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The Health Promotion Clearinghouse (HPC) is a non-profit resource system grounded in the principles of health promotion and population health. Its mandate is to enhance capacity for health promotion and disease prevention in Nova Scotia by providing tools, opportunities for networking, personalized support, and timely access to resources and expertise.
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HPC works collaboratively and intersectorally, is evidence-based, and focuses on the determinants of health and reducing social disparities. It has the ability to significantly facilitate interdepartmental and intersectoral collaboration. HPC is an expanding hub of information, knowledge and connectedness among Nova Scotia's health promoters. Its powerful web presence, quality peer reviewed resources, tools and social networking technology makes HPC a leader in creating the infrastructure of the future and puts Nova Scotia on the cutting edge in the field of health promotion by adopting award-winning technology.
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The HPC Network is a powerful and sustainable tool that facilitates communication regardless of time, geographical distance and/or organizational boundaries. The technology allows users with no programming knowledge to maintain their own content with relatively little training and support. This along with the network's train-the-trainer model will ensure the HPC Network sustainability and long-term cost effectiveness.
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In addition to information, tools, and technology, HPC provides personalized human resouce support through its three staff members. With dedicated people behind the tools and technology, HPC is able to proactively disseminate information; link health promoters to requested resources; support health promotion committees/initiatives; provide technology training; glean, share and facilitate the exchange of information through phone access, email, and participation/involvement at conferences, meetings and presentations.
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Through its website, HPC provides a twice-monthly e-bulletin, 46 annotated resource and document lists, searchable library databases of 2500+ documents, opportunities for on-line networking and communication and profiles of organizations/initiatives. Through the HPC Network, HPC provides group specific no-cost web presence and marketing platforms, communication tools, file storage, and the ability for groups to: edit and add to their own web pages; post their own files, photos, progress updates, announcments and events; and host their own forum discussions.
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As of December 2008, HPC served close to 40,000 different individuals annually. The website is widely used across Nova Scotia, nationally and internationally, receiving more than more than 250,000 visits from more than 37,000 visitors from 163 countries, and resulting in the download of close to 185,000 documents annually. As of March 2, 2009, the HPC Network served 569 members and 23 groups who have 2,430 posts, 116 photos, 504 files and 290 discussion threads in 88 blogs, 28 photo galleries, 100 files folders and 58 discussion forums. (current member stats)
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The use of HPC services has increased significantly (e.g. 133% and 237% increases in the numbers of active users and website visits, respectively, over the past 24 months). Interest in the HPC Network is also is growing daily, and the number of individual HPC Network members has almost tripled since March/08.
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HPC's momentum for building on the capacity of health promoters is very strong and, with continued funding and increased visibility, will undoubtedly keep growing. HPC has the personnel, tools, web technologies and quality resources to provide the infrastructure needed to support a collaborative environment, provide a virtual common meeting place, and create a more cohesive health promotion community. This momentum is likely to result in further increases in intersectoral and interdepartmental utilization, in addition to an even broader reach across community group and non-profit organizations.