“Gold Medal” Health Information at My Life Stages

MyLifeStages.org is one of the few places online where you’ll find Northern California practicing physicians answering questions, blogging and talking about the very topics that matter most to you.

What is MyLifeStages? It’s Sutter Health’s wellness portal that connects women and their families with Sutter-affiliated doctors for health information, tools, expert tips and more, all for free. Serving more than 360,000 visitors in 2011, this site is loaded with its interactive features and health resources designed to support women on their journey toward good health at every stage of life.

Not only is it popular with patients, this vibrant site has received a gold award for “Best Overall Internet Site” from the prestigious eHealthcare Leadership Awards for three years running. An independent panel of judges familiar with health care and the Internet evaluated nearly 1,200 national entries for 13 categories, ultimately selecting Sutter’s My Life Stages as a gold winner in the Consumer General Health category, which also included popular consumer wellness sites hosted by The Mayo Clinic and WebMD.com.

A key element to the site’s appeal is the authenticity of voices and diversity of the contributors. The physicians and staff of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF), part of the Sutter network of care, are frequently interviewed for MyLifeStages health education articles and videos. Some are featured bloggers. Two PAMF medical professionals have are featured My Life Stages bloggers since the site’s launch:

Karen Handy, MPH

Karen Handy, MPH, a health educator and manager of nutrition and diabetes education and the HMR Weight Management Program at PAMF, regularly writes about healthy weight management. Here are a few of her engaging “how to” blog posts:

• Best Foods for Weight Loss
•  Mindful and Emotional Eating
•  Keep Your Exercise Excuses at Bay

Frank delaRama, R.N., MSN

Frank delaRama, R.N., MSN, an oncology clinical nurse specialist and nurse navigator, who works with cancer patients at PAMF, writes a blog called Prostate Cancer: A Family Affair. He shares his expertise with this prevalent disease, treatment options available, and the impact of prostate cancer on the men who discover it – as well as their families. His experience and empathy are evident in his posts:

• Happy New Year 2012: No More Resolutions. Only Decisions
• Checking PSA: Not a Simple Decision, and Not a Decision to be Skipped, Either 
• Great Sexpectations: Prostate Cancer Patients and Sexual Health

MyLifeStages offers a variety of free, valuable resources that you can customize so you receive health topics posts of most interest to you. Features include:

• Ask-the-Expert Q&A
• A robust video library
• Expert blogs
• Tools and quizzes
• Health Risk Assessment

We hope you’ll explore My Life Stages and enjoy this free, online community health resource!