News Releases
SEATTLE (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.