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Hospital Adds E-Mail, Web Pages

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By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: February 9, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - Besides the medical conditions that send people to the hospital in the first place, there are many aspects of being a patient that can be an uncomfortable, unfamiliar experience – bed pans, little Jell-O cups and those gowns that tie in the back but never seem to go all the way around.

Nowadays, for many people being electronically disconnected from loved ones is a disquieting experience as well. Depending on the reason for their hospital stays, patients and their loved ones can feel cut off from one another at one of the worst possible times.

To overcome that problem, Morton Plant Mease Health Care recently set up a page on its Web site. Through it friends and family can send e-mails to inpatients at: Morton Plant North Bay Hospital, New Port Richey; Mease Countryside Hospital, Safety Harbor; Mease Dunedin Hospital, Dunedin; Morton Plant Hospital, Clearwater; and the Madonna Ptak Morton Plant Rehab Center, Clearwater.

"Support of family and friends is so important to our patients, and this is another way to bring that caring directly to our patients, Philip Beauchamp, president and chief executive officer for Morton Plant Mease Health Care, said.

By clicking on the site, navigating to the "E-mail a patient" page and answering a few questions, loved ones anywhere in the world can send "get well" wishes during weekdays.

The electronic messages are received at a central location at each of the facilities, printed and delivered to the patients. This means messages can get through even if patients are somehow incapacitated and wouldn't be able to retrieve messages or, particularly with older patients, who are unfamiliar with e-mail.

"It's to bring the modern tools and technology to the patients, as connected as we are nowadays," said a Morton Plant Mease public relations officer, Beth Hardy.

This is the latest way in which the hospital system has made modern means of communication available to patients and their loved ones. In 2006, free high-speed Internet access was installed at Morton Plant Mease facilities, allowing patients to use laptops and other wireless devices to stay in touch with the outside world.

The new e-mail service doesn't allow for outgoing messages. The Mease hospitals, however, do offer "CarePages." These secure Web pages let patients keep everyone outside the hospital updated on their medical situation. Both written updates and photos can be posted on the sites.

"Let's say you're having a baby," Hardy said.

Usually, a family's lines of communication crank into overdrive. With a CarePage, the proud parents can get out a message and photos within minutes to everyone at once.

The CarePages have proven popular. Nearly 2,800 messages were posted on them in 2007.

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