NIH Research Program Underway at Ohio Valley Medical Center & East Ohio Regional Hospital
01/16/07

Contact: Howard Gamble, MPH
Title: Marketing & Public Relations
Phone: (304)234-8135

Ohio Valley Medial Center and East Ohio Regional Hospital will participate in a National Institutes of Health research program call “SmartRx: Your Prescription For Good Health”. The hospitals were selected because of their recent 2005 Gold Well Workplace Award presented by the Wellness Council of West Virginia and nationally by the Wellness Councils of America.
SmartRx is a multimedia web-based program designed for working women to help them raise their awareness about conditions such as insomnia, depression, anxiety and chronic pain. Smart Rx will also educate them about the safe use of prescription and over the counter medications for these conditions. OVMC and EORH were chosen by the ISA Group, a private health promotion research and development firm, to test SmartRx.

As medications are increasingly prescribed for a wide range of conditions, consumers need to be able to make smart decisions about prescription and over the counter medication usage as well as the dangers of medication misuse.

Specifically designed for women, SmartRx will provide the knowledge and skills needed to make smart choices with regard to their health. The program focuses on women because women are more often prescribed medications with the potential to be misused. The program helps women become active participants in their medical care so that they can make decisions that are right for their personal well-being.

“We are very excited that OVMC and East Ohio Regional Hospital will be participating in this web-based research program,” said Mary Velez, Wellness Director of OVMC and EORH. “We hope the program will help women take medications safely and explore non-drug options to achieve health and wellness.”

Nearly 400 women employees, spouses and volunteers will be selected from OVMC and East Ohio Regional Hospital to participate in the 10 week research program.

The fully narrated SmartRx program is divided into several sections and users can progress through the program at their own pace. The program includes a self-assessment that asks about the current level of prescription drug use as well as topics of interest. Responses to the self assessment help tailor the program to the user’s individual needs. The Medication Facts section provides detailed information on a wide range of prescription drugs. In addition to medical information, Smart Rx includes non-drug strategies, such as relaxation therapy, biofeedback, exercise and alternative therapies that can be a person’s ticket to a healthier mind and body. Finally, the program includes links to other on-line resources as well as an electronic forum to allow users to interact with each other and share their ideas and experiences.

The ISA Group has specialized in the application of behavioral science research to issues of health and public safety, and has conducted scores of R&D projects for the major federal research agencies, leading foundations and corporations. In the health arena, their work has focused especially on the development and testing of effective health promotion approaches, and on ways to prevent substance abuse in both adolescents and adults. Many of these projects have been testing innovative ways of integrating substance abuse prevention into workplace health promotion.

Ohio Valley Medical Center, located in Wheeling West Virginia, and East Ohio Regional Hospital, located in Martins Ferry Ohio, is a 340 bed combined organization providing quality primary and tertiary healthcare to the Ohio Valley. Ohio Valley Health Services and Education Corporation is the integrated health care delivery system comprising of the two hospitals, River Health Enterprises and Family Service-Upper Ohio Valley.