news@med
This is the third in our continuing monthly reviews of Web resources
at the Stanford University Medical Center.

October 1996

One of the more visible (and audible) symbols of Stanford Medical Center is the Life Flight helicopter that on average takes off two times a day from the roof of Stanford Hospital. To learn more about the services provided by the bright neon-orange clad nurses and pilots who comprise their specially trained crew, visit their new web site at: http://www-med.stanford.edu/shs/lifeflight/

From here, you can link to Flight Web, an independent online resource (complete with a short sound clip of a chopper's twirling blades) dedicated to Air Medical Transport Professionals. You'll also learn about the Stanford Life Flight "Fly Along Program," which permits qualified EMT's, EMT-P's, RN's, MD's, firefighters, law enforcement officers and other EMS-related personnel, to accompany the crew on interfacility and scene flights as conditions permit.

The Stanford Medical Center Events page, has been enhanced and now provides convenient access to the online full-text brochures of many upcoming conferences, symposia, and lectures. You can examine here, for example, the complete schedule of talks and speakers at the upcoming Management of Cardiac Arrhythmia: Update 1996, presented by the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine.

Although this half-day event is intended for physicians and health-care professionals, Stanford medical specialists have created an online resource for arrhythmia patients and their families at: Stanford Center for the Study of Patient Preferences. When you visit this site, simply click on the heart icon, under the heading, "Cardiac Arrhythmia Studies."

Coming later in October is another event that addresses cardiovascular health issues. Life After Stroke: An Educational Program for the Community will provide information about recent advances in stroke treatment, the role of rehabilitation, coping with life's changes and important community resources. Special guest speaker Jacquelyn Mayer Townsend, former Miss America and current spokesperson for the National Stroke Association will share her personal experience with stroke. The event is $10 and open to the public.

The National Stroke Association and the American Heart Association are co-sponsors of this event; each has set up a Web site well worth visiting.

On the home page for the National Stroke Association you can take a self-scored personalized stroke risk assessment through a simple questionnaire and read the most recent issues of "Be Stroke Smart," their monthly newsletter.

The Heart & Stroke Guide of the American Heart Association provides concise, up-to-date information on almost 300 subjects, ranging from exercise tips and the taking of fish oil supplements to a discussion of "fad diets," including the current rage, cabbage soup diet.

From their Web site, you can obtain a free copy of the American Heart Association's publication, Diet: An Eating Plan for Healthy Americans by filling out the online form provided there.

Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital and its staff are dedicated to family centered care, and this commitment is reflected in the facility as well as the family support services. Each year more than 5,000 children are admitted for overnight stays and more than 65,000 attend one of its 29 outpatient clinics. Now, through an online, self-guided Virtual Tour, parents and their children can get a sneak preview, from the front door to the beautiful rooftop garden, of what to expect when they arrive; and maybe, even if just a little, reduce their anticipatory anxiety about "seeing the doctor" or "going to the hospital."

In another move to make things easier for parents and their children, the Parent Information & Referral Center of Children's Hospital is now set up for email inquiries: pirc@lpch.stanford.edu. Pediatric nurses provide counsel, tell parents about special resources for kids, and match families with pediatricians or family practitioners in their communities.

There's been much attention in the national media lately about the growing use by otherwise healthy men and women of such hormones as melatonin and DHEA. Drowned out in the flood, however, is the fact that at least one of these popular health-food supplements has shown promise in the treatment of a serious medical condition known as systemic lupus erythematosus. As the article, "Daring to Hope," from a recent issue of Stanford Medicine reports (the complete text is available at this magazine's Web site):

"Though still in the early stages of investigation, DHEA has been taken by 80 patients with mild lupus and is now undergoing testing and analysis in patients with severe lupus. A heartening two-thirds of the 80 patients in the first trial felt that DHEA softened the blow of their symptoms -- some to a large extent, others, minimally."

A special web site has been established by the Department of Immunology and Rheumatology to heighten awareness about the clinical trials underway at Stanford Hospital in which lupus patients are treated with DHEA. Eligibility requirements for these different trials are provided, along with information on how to enroll in them.

Bill Merz
Editor, The Web Project
Stanford University Medical Center

merz@stanford.edu

A complete archive of past issues is available at http://www-med.stanford.edu/center/newsatmed/.


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