Reviews literature that describes information need studies of medical communities. Surveyed health-care professionals in a rural community to identify the information needs of health- care professionals, their primary sources of information, their attitudes toward the public library, and information needs of patients. An appendix contains…

Details the Rockford (Illinois) Public Library's activities involved with developing a community online information system and the not-for-profit organization established to run the system. Includes mission statement; guiding principles, policy statements; standing committees and goals for first year of operation; funding; adding users and…

Caring Start is a mobile-clinic program that provides prenatal care, well-baby clinics, childhood immunizations, counseling services, and contraceptives to rural poor families in northwest Pennsylvania. Before the mobile clinic, many rural women (mostly teenagers) went without prenatal health care due to lack of transportation. (LP)

A literature review on the health status of underserved Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders examined stereotypes of good health. Results indicated that the groups were heterogeneous with respect to demographic and health risk factors. Databases on their health status were incomplete. Morbidity and mortality from certain diseases were especially…

The Canadian city of Lloydminster created an agency to promote import replacement by matching consumer needs of schools and other institutions with local suppliers via monthly newsletters, open houses, reverse trade shows, and a computerized database of regional businesses. Dollars retained in the community, new jobs, and development of local…

Synthesizes results from four evaluations of the PATCH (Planned Approach to Community Health) program. Two examined multiple state and community programs, one examined one state, and one reviewed methods and materials of state and local coordinators. The article discusses specific recommendations for conducting PATCH and Centers for Disease…

Describes the development of a consumer health information service, InfoHealth, which is operated by the Kingston Public Library (Ontario). Cooperative planning between public, academic, and hospital libraries and community health organizations is described; acquisition of materials is explained; and staffing and promotion of the service are…

Compared cost effectiveness of an in-hospital intervention approach for medically fragile infants and a traditional approach of postdischarge referrals. Found that the in-hospital approach resulted in five times as many hours of intervention services for infants and cost three times as much as the referral approach, with few differences in effects…

Systematically examines the provision of health information in Ontario's larger public libraries. The survey, which elicited a 90 percent response rate, showed that health requests accounted for about 8 percent of all reference questions. The major problems faced by public librarians in providing health information were incomplete or unclear…

Describes four Australian initiatives in community health education: (1) Newtown Community Psychology Centre; (2) Association of Drug Referral Centres; (3) Society for Health Promotion; and (4) Health and Human Relations Exchange. (SK)

Despite the effectiveness of vaccinations in preventing disease, preschool children, particularly in the inner cities, are not being adequately immunized. Inadequate clinic staff and hours, inconvenient locations, prohibitive policies, and missed opportunities within the health care system may contribute to this problem. Suggests policy changes…

This article describes the goals, development, implementation, evaluation, and learning outcomes associated with the Multicultural Community Health Coalition Project at San Jose State University (CA). (IAH)

Studied 180 community and nursing home clients who received psychotherapy through community mental health center program. Reviewed case records to identify factors associated with persistence in therapy and drop-out patterns. Persistence in treatment was associated with nursing home residence, religious beliefs, and receiving therapy at home; not…

Counseling for HIV prevention and antibody testing is at the forefront of psychological support services. Recently, there has been a determined effort to develop a range of psychotherapeutic approaches to help people cope with and adjust to living with terminal illness. Introduces a growing interest in the field for counseling those affected by…

Describes how schools and public libraries can link with their communities in public networks (freenets) to provide access to the Internet and other community and educational resources. Discusses the origins of cybercasting, how freenets are used, an educational online service called Academy One, telecommunications community projects in Montana…