To Your Health: An Information Guide (Updated for Coronavirus Resources)

Stop the Spread of GermsDetenga la propagacion de los microbiosEducating yourself about the coronavirus is the best way to protect you and your family from the disease. The resources below provide credible and trustworthy information describing the coronavirus, preventive measures to take, and what to do if you suspect you have contracted the disease. 

Local and State Information

Information on the Outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Massachusetts Department of Public Health)
Includes information about COVID-19, preparation in Massachusetts, prevention, testing, and treatment, travel information, guidance and recommendations, frequently asked questions, and printable fact sheets.  The guidance for schools includes recommendations for good hygiene and regular cleaning that may also be helpful for libraries.

Latest Press Release from City of Framingham

OverviewsPhoto of 2019-nCoV.jpg

Share Facts ABOUT COVID-19 (CDC)
Know the facts about coronavirus disease 2019 and help stop the rumors

Coronavirus Advice for the Public (World Health Organization)
Basic protective measures against the new coronavirus

Coronavirus Infections (MedlinePlus)
Includes a summary of coronavirus, how it spreads, symptoms, diagnosis, treatments, and prevention

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (CDC)
What you should know, situation updates, and information for specific audiences

Preparation

How to Prepare for Coronavirus in the U.S. (Washington Post, March 3, 2020)

Emergency Preparedness (Department of Homeland Security)

From the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA, pandemic preparedness tips.

Occupational Health:  Guidance for workers and employers

Interim Guidance for Business and Employers to Plan and Respond to Coronavirus Disease (CDC) 

Recommended strategies for employers. Includes recommendations to actively encourage sick employees to stay home; emphasize staying home when sick, respiratory etiquette, and hand hygiene for all employees; perform routine environmental cleaning; and advise employees before traveling to take certain steps.

COVID-19 Control and Prevention (US. Department of Labor)
General Guidance for all U.S. workers and employers

Posters and Other Educational MaterialsDid you wash your hands poster

COVID-19 Printable Fact Sheets (Mass DPH)
Available in English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, and Vietnamese

Handwashing posters from Mass DPH, Handwashing posters from CDC
Print or order these to display in your restrooms.

Hygiene-related posters from CDC
Includes Keep Calm and Wash Your Hands poster and Cover Your Cough poster

Handwashing:  Clean Hands Save Lives (Button & Badges)
Post and share on your websites, blogs, and social media

Books

General Topics

616 Groopman Groopman, Jerome E. The anatomy of hope: How people prevail in the face of illness.
616.8498 Epstein Epstein, Lawrence J. The Harvard Medical School guide to to a good night's sleep.
616.047 Berger Berger, Ann Healing pain: The innovative, breakthrough plan to overcome your physical pain & emotional suffering.
610 Buck Buck, Jari Holland. Hospital stay handbook: A guide to becoming a patient advocate for your loved ones.
610 Snyderman Snyderman, Nancy L. Medical myths that can kill you: And the 101 truths that will save, extend, and improve your life.
613.0438 Merck   The Merck manual of health & aging.
610.3 Merck   The Merck manual of medical information.
610.696 Zelicoff Zelicoff, Alan P. More harm than good: What your doctor may not tell you about common treatments and procedures.
615.5 New   New medicine: Complete family health guide: Integrating complementary, alternative, and conventional medicine for the safest and most effective treatment.
613.0424 Our   Our bodies, ourselves
613.0423 Legato Legato, Marianne J. Why men die first: How to lengthen your lifespan.
649.1 Hill   Hill, David L.  Dad to dad : parenting like a pro : expert advice, guidance, and insight from a pediatrician-dad 
649.1 Swanson   Swanson, Wendy Sue   Mama doc medicine : finding calm and confidence in parenting, child health, and work-life balance 
618.92 Schmitt   Schmitt, Barton D. My child is sick! : expert advice for managing common illnesses and injuries 


For e-Books, Audiobooks, and Streaming Videos on Health, browse Overdrive and Hoopla.

Diseases and Conditions

616.994 Silver Silver, Julie K. After cancer treatment: Heal faster, better, stronger.
617.7 All Fekrat, Sharon. All about your eyes.
616.994 Servan-Schreiber Servan-Schreiber, David. Anticancer: A new way of life.
616.7 2006 Lorig Lorig, Kate. The arthritis helpbook: A tested self-management program for coping with arthritis and fibromyalgia.
616.978 Nakazawa Nakazawa, Donna. The autoimmune epidemic: Bodies gone haywire in a world out of balance and the cutting edge science that promises hope.
616.399 Wangen   Wangen, Stephen.  Healthier without wheat : a new understanding of wheat allergies, celiac disease, and non-celiac gluten intolerance 
616.1 Levy Levy, Daniel. A change of heart: How the Framingham heart study helped unravel the mysteries of cardiovascular disease.
616.12 Cannon 2009  Cannon, Christopher P.  The new heart disease handbook : everything you need to know to effectively reverse and manage heart disease 
616.12 Kastan Kastan, Kathy. From the heart: A woman's guide to living well with heart disease.
616.4849 Kandel Kandel, Joseph. The headache cure: How to uncover what's really causing your pain and find lasting relief,
616.81 Spence Spence, J. David. How to prevent your stroke,
618.175 Wingert Wingert, Pat. Is it hot in here? Or is it me? The complete guide to menopause.
616.462 2005 Beaser Beaser, Richard S. The Joslin guide to diabetes: A program for managing your treatment.
616.3 Mayo   Mayo clinic on digestive health.
616.12 Stein Stein, Richard A.  Outliving heart disease: The 10 new rules for prevention and treatment.
616.8498 Yoakum Yoakum, Robert. Restless legs syndrome: Relief and hope for sleepless victims of a hidden epidemic.
617.482 Alpert Alpert, Michelle J. Spinal cord injury and the family: A new guide.
616.994 2006 Coleman Coleman, C. Norman Understanding cancer: A patient's guide to diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment.
618.24 Murkoff Murkoff, Heidi. What to expect when you're expecting.
618.175 Minkin Minkin, Mary Jane. Woman's guide to menopause and perimenopause.
616.047 Natelson Natelson, Benjamin H. Your symptoms are real: What to do when your doctor says nothing is wrong: Overcoming pain, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, IBS, and more.
Magazines

Health Magazine covers a wide range of popular health related topics for consumers.

Men's Health publishes entertaining articles of particular interest to men.

Women's Health publishes entertaining articles of particular interest to women.

Natural Health is a guide to natural health care of mind body and spirit.

Parents covers topics related to family relationships and health, making extensive use of the question-and-answer format.

Prevention concentrates on preventing health problems and promoting health lifestyles.

Read Library Magazines Online

Did you know you can access current and back issues of popular magazines with your library card and Libby? Download the Libby app on your mobile device or read in your computer's browser. No holds, no checkout periods, and no limit to the number of magazines you can download.

Online Magazine & Journal Articles

Find the latest articles on health from scholarly journals, popular magazines, and newspapers from the following online resources, accessible from home with your Minuteman Library Network library card or in the library:

Health and Wellness Resource Center. Provides instant access to carefully compiled and trusted medical reference materials. Includes nearly 400 health/medical journals, numerous reference volumes, over 700 health videos from partner Healthology, Inc., hundreds of pamphlets and health-related articles from 2,200 general interest publications in addition to a broad collection of Gale reference titles. Material contained in this Resource Center is intended for informational purposes only.

Health Reference Center Academic. Use this database to find articles on: Fitness, Pregnancy, Medicine, Nutrition, Diseases, Public Health, Occupational Health & Safety, Alcohol and Drug Abuse, HMOs, Prescription Drugs, etc. The material contained in this database is intended for informational purposes only

Credo Reference. CREDO is a user-friendly search engine designed to help with research on thousands of topics. Just enter your search query (as you would in Google), and CREDO instantly scans millions of entries from over 70 publishers. Consider it your own private online reference library. Search results are drawn from the entire research collection, including images and sound files, enabling you to get relevant answers from a number of sources at once. Each reference title can also be accessed individually. New editions and new book titles are added regularly.

Titles of interest in Credo:

  • Animated Dictionary of Health and Medicine
  • Black's Medical Dictionary, 43rd Edition
  • Routledge Handbook of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2015
  • The Encyclopedia of Elder Care, 4th ed., 2017
  • Harvard Medical School Health Topics A-Z
  • The Encyclopedia of Addictions and Addictive Behaviors, 2nd ed., 2016
  • Conception, Pregnancy & Birth: The Childbirth Bible for Today's Parents
  • Gale Encyclopedia of Children's Health: Infancy Through Adolescence, 3rd ed., 2016
  • The Gale Encyclopedia of Senior Health, 2nd ed., 2015
  • Teen Health Series: Mental Health Information for Teens, 5th ed., 2017

Here is a complete listing of health and wellness titles in Credo.

Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine Collection. This collection includes over 100 titles covering the fields of physical therapy and sports medicine, providing researchers with access to topics discussed in the field, including proven treatment techniques, experimental research theses, and many more

PubMed www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez
The National Library of Medicine's database of references to more than 16 million articles published in 5000 biomedical journals.

Websites

Flu and Other Vaccination Clinics

Framingham Board of Health Flu Clinics
Latest Flu Clinic Information

HealthMap Vaccine Finder
Where you can find a flu clinic in Massachusetts. Protect yourself and your family by getting a flu shot, especially if you are at increased risk for complications from the flu, or live with or care for high-risk individuals.

Massachusetts Health Connector

Health Connector
The Health Connector is a state-based health insurance Marketplace that makes shopping for affordable health and dental coverage easier for Massachusetts individuals, families, and small businesses.

General Information on Finding Medical Information on the Web

Medical Library Association User's Guide to Finding and Using Health Information on the Web
Expert guidance on how to seek and evaluate medical and health information on the Internet.

Doctors and Hospitals

American Board of Medical Specialties
The board maintains a searchable list of all board-certified physicians.

American Medical Association Doctor Finder.
The AMA has a national database of demographic and professional information on physicians, searchable by name, specialty, location.

Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine.
Physician profiles, consumer and licensing information.

Healthgrades.
National site for researching doctors, hospitals, and nursing homes.

Medical Information Super Sites

The Centers for Disease Control
The website for the nation's leading agency for protecting health and safety is especially good for diseases in the news, destination-specific advice for travelers.  

Family Doctor
Information on common medical concerns and conditions from the American Academy of Family Physicians. 

Healthfinder
From the Department of Health and Human Services, a guide to information on diseases as well as consumer issues like health insurance, Medicare, nursing homes. Features include daily health news, online checkups.

Harvard Health Publications
From Harvard Medical School, this content-rich site provides excellent overviews of diseases and conditions, as well as wellness information and tips. 

Kidshealth
Doctor-approved health information about children from birth through adolescence.

Mayoclinic.com
Wellness information and excellent overviews of diseases and conditions. Sponsored by the nonprofit Mayo Foundation.

Medical Library Association Consumer and Patient Health Information
The top 100 health Internet sites, as selected by the Medical Library Association.

Medical Library Association Top Ten Most Useful Consumer Health Websites

Merck Manual of Medical Information
You can search the Merck Manual Home Edition or browse sections like Blood Disorders or Digestive Disorders. Information is detailed and clearly presented. For further detail, you can also search its professional cousin, The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy.

Medline Plus
The National Library of Medicine provides a wealth of authoritative health information and resources-thorough encyclopedia articles about diseases, symptoms, and tests; drug information; well-organized and described links to sites.

New York Online Access to Health
An award-winning consumer health database in English and Spanish.

Medication

Drug Information Portal

A good central source of drug information from the National Institutes of Health. Links to medical research, toxicology, and summaries of use/efficacy are included.

Drug Information for Consumers

This website from the FDA contains a variety of information, articles, and FAQs about drugs, side effects, and safety measures.

MedlinePlus Drugs, Herbs, and Supplements
Learn about your prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicines. Includes side effects, dosage, special precautions, and more. Browse dietary supplements and herbal remedies to learn about their effectiveness, usual dosage, and drug interactions 

Complementary and Alternative Medicine

National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine
NCCAM, a division of the National Institute of Health, provides information about complementary and alternative medicine not commonly used in mainstream conventional medicine. 

Sloan Kettering About Herb, Botanicals, and Other Products
For over 300 substances, the site discusses purported uses, mechanism, adverse reactions, more. Includes literature summaries and critiques.

University of Maryland Complementary and Alternative Medicine Guide
Discusses conditions and outlines treatment options from traditional and complementary and alternative therapies. 

Cancer

Medical Library Association Recommended Cancer Websites

Diabetes

Medical Library Association Recommended Diabetes Websites

Flu

Flu.gov

Heart Disease

Medical Library Association Recommended Heart Disease Websites

HIV

HIV InSite
Designed as a gateway to in-depth information about particular aspects of HIV/AIDS, this site provides links to many authoritative sources.

Additional Health Resources

Clinical Trials.gov
This service of the National Institutes of Health provides regularly updated information about federally and privately supported clinical research in human volunteers. Searchable by location and topic or condition.

Lab Tests Online
You can search for information about lab tests by the name of the test, the condition or disease, or the age group.

 

 

We Can Help

For professional assistance locating the information you need:

  • Telephone the Main Library Reference Department at 508-532-5570, extension 4361.  
  • Email your questions through our Ask A Librarian page. 
  • Visit the Main Library or the McAuliffe Branch for free access to the Internet and databases, and for assistance with research. 

To arrange a speaker or a group tour highlighting the library's practical information resources, call 508-532-5570, ext 4347, or email Amy Sadkin at asadkin@minlib.net.