The objective of this project is to connect a non-profit federally qualified community health center that provides health services to low income and uninsured individuals in an underserved rural area to the Internet in order to achieve the following aims: 1) To provide Internet access and training to medical staff at the health center so they can access current scientific and health-related information resources, health promotion and disease prevention materials, medical and continuing education information, and tele-health services in order to improve the quality of patient care; 2) To provide access for low income uninsured and high risk patients at the health center to health information and patient resources located on the Internet, including patient support groups and other health resources available through discussion groups and list servers, in order to increase patient knowledge and empower them for the purpose of improving health status and outcomes.
These aims will be achieved by connecting the existing local area computer network at the health center to the Internet through an IP router/gateway in order to link the health center with an area Internet Service Provider, and by training staff and patients in the use of the Internet for health purposes.
