The project will establish institution-wide Internet access for Pleasant Point Health Center (PPHC), which provides a broad range of health services for roughly 1000 Passamaquoddy Tribal members living on or off the reservation in Maine's far-eastern Washington County. The center's ability to carry out its mission is challenged by abnormally high rates of heart disease, diabetes, substance abuse, and suicide which appear linked to the high levels of poverty and unemployment endemic to the county. At the same time, medical specialists are scarce in the highly rural service region, and the nearest major medical center and associated library are 125 miles to the west in Bangor. Application of grant funds to enhance the professional communication capabilities of PPHC's staff and to facilitate their online access of medical resources are expected to mitigate some of these impediments to providing comprehensive medical services to the tribe. The first goal of the project is to make improvements in the existing LAN at PPHC sufficient to permit free institutional access to the Internet via a Frame Relay link provided by the U.S. Indian Health Services (IHS). These changes include replacing a 486-based Unix server, installing a router, and upgrading the Novell operating system on the health center's existing LAN server. With this infrastructure in place, installation of Web browser software will permit each user's PC to access Internet services and the IHS Intranet whenever they are logged onto the Novell server. The second substantial objective of the project is to train medical center staff in the effective use of E-mail and Web browser software to. 1) share information with professional colleagues, 2) find research data and resources relevant to improved patient care and professional development, and 3) download useful files and software from the Internet and IHS Intranet. Three training sessions are planned for the health center's 11 clinical providers and a significant subset of its 33 clinical and administrative staff members. The purchase of 3 economical PCS is requested to help make group training sessions possible.
