The Greater Houston area is home to almost 2 million women and girls, about 20% of the females in the state of Texas. An alarming number of these women face striking health disparities. As many as 30% lack health insurance. Many are bounced inefficiently from service to service, at great cost to the public and nonprofit agencies attempting to meet their needs. Others fall through the cracks of the health-care system altogether and do without needed information and services.
A team of Houston-area health professionals, meeting several times throughout 1999, identified lack of accessible information about health resources as a major barrier to health care for women. No central clearinghouse of information exists:
· for health professionals trying to make appropriate, cost-efficient referrals to the broad range of health and social services that women and their families need;
· for government officials, policy-makers and funders trying to identify gaps in health services in order to improve allocation of resources;
· for consumers, researchers, and educators looking for accurate, up-to-date information about women's health specific to the Greater Houston area.
This project-a collaboration between Texas Woman's University, the City of Houston Department of Health and Human Services, and several local women's health organizations-is designed to improve the efficiency of the health-delivery system by making reliable information about resources readily available. The proposal provides for the development and implementation of WORDnet (Women's Online Referral Database), a comprehensive, quality-controlled, Internet-based women's information and referral center. The speed and flexibility of the World Wide Web will be harnessed to provide quick, convenient access to accurate information about local resources and services. The web site will also provide a forum to foster the exchange of ideas and information among users.
This proposal requests start-up funds to develop, implement, and evaluate the WORDnet project. Texas Woman's University and other partner organizations are strongly committed to maintaining and improving WORDnet after initial start-up funds have been expended. Once developed, the project can be readily adapted by other communities at minimal cost.
The following positive outcomes are likely to result from this project:
· Reliable, quality-assured information about health resources and services specifically for women will be readily available to health professionals and other consumers;
· Inappropriate referrals will be minimized, resulting in improved efficiency and lower costs for providers, consumers, and referral agencies;
· Communication and trust between vulnerable women and health providers will increase;
· Improved allocation of resources will result from policy-makers and funders having a reliable means to identify gaps in needed services.
For questions or comments, contact:
HoustonWORDnet@TWU.EDU
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