Health

Health Databases

These licensed databases are available for use in NOBLE member libraries. They can also be accessed from home using a library card from a NOBLE library.

  • Health Source – Consumer Edition — This database provides access to nearly 300 full text, consumer health periodicals, including American Fitness, Better Nutrition, Harvard Health Letter, HealthFacts, Men’s Health, Muscle & Fitness, Prevention, Vegetarian Times, and many others, as well as searchable nearly 1,100 health-related pamphlets and a variety of health reference books.
  • Health Source – Nursing/Academic Edition — This database provides more than 550 scholarly full text journals, including nearly 450 peer-reviewed journals focusing on many medical disciplines, with especially strong coverage in nursing and the allied health fields.

Health News

  • WCVB-TV: Health Center — Health news, features, health events and more from WCVB, Channel 5, Boston
  • CBS4 HealthWatch — Health news and features, including a video archive of HealthWatch reports with Dr. Mallika Marshall
  • Health and Fitness — Boston.com’s Health and Fitness center has articles from the Boston Globe, information on Boston hospitals, message boards and other features
  • Health News — The New York Times health site includes news stories, features, guides for many different issues and conditions, and healthy recipes.
  • World Health News — A news digest from the Center for Health Communication, Harvard School of Public Health
  • Yahoo: Health News — Includes articles, slideshows, links to Full Coverage pages for many specific conditions and issues, and other features
  • Google Health News — Top stories from many sources

General Health Resources

  • MEDLINEplus Health Information — Health information, information on prescription and nonprescription medications, health news, and more from the National Library of Medicine
  • Healthfinder — A gateway to reliable consumer health and human services information web site developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  • MayoClinic.com– The Mayo Clinic offers this collection of health information.
  • InteliHealth — Information on many different health issues, including the Harvard Medical School’s consumer health information
  • MedicineNet — Information on many different diseases and conditions, presented by a network of physicians
  • Centers for Disease Control — “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recognized as the lead federal agency for protecting the health and safety of people – at home and abroad, providing credible information to enhance health decisions, and promoting health through strong partnerships.
  • Health.com — This site from Time, Inc., includes news stories, features, and health tools, and is written by a staff of professional journalists. According the this site, they “…focus on problem-solving content to help you make decisions during complicated, stressful times. We write in plain English, using real-life examples.”
  • Massachusetts Department of Public Health
  • MassCHIP: Massachusetts Community Health
    Information Profile     — The Massachusetts Community Health Information Profile (MassCHIP) is a dynamic, user-friendly information service that provides free, online access to many health and social indicators for individual communities.
  • MassMed.org — Massachusetts Medical Society Organization website includes health news, fact sheets, articles, and links to recommended health websites
  • ClinicalTrials.gov — “ClinicalTrials.gov provides patients, family members, health care professionals, and members of the public easy access to information on clinical trials for a wide range of diseases and conditions. The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), through its National Library of Medicine (NLM), has developed this site in collaboration with all NIH Institutes and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).”

Health Care Professions

Hospitals and Nursing Homes

AIDS

Alternative and Natural Medicine

  • The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine — “The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is dedicated to exploring complementary and alternative healing practices in the context of rigorous science; training CAM researchers; and disseminating authoritative information.
  • HealthWorld Online — Visit the Nutrition Center, the News Room, the Fitness Center and other areas of HealthWorld, the home of “Self-Managed Care.”
  • The Alternative Medicine Homepage — This page describes itself as a “jumpstation for sources of information on unconventional, unorthodox, unproven, or alternative, complementary, innovative, integrative therapies.”

Alzheimers Disease

  • Alzheimers Association — The Alzheimers Association offers information, bibliographies and other resources for patients, caregivers and health care professionals.
  • MedlinePlus: Alzheimer’s Disease — Authoritative information on Alzheimer’s Disease from the National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health , and other government agencies and health-related organizations.
  • ALZwell Caregiver Support — This web site provides practical advice and support for family members of Alzheimers Disease patients.
  • Yahoo Full Coverage: Alzheimer’s Disease — Frequently updated news stories and websites

Asthma

  • American Lung Association: Asthma — A good starting point for understanding asthma
  • MedlinePlus: Asthma — Authoritative information on asthma from the National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health , and other government agencies and health-related organizations.

Autism Spectrum Disorders

Cancer

  • OncoLink — One of the oldest and most-respected health websites, Oncolink includes a large and well-organized collection of resources from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania
  • National Cancer Center — Information on all types of cancer, diagnosis, treatment options, clinical trials and support
  • National Cancer Institute — An award-winning site with information on all types of cancers, a dictionary of cancer terminology, and many other features, from the National Institutes of Health
  • Medline Plus: Cancer — Authoritative information on all types of cancer from the National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health , and other government agencies and health-related organizations.

Breast Cancer

Ovarian Cancer

Prostate Cancer

  • Prostate Cancer Research Institute — “PCRI is dedicated to educating the public about prostate cancer, pursuing research into the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer, and improving the present level of care for men with the disease.”
  • Prostate Cancer Home Page — Information on diagnosis and treatment from the National Cancer Institute

Children’s Health

  • Medline: Children’s Health — Information on all aspects of children’s health from the U.S. National Library of Health and the National Institutes of Health
  • KidsHealth — “KidsHealth is the largest and most visited site on the Web providing doctor-approved health information about children from before birth through adolescence. Created by The Nemours Foundation’s Center for Children’s Health Media, the award-winning KidsHealth provides families with accurate, up-to-date, and jargon-free health information they can use.”
  • Environmental Protection Agency: Office of Children’s Health Protection — A gateway to information about environmental health risks to children

Crohn’s Disease/Ulcerative Colitis

Diabetes

Disabilities

Dwarfism

  • Little People of America — “Little People of America (LPA) is a nonprofit organization that provides support and information to people of short stature and their families. Here you’ll find resources pertaining to dwarfism and LPA, medical data, instructions on how to join an e-mail discussion group, and links to numerous other dwarfism-related sites.”

Eating Disorders

  • Massachusetts Eating Disorders Association, Inc. — “MEDA is a non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention and treatment of eating disorders and disordered eating. MEDA’s mission is to prevent the continuing spread of eating disorders through educational awareness and early detection. MEDA serves as a support network and resource for clients, loved ones, clinicians, educators and the general public.”
  • Eating Disorders Resources for Physicians and Patients — Information from the Massachusetts Medical Society, including a list of local treatments centers
  • CaringOnline — An excellent starting point for information, news and material related to eating disorders
  • Eating Disorders — An annotated guide to recommended web sites from Mental Health Net

Environmental Health

Epilepsy

Fibromyalgia

Fragile X Syndrome

Genetic Conditions

Health Fraud

Heart Disease

  • American Heart Association — The mission of the Association is to reduce disability and death from cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
  • Medline Plus: Heart Diseases — Authoritative information on heart diseases from the National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, and other government agencies and health-related organizations.

Liver Disorders

Lyme Disease

  • American Lyme Disease Foundation — “The American Lyme Disease Foundation supports research and plays a key role in providing reliable and scientifically accurate information to the public and health care provider.”
  • Lyme Disease — Information from the Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases of the National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Mental Health

  • Psych Central — “Psych Central is the Internet’s largest and oldest independent mental health social network created and run by mental health professionals to guarantee reliable, trusted information and support communities to consumers, for over 13 years.”
  • National Institute of Mental Health — “The mission of NIMH is to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery and cure.”

Multiple Sclerosis

Muscular Dystophy

  • MDAUSA.org — The Muscular Dystrophy Association is a voluntary health agency working to defeat neuromuscular diseases through worldwide research, comprehensive services, and public health education.

Nutrition and Food Safety

  • Food and Nutrition Information Center — A collection of information from the United States Department of Agriculture
  • IFIC, International Food Information Council — Food safety and nutrition information for consumers, students, educators and food service professionals.
  • FoodSafety — Gateway to government food safety information
  • Home Food Safety — “The American Dietetic Association and the ConAgra Foods Foundation have joined together in a consumer education program, Home Food Safety…It’s in Your Hands®, to communicate the important role consumers play in preparing foods safely in their own homes.”

Osteoporosis

Parkinson’s Disease

  • Parkinson’s Disease Foundation — A national non-profit organization devoted to funding research, providing education and advocating for Parkinson’s
  • About Parkinson’s — Information from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research

Sickle Cell Anemia

Substance Abuse

  • The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration — “SAMHSA is the Federal agency charged with improving the quality and availability of prevention, treatment, and rehabilitative services in order to reduce illness, death, disability, and cost to society
    resulting from substance abuse and mental illnesses.”

Women’s Health