Sharing The e-Alert What can I say? I often ask myself that question when some aspect of healthcare comes up in conversation with friends and family. I don't want to bore them with a constant stream of healthcare information. But I also don't want people I care about to make dangerous decisions. For instance, a good friend of mine recently had a wisdom tooth extracted and was given a pain-killer that contained acetaminophen. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to manage the pain, so he took several acetaminophen tablets in addition to the pain killer. Knowing the danger he was putting himself in, I simply told him I had an e-mail that I'd like him to read, and immediately forwarded the e- Alert "Flick of the Wrist" (1/19/04), which illustrates just how easy it is for a normally healthy person to suffer severe liver damage from excessive acetaminophen intake. While it's easy for me to share important health information with over 400,000 of you every day through this e-Alert, it can be hard to talk about some of these issues with my friends and family (especially controversial ones like the dangers of acetaminophen, which most people think is safe as mother's milk). And I may not even know what health problems they're facing. So while I could send information that would absolutely help them, I wouldn't necessarily know what to send. So I take the easy way out. I usually end up signing everyone I know up for the e-Alert and just ask them to read it for a few weeks. Our manager of e-Alert services came up with a way that you can do the same thing for your family and friends. Simply use the link below and you'll be able to send a short note to anyone you like. (And don't worry, if they don't sign up, they'll never hear from us. In fact, using this method, he assures me we won't even know their e-mail address.) So if you know someone you think would benefit from getting the e-Alert, this is an easy way to send it without having to forward it every day - or risk becoming as relentless as I am. Share the HSI e-Alert with a friend To Your Good Health, Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute
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