This document provides definitions for various health-related terms like health, fitness, exercise, medicine, and diet. It then poses questions about where to find credible health information online and asks the reader to evaluate three websites providing information about allergies. Finally, it presents several potential sources of information about diabetes - a personal story, doctor's advice, a patient quotation, and a discussion of diabetes laws - and asks the reader to rate them. The overall purpose is to help the reader learn how to identify reliable health sources and evaluate different types of health information.

1. Let‟s start by defining terms, then quizzing
your health media knowledge.

2. Health Fitness Exercise
Medicine Diet

4. Health
•the condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit; especially : freedom
from physical disease or pain; the general condition of the body
Fitness
•The state of being sound, physically and mentally
Exercise
•bodily exertion for the sake of developing and maintaining physical fitness
Medicine
•the science and art dealing with the maintenance of health and the prevention,
alleviation, or cure of disease
Diet
•food and drink regularly provided or consumed; a regimen of eating and
drinking sparingly so as to reduce one's weight

5. Now that we know what the definitions are for
health-related media, where do you go to get
it? With so many places to get health media
where do you turn to first?
Look at the next three slides, each with a
different approach to learning about allergies.
Which do you believe is the most reliable?

6. Read this article from Yahoo! News: Air
fresheners and scented candles linked to allergies

7. Read this article from WebMD: Fragrance
Allergies: What‟s That Smell?

10.  Click the next slide to see how to verify
information you find on the Web.
 How does this relate to information found in
other outlets? (newspapers, books, word of
mouth)

11.  Keepthese factors in mind
when checking out a Web
source:
◦ Domain name
◦ Author
◦ Publisher
◦ Currency (when the page was
last updated)

12.  Consider the four qualifications listed in the
previous slide. If a source only has two of the
four qualifications for verification, it‟s
probably not credible.
 Are there any other factors you can think of
that make a source credible?

14.  You just found out diabetes runs in your
family, so you‟re researching. Where do you
head to first?
 Do you like personal stories or advice from
professionals? Go through the slides and rate
each from 1-4, 4 being the source you felt
was the best.

15. “I was diagnosed with diabetes type II several years
ago. I have had periods of time when I managed this
very well with eating properly and walking. I would
get to a place where my a1c was steadily 6.9 and felt
so improved, lost a lot of muscle pain and weakness,
eyes were more stable and my attitude and general
health was improved. I don't know what happens to
me but one day I just stop taking my blood sugar's
and I stop walking and my eating habits start to
dwindle.. and then I get sick with other things that
makes my diabetes come to my attention again.”
--50-60 –year old woman
Read the whole story here.

16. Here‟s what you need to do:
◦ Have a healthy diet including lots of fruits and
vegetables
◦ Exercise three times a week for at least 20 minutes
◦ Maintain normal body weight (a BMI between 18.5
and 24.9
◦ Abstain from smoking
◦ Consume alcohol in moderate amounts
Click here to read the whole article.

17. Tony Flores is a 50-year-old native of El
Salvador who works as a construction foreman.
He was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about
12 years ago, after an eye doctor told him it
would be a good idea to get his blood sugar
checked. He recalls, "I did the test, and they got
all freaked out and told me, „Oh my god, your
A1C is at 12%. You have diabetes type 2. You've
got to cut the sugar, you've got to stop drinking
orange juice and soda."
http://www.diabeteshealth.com/archive/columns/perso
nal-stories/

18. States have recognized the major effects diabetes plays,
both in its impact on patients and on society. As of
mid-2009, 46 states and the District of Columbia have
some law that requires health insurance policy coverage
for diabetes treatment. Laws in Mississippi, Missouri
and Washington require only that insurers offer
coverage, but not necessarily include the coverage in all
active policies. Most states require coverage for both
direct treatment and for diabetes equipment and
supplies that are often used by the patient at home.
The four states that do not have a mandate or
insurance requirement are Alabama, Idaho, North
Dakota and Ohio. State tables include the enacted state
laws passed since the first California mandates in 1981
and New York's in 1993, through early 2009. For more
information about diabetes legislation, visit NCSL's
Diabetes - State Legislation Overview.
Check out more here.

19. 1. Personal anecdote
2. Doctor‟s advice
3. Quotation
4. Policy/law

20.  Summarize what you‟ve learned from this
lesson.
 Will you look at or search from health media
differently now?