December 15, 2000

Revere and Chelsea area residents have an easy way to obtain useful, accurate health information from the Internet without having to wade through thousands of pages of online information, thanks to a new program developed by MGH Community Health Associates and MGH Treadwell Library. The program, called ARCH (Access to Resources for Community Health) is an easy-to-use health information web site as well as a computer lab located at MGH Revere HealthCare Center.

The developers of ARCH researched thousands of health-related Internet sites and created links to a limited number of sites, which are highly respected, reliable, up-to-date, easy to understand and helpful to consumers as well as clinicians. Health information in some non-English languages also is provided on the site.

For in-depth medical information needed by health practitioners, ARCH provides links to clinical research sites such as the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control as well as more than 4,000 health resources available at the MGH Treadwell Library

.The ARCH web site is accessible through home PCs or a computer lab at MGH Revere, which is open to the public. Staff from the health center are available to teach area residents how to use the ARCH web site and will offer training in the computer lab and in community settings such as libraries, community centers and nursing homes.

Revere Mayor Thomas Ambrosino, Chelsea City Manager Jay Ash and Luis Prado, director of Chelsea Health and Human Services, joined members of the community and caregivers and staff from MGH to help launch the site.

Led by MGH Community Health Associates, the ARCH project is a collaboration of the Massachusetts Prevention Centers, the Chelsea Department of Public Health and the MGH Treadwell Library. ARCH receives funding from the National Library of Medicine and the Network of Libraries of Medicine, New England.

For more information about the ARCH Project, call (781) 485-6477 or send e-mail to ARCH@partners.org. The web address is www.mgh.harvard.edu/library/arch/arch.asp

From left, Nick Catinazzo, of Revere Health Department; Revere Mayor Thomas Ambrosino; Elizabeth Schneider, director of MGH Treadwell Library; Roger Pasinski, MD, medical director of MGH Revere; Margie Henderson, director of Mass. Prevention Center; Anne Richmond, director of MGH Community Health Associates; and Luis Prado, director of Chelsea Health and Human Services.

MGH Revere employee Srey Em (standing) helps her grandmother, Muth Em, and her daughter, Nicole, log onto the ARCH website.