Chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer can make up the highest proportion of deaths in Mississippi.

Alcorn School of Nursing in Natchez has received a grant to help members of our community obtain quality health information online.

Studies have shown that 60 percent of Internet users with chronic medical conditions allow information received from the Internet to influence their personal healthcare decisions.

Therefore, it is critical we know where to go on the Internet for health information. There is a vast amount of misinformation on the Internet. The databases provided by the National Library of Medicine are credible, evidence-based sites that provide accurate and reliable information for clinicians and the public.

The Alcorn School of Nursing’s project, named Easy Access to Health Information, will teach members of our community how and where to access free, accurate and reliable health information online. The project will provide people with invaluable information on using evidence-based websites from the NLM to seek medical answers. The goal of the project is to help decrease the gaps, or barriers, of computer/Internet use in our community.

Concordia Parish Library is partnering with Alcorn School of Nursing in the Easy Access to Health Information project, and will host a community health fair in Vidalia from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday and in Ferriday from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday.

Staff from the Alcorn Family Clinic and School of Nursing will be on hand to demonstrate the databases and check total cholesterol, blood glucose, blood pressure, height, weight and BMI. Several medical databases are available such as Medline Plus, NIH Senior Citizen Health and ClinicTrials.gov. The Concordia Parish Library is very excited to be a part of this great opportunity.

So visit your library branch on either Tuesday in Vidalia or Wednesday in Ferriday and get your free health check! Free T-shirts for all who participate.

Robin Christian is the Alcorn Family Clinic nurse practitioner.