VCU's new COIN program to provide health information

By Charmaine Curtis
University News Services

The Community Outreach Information Network, (COIN), is a new program designed to provide easily accessible, high-quality and reliable health information to people who are vulnerable to cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses.

Virginia Commonwealth University’s Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences and the VCU Massey Cancer Center created the network to centralize VCU's consumer health information resources in an effort to provide easy access and increase public awareness.

COIN provides Spanish language resources, training on MedlinePlus, a health information Web site from the National Library of Medicine and other health information tools.

"COIN will serve as a portal through which area residents can get current and accurate health information that’s tailored to their cultural needs and reading abilities twenty-four hours a day,” said Jean Shipman, director of the Tomkins-McCaw Library and principal investigator for COIN.

Several community organizations will be able to help their clients access health information through COIN, including the Richmond, Chesterfield, Henrico, Pamunkey and Williamsburg public libraries; organizations that serve the elderly; and several local pharmacies.

For more information or to access COIN, call 804.827.COIN (2646) or visit www.library.vcu.edu/coin.