It is early in the morning and I have just been poking around the Web looking for medical and health-related Web services (preferably search engines) to write about. A highly unscientific way to go about things. But I did manage to come across a press release saying, “HealthiNation Announces $7.5 M in Series B Funding Led By Intel Capital Secures New Partnerships with Leading Online Publishers.” Wow—somebody is actually attracting investment these days.

And I can see why—this is a handsome site and a useful source of high quality video on consumer health topics. I just watched the one on the home page about migraines. It was as good as any that I have seen in my job in a medical library in terms of straightforward information and edifying animations of what is happening in the brains of those afflicted.

HealthiNation is something that public health educators and high school health teachers might want to check out as well as consumers who like video clips on health-related matters. It compares well to the video offerings of MedlinePlus, for instance. Indeed, HealthiNation surpasses MedlinePlus in terms of range of topics covered. The video on depression was quite good—I was impressed.

This is a commercial enterprise, but HealthiNation is performing a useful public service in providing a treasure trove of well-produced presentations and enabling users to easily email links to the clips to others. Kudos to HealthiNation for facilitating the circulation of authoritative information on important health topics. Many small libraries simply can’t afford to purchase DVDs on health topics (which can be appallingly expensive) and to devote precious man-hours in cataloging and shelving them—and hoping that consumers will even know that the little library has such things in stock—which become dated a few years in any case.

HealthiNation is an interesting example of how quickly the Web is becoming another form of TV. HealthiNation doesn’t feature patient communities the way sites like RightHealth and MedHelp do. It is pretty clearly a video depot.

It will be interesting to see it whether it will start to feature videos on topics on which there is a dearth of audiovisual materials (or at least easily locatable material) on such topics as non-invasive and invasive ventilation, feeding tubes, colostomy bags, wound care, assistive technologies like text-to-speech software, etc. As more and more baby boomers care for increasingly frail parents or each other they will turn to the Web for video about the nuts and bolts of such matters. Many of the consumer sites shy away from sometimes distasteful topics. But they probably would do well to address the needs of caregivers for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and so on.

And disease advocacy organizations and foundations hoping to highlight their good works in health care might want to engage HealthiNation to produce videos for them. I spend hour upon hour visiting such sites looking for grants in health care ad I am surprised that so few sites employ video as marketing tools. I often stop to watch such clips if they are available and if they highlight an interesting technology or simply profile a patient struggling courageously against a certain kind of disability. I would recommend that groups affiliated with such fine organizations as the Genetic Alliance visit HealthiNation for examples of how well produced videos can powerfully impact those who are not moved to action by text.

From Ramenos Blog:

Aux Etats-Unis, on ne plaisante pas avec la santé ! La preuve avec HealthiNation, un moteur de recherche dédié uniquement à la santé. Mais attention, ici point de résultats de recherche textuels, presque tout se passe en vidéo pour mieux comprendre ses maladies, les synptômes, les conséquences et surtout les solutions pour s’en sortir.

The entire review (in French): Gérer sa santé avec HealthiNation