Web site aids patients

    PRESQUE ISLE – Students at the University of Maine at Presque Isle gained important hands-on experience building a Web site that will serve as a healthcare resource for the region thanks to a partnership with the University of New England and The Aroostook Medical Center.     A small group of students in the University’s Management Information System program built the Web site www.aroostookhealth.org from the ground up in the last year to serve as a “health services portal” for the local community.
    “This Web site is fulfilling a need in the County that will allow the general public to see what’s out there for healthcare providers and services,” JoAnne Wallingford, associate professor of Business/MIS, said. “With the new health portal, anyone can find out, for example, the dentists available in our area or learn about a wide range of health care topics – such as chronic conditions or death and dying – and the resources available here and across the state.”
    Wallingford, who has had a number of her classes tackle Web page design for local organizations over the years, learned about the local health portal project from Gary Cattabriga, the director of technology computing at UNE’s Center for Health Policy, Planning and Research.
    “I knew this was a great opportunity for MIS students to work on something real,” Wallingford said. “Gary worked with us as if he was our customer and we were doing a job for him. It was an excellent experience for our students.”
    “I’d never done this before, so it was really exciting,” MIS student Thuy Phan said. “It was a wonderful experience and I would recommend it to any student who’s interested in learning more about implementing a Web site.”
    Students worked from 4 to 6 hours per week on the project, collaborating with Cattabriga on the “look and feel” of the Web site and inputting the content provided by him and other local partners, such as The Aroostook Medical Center. The health portal, now up and available for use, has more than 200 Web pages that include a wide array of health care resources.
    While the Web site is complete, the University’s MIS students will continue to have a hand in keeping the content up to date.