Webhealth Kiosks undergo upgrade

At the touch of a finger, Webhealth kiosks can link you to wellbeing. They provide a free link to community services through a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week anonymous access to quality, local, up-to-date information connecting you to a wide range of health and wellbeing resources.  You can access a comprehensive health and social service directory, a community noticeboard and topical health and social information pages.

Seven of the 21 kiosks located in the Waikato region now also feature a video library on a range of important health topics such as heart disease, drugs, first aid, stress and nutrition. You can find the upgraded kiosks around Hamilton including the Hamilton City Library, Te Runanga O Kirikiriroa and Te Pou Ora Health.

Webhealth kiosks have been proven to be effective in providing access to vital information for youth, Maori, Pacific Islanders and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. There has been great feedback from kiosk users including "this service is great I think we need more things like this in the world… so simple and fun at the same time", "great tool… good to have this type of technology … thanks for providing this type of service" and "this is a great way to help people learn more about health".

Taya Cross, a Service Navigator at Linkage Trust Webhealth, commented that "there are huge social and health resources in the community that often people don’t know about… the kiosks allow them to access that information which in turn contributes to happy and healthy communities". Graham Potter, Manager Funding and Marketing at Linkage Trust Webhealth, also comments that the new upgrades make the kiosks more appealing to younger people; "now with Webhealth kiosks you can watch and listen instead of just reading… you can plug in your iPod headphones for confidential listening or hear the videos on the inbuilt speakers".

Graham has high aspirations for the future of kiosks. "The vision I have for the kiosk is a network of them all over New Zealand where there is one within 1km of everyone in the country… people habitually use them to find all the services and relevant information they need to.  You know where your Webhealth kiosk is just like you do for your ATM."

» If you would like more information visit Webhealth website, call by phone at 0800 WEBHEALTH or visit their office at 99 Greenwood Street, Frankton.