December 18, 1998

Patients will soon have a new source of information about illness and treatment options at the MGH. Through the generosity of two patients, the MGH is establishing the Maxwell and Eleanor Blum Patient and Family Learning Center. It is scheduled to open in February in the area of the former trustees' room, behind the stairs in the Main Corridor.

Patients will be able to browse through books, articles, pamphlets and videos and use computers to access information from CD-ROMs and the Internet. The library will have information about 52 different medical specialties, from burns to diabetes to women's health.

"In this era of managed care, we are more committed than ever to ensuring that our patients are informed," says Sally Millar, RN, the center's director. "We will encourage patients and their families to use the resources in the center in a proactive fashion, so they are able to make the best decisions possible about their care."

The Blums, both patients of primary care physician Christopher Coley, MD, generously contributed $1 million for renovation and operating costs.

"I thought it was a good idea," Maxwell Blum says. "It just seemed to us that this was the type of contribution that we would like to make to the hospital."

The learning center will be staffed by patient education specialist Taryn Pittman, RN, and health information librarian Michael O'Connor, along with volunteers who will assist patients.

Patients have long asked for this type of resource, Millar says. "I think the educated consumer is a better consumer," she says. "It's a good idea for patients to learn as much as they can about treatment options."

From left, Jeanette Ives Erickson, RN, MS, senior vice president for Patient Care
Services and chief nurse; Christopher Coley, MD, of Medicine; Eleanor and Maxwell
Blum; Sally Millar, RN, director of the Blum Center; and Michael O'Connor
and Taryn Pittman, RN, also of the Blum Center.