Ok, you're ready to take a more active role in your own health and health care -- or to help your employees, families or friends. Where to start? The Puget Sound Health Alliance website. It is a great resource for consumers or those of us developing programs in companies and communities. It has free tools and links to a variety of resources - medication records; checklists for your next doctor's visit; surveys to figure out your risk for diabetes or heart disease. And you don't need to be in Washington State to use them!

Do you ever have the thought “Wow, I’m part of something really big”? I felt this overwhelming sense of mission and purpose last week when I was in Seattle attending the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Annual Meeting for the Aligning Forces for Quality Regional Market Project. Maine is one of the fourteen communities cited in a report from the RWJF and the Center for Health Improvement that examines how communities can drive and sustain high quality healthcare. I was in a room with leaders from the 13 other communities, as well as national experts such as Dr. Judith Hibbard and Dr. Susan Prows. This three-year grant is not only going to benefit the citizens of Maine, but also the entire country. I will be sure to provide regular updates from my experiences, but if any other grantees are reading this, feel free to submit your own thoughts and experiences for posting.

Taking a more active role in managing your own healthcare is a daunting task, to say the least. You may think the problem is too big to tackle, or not know what steps you can take to actually make a difference.

So, what can you do? Lots! And if you think the information will be too hard to understand or the too difficult to follow, think again. There are countless resources that are available, many at no charge, that have been designed to make taking an active role in managing your health as easy as possible. You can start with Familydoctor.org, which has some great information and advice for preventing medical errors. There’s also the Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality, which has countless, easy-to-use tools available. On this site, you can find an easy reference guide featuring 20 tips for preventing medical errors , among many other items.

Perhaps you’re the type that learns better with something visual? That’s OK too, because there are videos available that can help you learn more about the role you can take to become more involved with your own healthcare. Remaking American Medicine created an excellent four-part TV series for PBS last fall, which can be purchased directly from its website .

And, of course, if you want immediate gratification, don’t forget about the video referenced in an earlier entry on this blog in which a Maine Cancer patient tells her story. The role this woman takes in managing her treatment is phenomenal – and likely has a huge impact on her successful outcome.

A reminder of the importance of getting involved in your own healthcare is now happening right in your own home. As part of its “Questions are the Answer” campaign, the Agency of Healthcare and Research Quality has created two public service announcements (PSAs). You may have already seen one of the musical reminders during the commercial break of your favorite show. If not, you can watch now .

From the Questions are the Answer site you can also obtain a list of questions to ask your healthcare provider and a helpful guide for preparing for a doctor’s visit. There’s even an option to customize your own list of questions. These new tools from AHRQ may just be the answer for people who want to manage their own health better.