Welcome to the IHS Child Health site. 4/8/03

Some historical acknowledgements are in order.

The original version of the Child Health (CH) site was designed and
maintained by Bill Green, former Pediatric Chief Clinical Consultant,
IHS. Cliff O'Callahan was a regular content contributor while he worked
at the Puyallup Health Center in Tacoma, Washington.

Technical support was married to the IHS MCH and Women's Health sites
through the generous patronage of Neil Murphy OB/GYN Chief Clinical
Consultant, IHS, at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage.

When I moved to Anchorage to join the pediatric ambulatory group Kelly
Moore, the current Pediatric Chief Clinical Consultant asked if I would
take up maintenance of the CH site. Here I could be close to Neil
Murphy's continuing encouragement and support. I agreed with the hope
that I might reconnect with some of the outstanding children's health
practitioners that have always invested their hearts in Native
communities. Now after almost a year of inertia this CH site will
undergo some revisions. Thank you Kelly, Neil, and Bill for your
patience.

The appearance of the CH site will change slowly. It will continue to
function as a gateway to useful information both within and outside IHS
and Tribal programs. The CH site will continue to have organized and
annotated links to other sites on the Internet.

I hope to make the content of the CH site dynamic, more current and with
more depth than any one of us can provide alone. To that end I am
recruiting our colleagues to take charge of specific sub-pages or
buttons on the CH site. I intend that our interactions with visitors to
the CH site will be personal as well as professional. As we get to know
our colleagues we will be better able to share our strengths and
intelligence.

Almost immediately you will see updating of the
[Immunizations]{.underline} button with material recommended by Roselyn
Singleton. For the few of you that don't know, Ros is one of the
prime-movers for immunization practice in the IHS. She maintains close
ties with CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice, and is in
contact with immunization coordinators and their activities across
Indian country. Currently Ros is doing funded research on pneumococcal
disease in Alaska. She still maintains a part time ambulatory pediatric
practice at ANMC. And she does it all well.

Soon we will add a new button for [Environmental Health]{.underline}.
Ruth Etzel, Director of Research for South Central Foundation in Alaska,
has agreed to oversee its content. She is a pediatrician with a long and
distinguished tenure with CDC's Center for Environmental Health. Ruth is
the editor of the AAP Handbook of Pediatric Environmental Health, also
know as "The Green Book." If you don't have a Green Book it's time to
get one. When the new button comes up Ruth will tell you how.

In the near future I intend to add buttons for [Children with Special
Needs]{.underline}, [Epidemiology and Research]{.underline}, [Computer
Geek Stuff]{.underline}, and a [Document Library]{.underline}. We will
develop a list of IHS and Tribal Program pediatricians and allied child
health practitioners to facilitate direct contacts. There may even be a
discussion board in the future. But good intentions are not enough. I
need your participation. Please visit this site regularly, correspond
with us, and volunteer to help.

Roger Gollub - <regollub@anmc.org>