The next time the Big Blue Ball comes around to raise awareness about men's health and prostrate cancer, chances are readers of Northern Health's blog website will know about it.
Jim Coyle, author of the Tales from the Man Cave blog, will make sure of that.
Coyle, a Northern Health tobacco reduction counsellor, knows money raised at the Rotary Club event helped establish the Prince George Prostrate Support Group and is being used to fund quarterly men's health clinics coming soon to northern B.C. communities.
Launched last summer to highlight the work of individuals and communities to promote good health, blog.northernhealthmatters.ca gives people a chance to tell their own stories about health-related programs, events and activities in the Northern Health region.
It's one of eight public health information websites built and maintained by Northern Health.
The blog site has a long list of regular contributors, all Northern Health employees who work as dietitians, counsellors, nurses, workplace health and safety advisors, public health protection officers, injury prevention specialists, and children's health professionals. Readers are encouraged to post their comments or questions for feedback.
"That's our latest website and it's a bit different from our main website in that it focuses on more of a grassroots approach, offering healthy advice and tools for northerners," said Rosemary Dolman, Northern Health's web and multimedia specialist. "It's geared to promoting healthy living so we have some great articles about things that are happening."
The Northern Health blog site layout responds to whatever type of computer is used. If readers are using a smart phone, site information appears as a one column screen. A tablet mobile device will show two-column pages, and a desktop computer will feature three columns. The responsive design feature will soon be available for all Northern Health websites.
"We're tracking all visitors and, with Google analytics, we're tracking what they are using to visit our websites as far as platforms," said Dolman. "From December 2011 to December 2012, our mobile visitors increased by more than 30 per cent."
Some of the challenges men face in maintaining their own health are featured topics on men.northernhealth.ca. The web project was the result of a Northern Health document -- Where are the Men? -- which outlined the failure of men in northern B.C. to take charge of their own health concerns and their reluctance to access medical care.
The MANual, a men's health survival guide, offers information and advice on food and nutrition, activities/lifestyle choices and body maintenance and includes advice on marathon running, healthy snacking, depression, quitting smoking, colorectal cancer, cardiovascular disease and weight management. The site includes stories about men overcoming illnesses, quizzes, recipes, and men's health statistics.
Northern Health's hiv101.ca website points to the fact that an estimated 25 per cent of HIV-positive people in B.C. are unaware they are infected and are responsible for 75 per cent of new infections. The website has informational videos and links to Northern Health facilities such as the Prince George AIDS Prevention Program Needle Exchange, where they can get tested, and highlights informative websites grouped to specifically pertain to aboriginals, men, women, youth, and people of alternate sexual preferences. Hiv101.ca also has information on the antiretroviral therapy drugs that have proven successful in containing the virus to allow HIV carriers to live normal and productive lives.
A separate tab in the menu bar directs doctors, nurses, pharmacists, community agencies, and mental health and addictions counsellors to other websites like the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, which offer guidance and new developments on HIV/AIDS.
Northern Health's Community Health Information Portal, available at chip.northernhealth.ca, links users to environmental health information; strategies to prevent illness and injuries; maps; official community plans; and environmental reports on river levels, snowpacks, avalanches, flood forecasting, and water supply quality.
The health portal site also features community profiles of health indicators in annual reports for each major city in the Northern Health region. The vital statistics section shows life-expectancy projections, birth and death rates, yearly cancer estimate projections, B.C. workplace injury incidents, and motor vehicle accident data.
"It tracks stuff that Northern Health doesn't necessarily track," said Northern Health communications officer Jonathon Dyck. "It has links to information on other sites and we're not duplicating work because the stats are out there. We want people to have those stats and see them in relation to health."
Northern Health also provides a site for physicians -- ncme.ca -- to help them find new treatment options and inform them about medical breakthroughs. For aspiring medical professionals, information on careers and workplace opportunities at Northern Health facilities is at careers.northernhealth.ca. There's also an electronic health library available to registered B.C. health practitioners at library.northernhealth.ca.
"We want to provide the best information we can about our facilities and the services we offer in a useable and accessible manner," said Dolman. "[If] there are resources that aren't on our website [northernhealth.ca] it will help them find those resources."
