Web site brings state’s health offerings together
Vanderbilt's Eskind Biomedical Library has launched a Web site to bring together essential information for Tennessee health care consumers about facilities, programs and services throughout the state.
The site, Go Local Tennessee (www.golocaltn.com), currently includes more than 10,000 records, searchable by location, type of service and disease/condition.
The new site is one of 29 state and regional Web sites in the growing Go Local network. Each Go Local site is integrated with MedlinePlus, the most heavily used, government-sponsored consumer health portal.
From MedlinePlus pages about a given health topic, a user can select a link to the applicable Go Local site for information about related services that may be located nearby.
Conversely, a Go Local user looking up local services by disease/condition can select a link to related health information from MedlinePlus. Launched in 2003, MedlinePlus Go Local is on its way to covering the entire United States.
Go Local Tennessee casts a wide net, including hospitals, physician groups, substance abuse treatment facilities, hospice providers, physical therapy, health screening, support groups, crisis centers and nursing homes.
Web servers and database management for MedlinePlus Go Local sites are provided by the National Library of Medicine; the NML also provided a grant to Eskind Library to help support the development phase of Go Local Tennessee.
Eskind assistant directors Marcia Epelbaum and Patricia Lee led development of the site. Eskind Health Information Specialist Gayle Grantham is in charge of site maintenance.
“We'd like to acknowledge the whole EBL staff for their willingness to contribute to this vast community outreach effort,” Epelbaum said.
For full details, go to www.golocaltn.com.