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When I was first introduced to this new website – HealthHub, by Ministry of Health, my mind screamed, “Like FINALLY!!!”. Pardon my excitement, but I’ve been wondering why is there no centralized and one-stop portal or website that allows me to monitor medical-related matters pertaining to myself and my family members. Finally, HealthHub is birthed and as I navigate through the website, I found myself making mental notes of certain features that I would be using regularly.
HealthHub is Singapore’s first one-stop online health information and services portal (with a mobile application as well, yay!). What the website aims to do is to provide Singaporeans with easy access to not just good and useful medical and health-related content, but to also allow them to consolidate and check important medical records and appointments. As a daughter to aging parents and a mother of two young kids, I found the portal to be extremely useful. For many of you out there who are like me, I believe you will find the website to be helpful and very easy to use as well. After navigating through the website, I’ve rounded up 8 of the most useful features of HealthHub that I feel would be most applicable to all you parents and parents-to-be out there.
1. KIDS’ KEY HEALTH RECORDS
This made it to the top of my list because I found it to be the most useful for me personally as a mum. I’ve lamented more than once about how ‘tattered and torn’ my kids’ immunization booklets have become. They’ve been around for as long as the kids have been, and all kinds of immunization records and lab and medical reports had been stapled to the inside pages of the booklets, making them really messy and disorderly. I’ve always thought that it would be a great idea if all those information and records can be translated online and stored electronically. Finally, HealthHub allows you to do that – How awesome is that?!
Parents will be able to view their children’s health records, such as immunisation records, dental health records and referral letters through HealthHub with a SingPass login. What HealthHub does is that it draws information from a number of IT systems including the NEHR (National Electronic Healthcare Record) System, School Health System, School Dental System and National Immunisation Registry. Everything is in one central location – Perfect.
2. PERSONAL HEALTH INFO
With information drawn from various registries, you will be able to view your personal health info such as hospital discharge summary, lab test results (chronic diseases), screening records and future medical appointments. For people like me who suffers from short-term memory loss (I blame it on childbirth), such record-keeping is godsend. I don’t have to struggle to remember what I’ve been through by sorting through stacks and stacks of hospital bills, and all the records are presented neatly and orderly for me at a click of a button. Should I forget any medical appointments I’ve made, the portal allows me to check quickly as well.
3. HEALTHCARE DIRECTORY
Have you met situations where you have a specific condition and you do not know where to seek help from? The healthcare directory on HealthHub will be able to help you. It is also a useful directory if you are looking for a medical centre or laboratory based on geographical location, perhaps near to where you live. There is a search function based on postal code that you can use for that.
Apart from medical centres and clinics, you will also be able to find a list of lifestyle-related facilities in this directory. Search for sports facilities, swimming pools, gyms and even healthier eateries! From what I see, the portal does not provide help just to those who are in need of some form of treatment, it also encourages Singaporeans to live healthier lifestyles by engaging in different kinds of sports and eating habits. That’s a really good step forward towards healthy living in Singapore.
4. HEALTH-RELATED ARTICLES & INFO
Some people particularly enjoy reading articles that teach them how to live healthier – My mum is one such person. She likes to read health-related articles and share the tips with us excitedly. On HealthHub, many of such articles such as food & nutrition, mind & balance, body care, etc are available for your leisure browsing. I read several articles and learnt new useful knowledge just in a matter of minutes. Some of the articles are also written in a lighthearted manner such as this particular one that I liked – “7 Tricks for Surviving The Food Court At Lunchtime”, which not only gives me tips on having healthier lunches, but also packs in ideas for home packed lunches!
5. A-Z TOPICS ON HEALTH
Apart from health-related articles, you can also find useful and relevant news articles on topics related to our daily lives in the A-Z section of the portal. In view of our ongoing haze condition, this particular article attracted my attention – “Haze Subsidy Scheme”. I didn’t even know that such a scheme exists! Other topics covered under this section include Medisave, Support for Cancer Patients, Community Health Assist Scheme, etc. Many of these articles can help us understand better the schemes available to us Singaporeans, as well as some policies that affect us in one way or another. As parents, we need to be kept up-to-date on such information as well, so that we know where we can seek help from, when the need arises.
6. HEALTH-RELATED EVENTS
Look for events, workshops or programs that might interest you here at this section of the portal. I know some of my mummy friends are always concerned about whether their kids are taking enough nutrients, so I shared about this particular workshop with some of them – “Nutrition demonstration 6 months to 1 year”, which I found on the portal, happening at the end of this month. Many of these workshops are free-of-charge!
7. ATTRACTIVE DEALS
This feature was a surprise for me, but a very pleasant one of course. If you think that health-related topics are boring and mundane, this feature will add some sparks. Health Promotion Board has linked up with many merchants to provide good deals for Singaporeans. Of course, all the deals are health and wellness related, all with the aim to promote healthier living. Get great deals such as 1-for-1 mini golf sessions and 50% discount off meals etc. To enjoy the deals, you would have to download the HealthHub app onto your phone from Appstore or Google Playstore.
8. REWARDS
This was a feature added in to encourage Singaporeans to live healthier! All you need to do is to browse, read and share articles from the portal on your social media platforms, and earn Healthpoints. Get 50 points right away the moment you sign up for the HealthHub account and an additional of 100 points when you complete your profile. Once you have earned enough Healthpoints, you can exchange your Healthpoints for NTUC LinkPoints to redeem shopping vouchers, offset grocery bills at NTUC Fairprice and more! The more Healthpoints you earn, the more rewards you gain! You live healthier lifestyles and get rewarded for that? Win-win! Can’t wait to join and start earning your points? Click here to sign up now!
All in all, I found HealthHub to be a pretty comprehensive portal that allows me to store health-related information pertaining to my family and it is also a place I would go to if I need to answer certain health-related queries. It is easy to navigate through the portal and provides the convenience that I am looking for as a busy working mum. The portal is still in its introductory stage and several features will be added as we go along. At least for now, I already know that in the near future, users can expect push notifications to remind them of medical and dental appointments as well as fun quizzes and interactive elements to try. I’m certainly looking forward to more improvements and added features for HealthHub to make it an even more comprehensive and useful portal for Singaporeans.
Check out HealthHub today. :)
http://www.healthhub.sg/
