University of Maine at Presque IsleUniversity of Maine at Presque Isle
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
ski.jpg
Home arrow News arrow University students build online health portal for the region
Information For
Prospective Students
Accepted Students
Current Students
Alumni / Friends
Faculty / Staff
Information About
Academics
Athletics
Campus Directory
Tuition and Fees
General Info
UMPI Now
News
Events
Jobs at UMPI
Quick Facts
Gentile Hall
- - - - - - -
E-mail Tools
University students build online health portal for the region Print E-mail
Students at the University of Maine at Presque Isle gained important hands-on experience building a website that will serve as a health care resource for the region thanks to a partnership with the University of New England and The Aroostook Medical Center.

A small group of students in the University's Management Information System program built the website www.aroostookhealth.org from the ground up in the last year to serve as a "health services portal" for the local community.

"This website is fulfilling a need in the County that will allow the general public to see what's out there for health care providers and services," JoAnne Wallingford, Associate Professor of Business/MIS, said. "With the new health portal, anyone can find out, for example, the dentists available in our area, or learn about a wide range of health care topics - such as chronic conditions or death and dying - and the resources available here and across the state."

Wallingford, who has had a number of her classes tackle web page design for local organizations over the years, learned about the local health portal project from Gary Cattabriga, the director of technology computing at UNE's Center for Health Policy, Planning and Research.

"I knew this was a great opportunity for MIS students to work on something real," Wallingford said. "Gary worked with us as if he was our customer and we were doing a job for him. It was an excellent experience for our students."

"I'd never done this before, so it was really exciting," MIS student Thuy Phan said. "It was a wonderful experience and I would recommend it to any student who's interested in learning more about implementing a website."

Students worked from 4 to 6 hours per week on the project, collaborating with Cattabriga on the "look and feel" of the website and inputting the content provided by him and other local partners, such as The Aroostook Medical Center. The health portal, now up and available for use, has more than 200 web pages that include a wide array of health care resources.

While the website is complete, the University's MIS students will continue to have a hand in keeping the content up to date.
 
University of Maine at Presque Isle
181 Main Street
Presque Isle, ME 04769
207.768.9400


A member of the University of Maine System