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Move over, BY MIKE BRITTEN | Fifteen million Americans watched Jack Kevorkian give a lethal injection to Thomas Youk on "60 Minutes" last November. Whatever your feelings about physician-assisted suicide, one thing is clear: Kevorkian, with the aid of the "60 Minutes" producers, really pushed the envelope this time. Now he's been convicted of second-degree murder. Whatever happens to the doctor, you can bet the rent on this: The issue of decent end-of-life care will intensify as members of the Woodstock Generation leave home for a final time, and head on out to buy, rather than dance upon, the farm. As they do, they will be looking for more than just inspirational stories like the bestseller "Tuesdays with Morrie," whose kind mentor Morrie Schwartz dies from the same disease that tortured Thomas Youk (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease). In their quest for what advocates call a "Good Death," they will be looking for accurate, timely information. In 1999, that means the Internet is, potentially, an invaluable resource. The key word is "potentially." Hospice care, for example, is a precious resource for those facing their own or a loved one's death. But just try to find up-to-date information on the Web using one of the big-deal, Wall-Street-darling search engines: Enter the word "Hospice" in the search field at Excite, HotBot, InfoSeek, AltaVista, whatever -- you'll get back anywhere from 6,000 to 160,000 hits. That kind of useless abundance demonstrates the need for more Web sites like Growth House Inc. Based in San Francisco, with affiliates on several continents, Growth House is the resource for end-of-life care on the Web. It is also a perfect example of a trend that will transform the usefulness of the Web over the next few years -- the emergence of the "vertical portal," or site that offers valuable depth and reliability of information and services in a well-defined subject area. Growth House's mission is "to improve the quality of compassionate care for people who are dying." The holistic, award-winning approach it has taken to further this goal should serve as a model for anyone who wants to build an effective, focused online community. Highlights at the site include a fast search engine, a bookstore with informative reviews, public chat rooms for peer support, mailing lists, a newsletter, a humor section and global forums for palliative care professionals and hospice workers. I know -- you've seen these features elsewhere. So what makes this so special? In a word, quality. Take the Growth House search tool. In stark contrast to my journey through commercial search-engine hell, at Growth House, selecting "Hospice and home care" from the menu of available categories returned a manageable 51 well-organized and carefully annotated results. Growth House doesn't gather its information using spiders or bots. It doesn't get it by paying a bunch of kids $8 an hour to go surfin' all day. It relies on a group of expert guest editors to find the best death and dying resources on the Web. They then rate and review their selections according to posted criteria. In other words, getting listed in the Growth House directory means something. N E X T_ P A G E .|. Why name a site about dying "Growth House"? |
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