FOOD FOR SMART PATIENTS
Helps you represent you or your child in the healthcare setting or assist
another adult. Although rights and limits depend on your relationship
to the patient, patient advocacy skills help you learn about diseases,
understand options, and develop the ability to communicate effectively
with doctors and other healthcare providers to get the best possible
outcomes including quality of life. READ MORE
FOOD FOR THE BODY
Contains information on physical healing including nutrition, dietary supplements, exercise, physical and occupational therapy, and physical activities with therapeutic effects such as yoga and tai chi. READ MORE
FOOD FOR THE FUTURE
Contains tips for creating a healing home environment and recommend-
ations for music, books, and other materials that can help you plan and
improve your personal or family future. READ MORE
FOOD FOR THE HEART
Contains essays for personal reflection, photos that calm the spirit and
give perspective, and information on recognizing and healing from
grief, whether in ourselves or people we love. READ MORE
we all learn every day. When faced with a health challenge, we may need to learn very quickly.
The information may not be easy to understand under the best of circumstances, and
circumstances are not good when we suddenly become sick or injured.
This section has information on some common chronic and/or life-threatening medical conditions.
The information is not intended to be comprehensive: Instead, it is designed to help start you on a
journey or help you restart a search that isn’t going as well as you need.
Finding – and understanding information is the first step toward deciding what you want for
yourself or for your child, then working with healthcare providers and making informed decisions
about medical care and related issues.
In Resources, you will find the web addresses for some major organizations devoted to general
health and specific conditions, as well as their links.
You can often find additional sources of information and support by simply checking a telephone
directory, asking a doctor, nurse, or other healthcare provider, or checking waiting rooms for
posters, pamphlets, and other materials.
In the second part of this section are my recommendations for using the Internet to get information
and use it effectively with doctors and other healthcare providers.
Some information may be useful regardless of the challenge you face. Some is particularly helpful
if you need to learn about an uncommon condition or are looking for information in a language
other than English or specific to a given country (such as the nonprofit organization that supports
people with autism in X country).
Let me know if you have questions, and tell us about sites you find helpful.
To get started. (click here).