About Us

Our Goal
Health information access is a basic healthcare need. Literacy, health-literacy, illness, aging, disability and language are all issues that can pose barriers to obtaining basic health information. This site contains free health education materials in a number of languages and a variety of formats. They are being developed to study the value of these formats in providing health information for diverse populations in a variety of settings. We need your feedback!

History

Healthy Roads Media was begun in 2002 with a grant from the National Library of Medicine. At the end of this grant period there were four topics in four languages in three formats. The grant evaluation work was conducted with four local agencies (refugee resettlement agency, public health department and two community health centers) in Fargo, North Dakota. Fargo has a very large and diverse refugee population. The results of the evaluation indicated that further exploration and expansion of this work was justified. Additional funding from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine helped to continue evaluation efforts and to develop information resources dealing with emergency health issues and vaccine information. There have been a number of non-profit or government organizations who have been interested in having materials developed on specific topics or in specific languages. For example, the Virginia State Health Department has supported the development of the tuberculosis education materials and Heartland Alliance has supported the development of a number of diabetes and mental health materials. As part of these resource development projects, it has been agreed by both partners that the resulting materials would be made available on the Healthy Roads Media website for free use by anyone who wanted to access them.

The actual content of each topic is from reliable sources such as the CDC, the American Academy of Family Physicians, Bright Futures, Virginia Department of Health, International Rescue Committee, Health Information Translations and others. A list of the content source for each individual topic can be found on the Sources page of the website (www.healthyroadsmedia.org/sources.htm). Sometimes partners can provide both English and non-English text. Healthy Roads Media only accepts translated materials that have been created through a quality controlled process that uses multiple translators and a concept (rather than word for word) translation approach. If Healthy Roads Media does the translation, then the work is carried out by certified translators, again through a quality controlled process. Several translation providers we have worked with include Dynamic Language, Tembua and VIA Language.

The number of information resources has grown considerably during the past 6 years – currently 19 languages, 100+ topics, 6 formats. Each week approximately 25,000 individual files are accessed/downloaded from the Healthy Roads Media website by users from all over the United States and around the world.

Funding Sources

Healthy Roads Media is funded through three main sources. Awarded grants funds new materials development and evaluation work. Contracted projects fund the development of specific materials. For the past three years the Specialized Information Services Division of the National Library of Medicine has provided on-going support to help disseminate the materials, continue to evaluate Healthy Roads Media strategies, update and revise the materials and maintain website. Support in the form of feedback from users continues to be very helpful in providing useful suggestions and ideas for improvement.

Healthy Roads Media has two fiscal agents. Community Health Partners (www.chphealth.org) of Livingston, Montana provides fiscal agent services for local and small grants. The Public Health Institute (www.phi.org) provides more comprehensive fiscal services for larger grants and will also accept donations on behalf of Healthy Roads Media (www.healthyroadsmedia.org/donate.htm). Healthy Roads Media accepts no advertising.

Our Materials
There are many contributors to Healthy Roads Media. Our text is always from reliable sources and the information is reviewed regularly. Sometimes our partners provide both English and non-English text. We only accept translated materials that have been created through a quality controlled process. If Healthy Roads Media does the translation, then the work is carried out by certified translators, again through a quality controlled process. We work to make sure that the translations are done in a way to make them easy-to-read and as accessible as possible to people with literacy challenges. High quality translation is a complex and difficult process, especially when trying to accurately communicate health information. We welcome any suggestions.

The Formats
The materials are available in multiple formats that can be used on-line as well as downloaded and used off-line. By making the same content available in many ways, we hope to provide information access for people in diverse situations. For example, someone who has difficulty with written materials may want to watch the on-line video or listen to the audio but also have a handout to take home so they can share with family members. An outreach worker who does not have access to the Internet on home visits can use downloaded multimedia files on her laptop. Video iPODs can be connected by a standard cable for presentation of videos on a television. Please let us know how you are using our materials and ideas you have to make them better.

Creative Commons
The materials are either Public Domain or licensed using the Creative Commons approach. Creative Commons defines a spectrum of possibilities between full copyright — all rights reserved — and the public domain — no rights reserved. These licenses help the original authors maintain copyright while expanding the ability to share materials more broadly — a "some rights reserved" copyright. Basically you can copy the materials freely and distribute them as long as you do not charge money to the people receiving the information, keep the attributions intact and do not change the materials. Permission is given to adding local telephone numbers or addresses to help people access services in your own area. We are using an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 license.
Click here to learn more about the Creative Commons.

Contact

Healthy Roads Media is currently based in Bozeman, Montana.

Director: Mary Alice Gillispie, M.D.
Telephone: 406-556-5877
E-mail: magillispie@healthyroadsmedia.org

• Healthy Roads Media brochure
• Listing of all materials currently available
• Handout describing the formats used by Healthy Roads Media