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Greetings, Southwest Georgia Health District!
(June 2008)
As we head into summer, my favorite season, I want to once again encourage you to stay Hooked on Health. If you haven’t done so in a while, please surf our District’s website. It has been recently re-designed with brighter colors, a new format, and, more importantly, new messages of health and wellness that are regularly updated. These messages can be found under the News heading when the page comes up and by going to the pull-down menu at the top, clicking on “Home” and selecting links to “Prevention,” “Promotion”or “Preparedness.”
I am very excited about the recently added pages, particularly the page for “Consumers of Healthcare Services.” This page was created to provide practical information to empower us to become more savvy consumers of healthcare services. An enlightened patient takes responsibility for her or his healthcare experiences and is confident enough to engage providers – hospitals, physicians and technicians -- in productive communication exchanges, which ultimately lead to increased compliance and efficiency of healthcare utilization.
A page for “Healthcare Providers” was also constructed to provide information and instruction for disease notification. Additionally, this page will link providers to information regarding pertinent public health issues that may impact their practices. It is critical that public health has a well-established mechanism to exchange information in a timely fashion in the event of a public health emergency such as a flu pandemic. The creation of this page may signify the beginning of the establishment of the mechanism.
Last, but not least, I would like to encourage you to check out our Hooked on Health web-based data management system. We have made improvements based on your feedback; however, we know there are others that need to be made upon receipt of supplemental enhancement funds. We desperately need you to support this innovative initiative. We need your data, which are stepping stones to pave the way for future interventions tailored to improve health outcomes for our district. We also need your ideas about how to make the system more user-friendly, interactive and engaging to increase the number of consistent users. A rich data pool gives the District a competitive advantage for grant funding application.
My challenge to you on this beautiful sunny day, a day that makes me feel full of energy and enthusiasm, is to:
- make a commitment right now to gather your health information: blood pressure, cholesterol, height, weight, measurements and the dates of your most recent preventive screenings
- go to www.southwestgeorgiapublichealth.org to read updated health messages, click on the Hooked on Health tab and register if you haven’t already
- log on at least weekly to track your progress and monitor results of your wellness journey
- send us your feedback and suggestions via the “contact us” link
- encourage family and friends to log on, too, and join you on the quest for credible health information and the journey of actively pursuing better health
We cannot improve the health status of Southwest Georgia without first equipping ourselves with the knowledge and tools to improve the health and wellbeing of one’s self. Imagine the possibilities if every adult in the Southwest Health District accepted the challenge. No doubt we would witness substantially improved health status -- measurable and beyond measure.
Accept the challenge. Get Hooked on Health!
Jacqueline H. Grant, MD, MPH, MPA
