortality rates, Rapid Risk Factor Surveillance System (RRFSS) data from Windsor Essex County Health Unit and 2001 Canada Census Data.
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What does the Search Function do?
The search function links the site user to the P.O.W.E.R. Surfers page (Patients Online for Well-
Being, Education, and Research) which is situated on the Windsor Public Library website
( http://www.city.windsor.on.ca/wpl/power/home/ ). This is a searchable and “browsable” database of selected, credible health websites from worldwide sources. These sites are selected by the partners displayed on the P.O.W.E.R. Surfers’ main page.
How does it Work?
Browse the Directory: Begin by clicking on a category of choice (on the right side of the page).
For example, click on “Heart and Stroke.” You will find that there are 21 sites listed with links and annotations or summaries of each. Canadian sites are identified with the flag symbol.
Try clicking the category “Respiratory Disorders.” You will see that there are several subcategories to help guide you in your search.
Search the Database: Begin by entering one or two keywords that represent your topic. For example: diabetes nutrition . Check whether you want to retrieve pages that contain “any” or
“all” of the keywords that you enter. You will get more search results if you select “any;” however, some of your results might be irrelevant. You will get fewer search results if you se lect “all.” Your search results should be more specific (but perhaps too specific?) Try different search combinations for the best results. You may check a box to limit your search to Canadian sites, chat, or support sites. After entering your search parameters, click the search button. If you wish, you may enter a phrase to make your search even more specific. For example: “lung cancer” or “support groups.”
If you would like to try to perform a broad search for as many sites relating to diabetes, try
“truncating” your search term(s). For example: diabet* will retrieve all variations of the term such as diabetes, diabetic, etc.; carci* will retrieve terms such as carcinoma, carcinoid, etc.
How to Search for Health-Related Print Materials at the Windsor Public Library?
From the Windsor Essex Health Gateway, click on the Windsor Public Library link or go to http://www.windsorpubliclibrary.com/ .
Click on “ Library Catalogue ” at the upper left corner of the screen.
You can enter keywords into th e “Search For” box and then click the appropriate word that represents what you are looking for (e.g. everything, authors, titles, subjects, etc.). Clicking
“words or phrases” will give you the most search results:
A “Search Results” list appears that gives you the number of titles retrieved, call number, title, author, publication date, library location, and, in some cases, a book jacket cover. To get more information about a title, click the phras e “Details” to the left of the item record:
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In the detailed bibliographic record, you have the option of clicking on related subject terms to obtain more refined search results. For example:
Don’t Want to Search? Try Browsing with “E-Z Search”
Click the “E-Z Search” button near the top left corner of the screen:
Click on the “Health” category picture and then click the sub-category of your choice.
These lists can take time to load and may be quite lengthy; however, the results are sorted with the most current titles being displayed first.
Other Selected Health-Related Sites for Exploration
Canadian Health Network - http://www.canadian-health-network.ca/
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Funded by Health Canada. Try a quick or guided search; an A to Z index of subjects is also available for perusal. An example of a similar site is a US Government-sponsored site called http://www.healthfinder.gov
National Institutes of Health – Consumer Health Information Publication Index http://www.nih.gov/health/consumer/index.html
Browse by subject or by institute.
InteliHealth - http://www.intelihealth.com
Featuring medical content provided by Harvard Medical School, this site contains some useful interactive tools and a drug database. Closely related to this site is the Mayo Clinic’s http://www.mayoclinic.com
site.
Health on the Net Foundation
Try MedHunt for links to websites - http://www.hon.ch/MedHunt/ . You can limit your searches to websites from specific regions (e.g. North America, Europe, etc.); each site is annotated. Try
HONselect – http://www.hon.ch/HONselect/ , where you can look-up information (articles, websites, news, images, clinical trials, events, etc.) using a medical thesaurus; browse favourite and rare disease sites. http://www.windsorpubliclibrary.com
http://www.windsor-essex.info
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