The following posting comes from one of my colleagues Penny
Theodore, and regards an exciting initiative taken with the Association
of Ontario Health Centres to collect and share stories of people who are
involved with their community health centre.  The web-site is remarkable
and worth visiting for an extended period.  Many of the 25 stories have
Real Audio, enabling visitors to listen to the stories (you can download
RealAudio if you do not have it) - a wonderful feature!  The stories are
avaialble in plain text version, as well as with photographs, adding a
dimension rarely seen on the Net.  I highly recommend that CLICK4HP
subscribers check out Real Stories.  It may be a good opportunity for a
discussion here on the use of stories in health promotion.

Alison
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Alison Stirling, health promotion consultant
Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse
1(800) 263-2846 ext 226 OR (416) 408-2121 ext 226
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Internet: http://www.web.net/~stirling/
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                                Real Stories online now!

                        http://www.opc.on.ca/realstories

Real Stories is an interactive web site featuring authentic stories of
individuals whose lives have been affected by their involvement at their
local Community Health Centre (CHC).

The website features over 25 stories submitted by several Ontario based
CHCs. A selection of the stories are narrated using Real Audio
technology and visitors to the website , whether they are health
workers, policy makers or simply members of the public are given the
opportunity to share their own stories, insights and opinions.

The common theme in all the stories is that multi-disciplinary,
community based primary health care delivery, like that provided CHCs
in Ontario, makes a difference in the lives of individuals and
communities. This evidence may be 'anecdotal'-storytelling is considered
a soft science- however it is meant to be complementary to other more
quantitative evaluations that have been done about the CHC program, the
Centres themselves and the individual programs offered at the CHCs.

For more information about the project please contact:

Penny Theodore
Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse
416-408-2121 x 230
[log in to unmask]

Gary O'Connor
Association of Ontario Health Centres
416-236-2539
[log in to unmask]