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Welcome to the 9th issue of the HealthInsite Newsletter.
Your usual newsletter author, Denise, is busy on another job this month, so we've temporarily shuffled roles a little bit to make sure that HealthInsite stays on track during school and work holidays and your newsletter gets out! We hope, too, that the combination of Easter, Anzac Day and school holidays gives some of you a chance to relax and escape your usual routines.
This month we'll look at healthy ageing. Getting older is inevitable and HealthInsite includes resources to help us enjoy the journey. We'll also look at immunisation, what diseases you can immunise against, risk factors and other information to help you make informed choices.
IN THIS ISSUE Volume 1, Issue 9
Healthy Ageing
When we think of ageing we often think of becoming old or aged in a negative sense or as a destination, rather than of ageing being just another stage of our lives or a process. Ageing healthily can open up new opportunities and freedom to do things that might not have been possible during earlier stages of our lives. Some diseases and conditions are associated with getting older, but there are often health choices we can make to give ourselves the best possible chance to enjoy all the good things that ageing can bring, even if we do find that our bodies aren't quite the same as they were!
In the HealthInsite 'Life Stages and Events' area, we have a whole topic area onAgeingwith selected links to our information partner resources on health issues related with ageing, and links to other HealthInsite topic pages that include lots of links to useful resources. Some of the topics covered there are:
- Exercise for older people
- Healthy diet for older Australians
- Sex in later years
- Mental health of older persons
- Falls prevention
- Aged Care Licensing and Accreditation
- Alzheimer's Disease
- Menopause
You can find information on all of these topics by going to the HealthInsite Ageing topic page athttp://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics/Ageing
Immunisation
We all know that immunisation is an important issue for parents and for every Australian. With winter approaching, we have already been reminded about the Australian government's program to provide free influenza vaccinations for people aged 65 and older . There are also regular reminders about vaccinations for childhood diseases, overseas travel and or for people who are especially at risk of catching some diseases. HealthInsite's database is continuously updated with new information from our partners on all aspects of immunisation and covers most of the diseases that can be prevented by vaccination.
The HealthInsite topic page on Immunisation and Vaccine-Preventable Diseases has links to subtopic pages on immunisation for diseases such as:
- chickenpox,
- diptheria,
- haemophilus influenzae type B (HiB),
- hepatitis,
- influenza,
- malaria,
- measles,
- mumps,
- rubella,
- polio,
- tetanus and
- whooping cough
as well as some of the diseases that people of any age might need protection from at certain times.
There are also links to information on new vaccines and information on most of the immunisation issues you might have heard about.
The HealthInsite news item on free influenza vaccinations for people aged 65 and older is at
http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/shortlinks/sLink.cfm?n=12&l=1
You can find information on immunisation schedules, vaccines, and risks for both the diseases and their vaccination in the Australian Immunisation Handbook at http://www1.health.gov.au/immhandbook/
For easy to understand answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about immunisation, have a look at
http://immunise.health.gov.au/faq.htm
For answers to questions about influenza vaccine, including who should be vaccinated, have a look at http://immunise.health.gov.au/public.htm
For all other information about immunisation, go to the HealthInsite topic page at
http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics/Immunisation_and_Vaccine_Preventable_Diseases
Arthritis Week
Arthritis Week for 2004 will run from 19th until 26th April. It aims to support and inspire people who have arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions. Arthritis organisations in each state will have events during the week.
If you would like to find out more about preventing and treating arthritis, including osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, or about livintg with arthritis, have a look at the HealthInsite Arthritis topic area at http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics/Arthritis . We also have topic pages on other muscular diseases, bone diseases and physiotherapy, where you can find links to information on preventing or living with problem knees, hips and backs.
Your Feedback - our design refresh
Thank you to everyone who sent us feedback on the refreshed design for HealthInsite. We really appreciate the time you took to look carefully at the design and to put your thoughts into emails. Most people liked the new colour scheme and the layout and said that they could find information easily, and there were some good suggestions, such as highlighting news more. We're currently putting all your comments and suggestions together to help us finish the design process and keep you up-to-date on our progress.
In Brief
Have you heard of the Seniors Portal?
Like HealthInsite, the Seniors Portal is managed by the Department of Health and Ageing. It has sections on work, health, care, rights, finances and special needs with links to government and non-government information for people who are getting older or who are caring for an older person.
http://www.seniors.gov.au
Partner Spotlight - Australian Breastfeeding Association
Every month we will include a brief overview of one of our information partners. This month we look at the Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA).
The Association was founded in 1964 as the Nursing Mothers' Association of Australia and is celebrating its 40th birthday this year! ABA is an organisation of people interested in the promotion and protection of breastfeeding and provides counselling services and information on breastfeeding.
HealthInsite has a topic page with lots of links to information on breastfeeding with a link to the ABA's home page as well as pages on subjects like feeding with expressed breast milk, breastfeeding a toddler, returning to work while breastfeeding and coping with breastfeeding problems.
National Mothering Week this year will run from 3rd until 9th May. You will be able to find out more from the ABA's website at
http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au
The HealthInsite topic page on breastfeeding is at
http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics/Breastfeeding
Latest Resources
The HealthInsite team regularly adds new items to the database including
new information partners, new topic pages and news items. You can
find a list of new and updated material added to the database in the
past month at:
http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/search/newsletter_search.cfm?id=12
Hot Tip - Online Partner Applications
Do you know that all HealthInsite information partners' websites have to go through a detailed assessment before they can be approved as HealthInsite information partners. We have just added an online partner assessment option to the HealthInsite 'partners' area to make it easier for potential information partners to start the assessment process, so if you know of a website that you think should apply to become one of our partners, let them know that it's now easier to start the ball rolling and point them towards our page about Assessment of Content for HealthInsite at http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/shortlinks/sLink.cfm?n=12&l=2
After reading about the process they can follow the links to the new online forms.
What's on next month?
Next month we'll look at how HealthInsite can help you find reliable information on men's health and talk about viruses and bacterial infections.
Please feel free to also let us know if you have any problems or if you have any suggestions for future editions by sending an email to
mailto:healthinsite.feedback@health.gov.au
That's it for now,
from all of us at HealthInsite (including Denise, who will be back writing the newsletter next month!).
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