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MOVE OVER, DR. KEVORKIAN | PAGE 1, 2
Les Morgan, the founder and president of Growth House, explains: "I would guess that less than 1 percent of the Web content on the Net is worth including in our database. The goal is to get the right 1 percent. If a site formally submits itself for a review, the acceptance ratio is probably around 20 percent." Furthermore, in another feature that's hardly unique but exceptionally well implemented, Growth House makes it easy to install its search engine on other sites -- and currently, nearly 100 related sites do so. Almost all of the features and resources I've mentioned so far are aimed at the general public, or are of value to consumers and professionals alike. It's only when you take a look at the professional forums, however, that a broader picture emerges, along with a glimpse of the vision behind it. Imagine that you are not only the unlucky host of a fatal disease, but also happen to reside in an impoverished country where the nearest hospital is three days away -- by yak. Imagine how much information a doctor who has spent years on the front lines in San Francisco or New York has to offer a colleague in Nairobi or Bangkok. Even in a rural area of the United States, the expertise your doctor needs to treat you effectively may lie elsewhere. The technology available on the Web today offers profound collaborative possibilities. Dr. Jones in Alabama can consult with Dr. Smith in London via the Growth House Professional Forums -- and you or your loved one could be the beneficiary of their combined expertise. The forums maintain standards by requiring health care professionals to register before posting and by moderating discussions. Growth House hosts Professional Forums in subjects relating to end-of-life care: pain and symptom management, pediatric palliative care, hospice social work, hospice spirituality and bereavement counseling, among others. Morgan is also building an "Inter-Institutional Collaborating Network" to "provide a common network and user interface to major organizations involved with end-of-life care." It should be obvious by now that this level of innovation, quality control and relevance requires a considerable investment of effort. Morgan, a computing professional with more than 30 years of experience in information systems, including 10 years as a manager in the pharmaceutical industry, does much of the work himself; no salaries are drawn, and personal contributions are returned. Currently Growth House is seeking grant funding -- an arduous hassle, but one that holds out the most hope for the site's continued survival. But why call it "Growth House?" Doesn't that indicate something for parents and children? Maybe a seed catalog? "Because," Morgan says, "a person is alive and can continue to grow until the end of life." As psychologist and hospice worker Kathleen Dowling Singh puts it in her luminous "The Grace In Dying" -- "Unequivocally, death is coming to be seen as our final stage of growth." Mike Britten is a freelance journalist living in Berkeley, Calif. |
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