From The Associated Press:

Patient websites enable those with a range of critical and chronic illnesses to provide progress reports and receive support — all without having to repeat details in exhausting phone calls. Medical professionals praise the online tools for addressing the “emotional needs” of patients.

Free online services like CaringBridge and Carepages offer user-friendly formats that allow people to quickly set up sites to share medical and personal news. CaringBridge is supported primarily by donations from users, as well as sponsor fees from hospitals. CarePages also has arrangements with hospitals and sells advertisements.

On both sites, patients and family members share information about treatment and recovery from illnesses, accidents, or other medical crises. “We just think it’s made a huge difference for families,” Alan Goldbloom, president and CEO of Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, says of CaringBridge.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 1:21 pm and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, News_2_Use, chronic illness, families, hospitals, technology, tips & wisdom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post