Healia Launches Online Health Community
Business Wire via NewsEdge Corporation :
Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 25, 2008--Today, Healia (www.healia.com)
announced the launch of Healia Communities, a free online health
community that enables people to get personal support for their health
decisions from peers and experienced health professionals. In
combination with its award winning health-optimized search engine,
Healia is redefining what consumer health search is all about. Founded
by Dr. Tom Eng, a former health policy advisor and public health
practitioner, Healia Communities allows people to share their health
knowledge, experiences and favorite resources; provide personal support
and connect with people sharing the same health concerns; and get
answers to their questions from health experts.
"We believe that Healia Communities will guide people to both the
information and support they need to make important health decisions,"
says Eng, Healia president and founder. "The launch of Healia
Communities is an important milestone toward our goal of helping to
improve people' s health and potentially save lives."
Through Healia Communities, members can search for their peers by health
concern, age, heritage, geographic location, whether they are a parent,
caregiver, healthcare professional and more. Members can make
connections and create their own personal support network with others
who share similar health interests and concerns. Healia Communities
launches with more than 200 communities including allergy, Alzheimer' s
disease, asthma, breast cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart diseases and
weight management.
In addition to support from fellow community members, people can obtain
answers to health questions from an experienced panel of health
professionals in a timely manner - typically within 48 hours. Healia
Communities' health experts are physicians, nurses, and other health
professionals from a variety of disciplines and specialty areas. From
the Communities site, users will also be able to rate community answers
and the quality of the information provided.
"Healia Communities is a great complement to the all-too-brief
doctor-patient visit. There is never enough time to address the many
important concerns that patients bring to their doctor," says Kevin
Patrick, MD, MS, Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine at the
University of California, San Diego. "In addition to high quality
information, the peer support that this site provides can promote the
kind of patient empowerment and best practices of self-care that we know
make a difference in health outcomes and quality of life."
Healia is expanding the notion of consumer health search by offering
both an innovative search engine and an online health community. Through
personalized search tools, information guides, health blogs and quiz
games, and now an online health community with access to health experts,
Healia guides people to the support and understanding they need to make
better health decisions.
To create a profile and participate in Healia Communities, visit
www.healia.com and follow the link to Healia Communities. Healia
Communities provides the option of keeping certain information hidden
from other members and users can post anonymously. Healia has a strict
privacy policy and security safeguards. For more information and to sign
up, visit www.healia.com.
About Healia
Based in Bellevue, Wash. and established in 2005, Healia is a
patent-pending health-optimized search engine and online health
community that guides people to trusted health information, personal
support and the understanding they need to make the best health
decisions for themselves and their loved ones. Healia is a division of
Meredith Corporation (NYSE:MDP) (www.meredith.com), one of the nation' s
leading media and marketing companies with businesses centering on
magazine and book publishing, television broadcasting, integrated
marketing, and interactive media. For more information please visit
www.healia.com.
