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Welcome to FHERN
Family Health Education Resource Network
Our Mission
To sustain a network of educators whose mission is to provide a learning community for professionals committed to enhancing healthcare through education of patients and families in a supportive environment.
Our Vision
The premier organization for practitioners committed to developing and sustaining family resource centers for healthcare education.
Strategic Focus
Best people, best resources, best value for the healthcare education
professional.
What is FHERN?
Insuring that patients and families have the health information and education resources they need for optimal care is the goal of the Family Health Education Resource Network (FHERN). Membership
in FHERN is composed of professionals from several disciplines including Nursing, Child Life, and Health Sciences Library Management. Network members are committed to fostering an
environment within the hospital and community that provides families with access to up-to-date, accurate information about diagnoses, medications, safety, and healthy lifestyles.
Our History
The movement toward family centered care in recent years and the proliferation of consumer health information has given
rise to the establishment of hospital-based family resource centers. These Family Resource Centers provide families
with a comfortable learning environment a welcoming place for them to gain knowledge about their disease or acquire
the skills they will need at home. Family Resource Centers are stocked with a variety of publications, and are staffed by
qualified professionals who can assist them with using computers and other technology in their quest for information.
In the fall of 2006, 36 practitioners from the United States and Canada came together at the Health Care Education
Associationšs national conference in Atlanta, Georgia, and formed the Family Health Education Resource Network as a special interest group of HCEA.
Why use the fern as a symbol?
Ferns have evolved to suit their environment. Some can tolerate extreme drought and heat; others only live in the deepest
rainforest. Likewise, Family Resource Centers have also evolved to suit their own individual environments. Some
Centers are intertwined with a Medical Library. Others have a Skills Lab for families. Each center has developed to meet the needs of the clients they serve.
Ferns are very successful niche plants: they are well adapted to particular environmental niches - soil moisture, humidity,
light, etc. Family Resource Centers are also successful “niche plants.” Although each center is well adapted to a
particular hospital or community environment, they respond to changes in the surroundings. Meeting the changing needs of the consumer remains a top priority for all Family Resource Centers.
Join FHERN today!
HCEA Address
3085 Stevenson Drive, Suite 200
Springfield, IL 26703
Phone number: 1-217-529-6503
Fax number: 217-529-9120
Email HCEAadmin@hcea-info.org
For more information, contact Prentice Beckett at beckett@email.chop.edu
Download FHERN pamphlet (PDF)
Article: Parents & the Internet, Evaluating Pediatric Health Websites
(located in the FHERN section of Members Only Resources)
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