Missourians have a new way to connect to local health services. The National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus consumer health web site now includes Go Local links to Missouri's Community Connection (http://communityconnection.org) online services directory. The Go Local links bring users of MedlinePlus health topic pages to related health services throughout Missouri and link Missourians directly to authoritative, reliable health information from the National Institutes of Health and other quality sources.

With this new Go Local link, adult children concerned about a Missouri parent's Alzheimer 's disease can find information about the condition in MedlinePlus and then find listings of services near where their parent lives. A Missouri patient can learn more about a recent cancer diagnosis from MedlinePlus and find local support groups or volunteer organizations willing to help. And, a Missouri parent finding day care services through Community Connection can learn more about childhood development and illnesses on MedlinePlus. These patients and families will all benefit from the Go Local links between MedlinePlus and Community Connection.

"It is a great step in bridging the gap between the health information we provide nationally and local health services in Missouri, observed Donald A. B. Lindberg, M.D., Director of the National Library of Medicine. "Because I was at the University of Missouri for some 20 years before becoming director of the National Library of Medicine, it is a special pleasure for me to support the fine work done at the University in developing the "Go Local" site.

Community Connection is a free, statewide directory of more than 17,000 community resources, nearly 5,000 of which are health-related, dynamically linked to the World Wide Web. Community Connection's powerful search engine permits users to search by topics, organization, geographic regions, networks and more. In addition, it provides links to useful information that helps in evaluating and choosing those resources.

A special feature of Community Connection Go Local is the "Ask A Librarian" service from the J. Otto Lottes Health Science Library at the University of Missouri-Columbia. This link brings Missourians the services of expert information professionals in answering their questions.

The Missouri Go Local Project is a partnership of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine-Midcontinental Region, Missouri Foundation for Health, and the University of Missouri-Columbia, including MU Extension, the Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis, the J. Otto Lottes Health Science Library, and Health Management and Informatics program.

For more information visit "Go Local" - A Project of MedlinePlus (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/golocal.html).

Contact: Kathleen Cravedi, NLM (301-496-6308) or email: cravedik@mail.nlm.nih.gov

Last reviewed: 06 November 2006
Last updated: 06 November 2006
First published: 06 April 2004
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