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Ronald McDonald House Deploys Netkey Kiosks for Hygeia Healthcare Information.
Michael R. Berman, M.D., President of the Hygeia Foundation Inc.® and Eliezer Lee Cruz, Executive Director of the Ronald McDonald House of Connecticut are pleased to announce the implementation of a Hygeia® Resource Center for Maternal and Child Health at the Ronald McDonald House in New Haven Connecticut.
Hygeia® is an international community for maternal and child health, loss and bereavement which utilizes the technology of the Internet to fulfill its mission to assuage the hurt, grieving and sorrow which accompany the loss of a pregnancy or newborn child and to alleviate the angst which accompanies the parenting and caring for critically ill neonates and children.
Perinatal loss and serious childhood illnesses entail painful and exceptional emotions which can shatter a good, secure and confident life in a matter of moments. The sharing of information and feelings among families enduring such profound stresses creates a "community of loss" which can actually beget a healing experience. Hygeia® provides such a resource. At Hygeia® one will find original poetry of loss and hope, medical information about maternal and child health and the ability to share stories of lost parenthood with thousands of registered families, world-wide. Families with critically ill children are also able to share their thoughts with other families of critically ill children. Hygeia® and the Hygeia Foundation directs its energies and innovations towards providing 'universal access' to the aforementioned resources for all families who have endured these losses and illnesses but has a specific focus on the national (inner city and rural) and international population of women and their families. Hygeia® and the Hygeia Foundation Inc.® has become a prototype for a vehicle to bring to this population the advantages of "online information and communication' which has been qualitatively demonstrated to be helpful in dealing with this difficult subject matter as well as important maternal and child healthcare information.
The platform of HygeiaÒ
is the website hygeia.org Ò
, rich in original poetry of loss and hope, medical information, educational and support resources and a sharing of feelings through message boards and real-time chat. Multi-language, instant translation support is available. Hygeia.org® is found at the URL: http://www.hygeia.org. The HygeiaÒ
Foundation brings the content of hygeia.org , via strategically placed multimedia computer systems, to targeted communities; i.e. those who have no access to computer technology. The Ronald McDonald House in New Haven will provide such access not only to its resident families who have children in the local hospitals, but for the residents of the surrounding neighborhoods in New Haven who have limited or no access to this technology.
The kiosk software platform was donated by Netkey, the leading provider of web kiosk channel software. "For the past three years, we've supported the Hygeia initiative." Said Netkey CEO Alex Richardson. "Our Netkey team supports a wide variety of not for profit groups at Special Olympics, General Colin Powell's America's Promise, New Haven Foundation and area colleges and high schools." Other Netkey clients include Yahoo, Microsoft, JC Penney and Fidelity Investments.
The Hygeia Foundation Inc.® is a non-profit, 501-c-3 organization funded through sponsorship and donations. Software support, hosting and internet access is generously provided by Web-Worx, LLC., Netkey, Connix/BiznessOnline.com and Epals Classroom Exchange.
The Ronald McDonald House of Connecticut in New Haven provides a home away from home for the families of ill children while they are receiving treatment in New Haven's world-class health facilities. Neighborhood public Access will be on a first come, first serve basis and will start in September. Public access hours will be from 10 am to 6 pm Monday through Friday. For further information please call the house at 777-LOVE".
About Netkey Inc.
Netkey Inc. (formerly Lexitech, Inc.) is the leading Internet infrastructure company providing patented self-service e-commerce technology solutions to global dotcoms and eBusiness. Netkey's Internet Kiosk Enterprise Platform helps businesses make the transition from ``bricks-and-mortar'' to ``clicks-and-mortar'' by web-enabling storefronts, bank branches, payphones or transportation centers for their employees and customers. Netkey delivers this software via its own Internet-based ASP, as well as through partnerships with NCR, Microtouch, Elotouch, Omnitouch, Frank Mayer Associates, Companion Systems, and iXL Enterprises.
Netkey's clients include leading dotcoms and e-businesses: Yahoo!, Microsoft, Urban Fetch, Borders Inc., Service Merchandise, Hong Kong WebPhone Network, JC Decaux, Bayer Corporation, Brooks Brothers, and Warner Lambert. Netkey investors include Zerostage Capital, iXL Ventures (NASDAQ: IIXL and CyberStarts VC (First Data Corp, Marsh Capital, Atlanta).
With offices in San Francisco, Calif. and Branford, CT (Yale)., Netkey Inc. has won more than a dozen industry awards for excellence including: Internet World's Top 100 Internet Sites, Five New Media Magazine awards, Multimedia Producer Magazine's Top 100 New Media Producer Award and two US Kiosk Patents. For more information visit http://www.netkey.com. |
