Consumer Health

Along with the websites below, as part of the Jesse H. Jones Community Health Information Service, we invite you to find regional health providers through our new consumer health website, Go Local Texas Gulf Coast. Go Local, a project of the National Library of Medicine and its MedlinePlus website, links health consumers to valuable local resources. We would like to thank the Friends of the Texas Medical Center Library for their continued support of the Jesse H. Jones Community Health Information Service.

AMA Physician Select
Search for physicians nationwide using a database provided by the American Medical Association.

Cancer.gov
Created by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), this site links to information on various types of cancer, clinical trials, statistics, research, funding and news. A part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, NCI conducts and supports research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs with respect to the cause, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer, rehabilitation from cancer, and the continuing care of cancer patients and the families of cancer patients.

Centers for Disease Control
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is one of the 13 major operating components of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is the principal agency in the U.S. government for protecting the health and safety of all Americans and for providing essential human services, especially for those people who are least able to help themselves.

ClinicalTrials.gov
ClinicalTrials.gov provides regularly updated information about federally and privately supported clinical research in human volunteers. ClinicalTrials.gov gives you information about a trial's purpose, who may participate, locations, and phone numbers for more details. The information provided on ClinicalTrials.gov should be used in conjunction with advice from health care professionals.

DocFinder
Find information on the license number/status/type/expiration date of a physician as well as information on whether the Texas Board of Medical Examiners has taken any action against a physician. Also, learn the age, educational background and medical specialty of a physician.

Environmental Protection Agency
This website emphasizes the Enviromental Protection Agency's (EPA) pledge to "protect human health and the environment." The site prominently features the latest EPA news, as well as quick links to sections on numerous topics including acid rain, asbestos, global warming, hazardous waste, human health, oil spills, technology and more.

familydoctor.org
This website is operated by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), a national medical organizations representing more than 93,700 family physicians, family practice residents and medical students. All of the information on this site has been written and reviewed by physicians and patient education professionals at the AAFP.

Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) site highlights the agency's mission to protect "the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation's food supply, cosmetics and products that emit radiation.

Finding Help in Texas
This database contains comprehensive information about health and human services programs in Texas. This includes (but is not limited to) assistance for food, housing and shelter, education, legal, childcare, emergencies, physical and mental health, financial assistance, and transportation. The system is designed to inform you about the health and human services that are available in your community. Programs are geographically indexed by zip code and by county.

Gold Card (Harris County Hospital District)
This is the financial assistance program for health services at the Harris County
Hospital District's clinics and facilities. Based on household income, a resident of Harris County may qualify for full or partial financial assistance.

healthfinder®
healthfinder® is an award-winning website for consumers, developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services together with other Federal agencies. Since 1997, healthfinder® has been recognized as a key resource for finding the best government and nonprofit health and human services information on the Internet. healthfinder® links to carefully selected information and websites from over 1,500 health-related organizations.

HIV InSite
This website offers comprehensive, up-to-date information on HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and policy from the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.

Hurricane Mental Health Awareness Campaign
HHS' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is leading the PSA campaign in partnership with the Ad Council. As a complement to the campaign, SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) created a Hurricane Mental Health Awareness Campaign Web site http://www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/disasterrelief/ where visitors can view the PSAs and obtain disaster-related resources that include: brochures and fact sheets to help parents, families, educators, and other caregivers care for their own and their children's mental health during a disaster; guidelines for first responders and relief workers; best practices, reports, and policy guidelines for program planners; links to state and local disaster relief agencies and referrals; a 24-hour service hotline; other mental health and substance abuse facility locator services.

KidsHealth
KidsHealth is the largest and most visited site on the Web providing doctor-approved health information about children from before birth through adolescence. Created by The Nemours Foundation's Center for Children's Health Media, KidsHealth provides families with accurate, up-to-date, and jargon-free health information they can use.

MayoClinic.com
The mission of this website is to empower people to manage their health. This is accomplished by providing useful and up-to-date information and tools that reflect the expertise and standard of excellence of Mayo Clinic.

MEDEM
Medem's award-winning Medical Library represents the full range of patient education information from our partner medical societies and other trusted sources, and is unsurpassed in quality, breadth and depth of health care information. MEDEM's Medical Library provides patients with reliable health care information from introductory to advanced texts.

MedlinePlus®
MedlinePlus has extensive information from the National Institutes of Health and other trusted sources on over 700 diseases and conditions in English and Spanish. There are also lists of hospitals and physicians, a medical encyclopedia and a medical dictionary, health information in Spanish, extensive information on prescription and nonprescription drugs, health information from the media, and links to thousands of clinical trials.

National Institutes of Health Health Information
Developed by the U.S. government's health research arm, this site provides links to articles and research on various topics. The site highlights sections about healthy lifestyles, research in action and senior health issues.

NOAH
NOAH, or the New York Online Acces to Health, provides access to high quality full-text consumer health information in English and Spanish that is accurate, timely, relevant and unbiased.

Project Safety Net (St. Luke's Episcopal Health Charities)
Project Safety Net is a free public health web-based resource for our community. Project Safety Net, endorsed by the Harris County Public Healthcare System Council, allows users a single interactive bi-lingual web site offering free health access information such as safety net clinic locations, services, hours of operation, languages spoken and financial requirements. Project Safety Net also allows health planners to prioritize and identify with greater specificity, underserved areas where there is insufficient capacity and to determine potential expansion.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
The offical site of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides a borad overview of a wide range of health topics. Users can visit links to information on diseases and conditions, safety and wellness, drug and food information, disasters and emergencies, grants and funding, families and children, aging and specific populations.

page updated on 09.21.2006