(JACKSON OPEN):
Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa recently joined officials from the National Institute
on Aging and the National Library of Medicine to launch NIHSeniorHealth.gov,
a new talking web site with formats and topics tailored to the needs of older
people. The senior friendly site takes advantage of techniques designed to encourage
older people to use the Internet, and this site in particular, as a resource
for the best information on health and medical research. During a briefing Senator
Harkin discussed his interest in the site.
(HARKIN):
"I got interested in the idea of a senior friendly web site on health when
I realized how many older Americans are using the Internet to find information
on health issues. Unfortunately as we all know it's not always easy navigating
the web on your own. And most web sites on health simply are not designed with
seniors in mind. So I thought, 'who better to design a senior friendly web site
than NIH?'"
(JACKSON CLOSE):
The web site, located at: www.nihseniorhealth.gov
, features large print and short, easy-to-read segments of information repeated
in a variety of formats. Each topic provides general background information,
quizzes, frequently asked questions, open-captioned video clips, transcripts
for the videos, and photos and illustrations with captions. This is Calvin Jackson,
the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.