RICHMOND, VA. ? Before he was elected governor of Virginia in November, Mark Warner was a millionaire venture capitalist.

But he was also a son, and when his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and he started looking for information, he discovered it was difficult to find.

Vera Feingold, 69, an instructor for SeniorNet, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that offers computer training to people aged 50 and older, studies software at the Fulton senior center in New York. Software and hardware companies, which have traditionally focused on a younger market, are beginning to develop ways of helping the fastest-growing segment of Web surfers in the United States.

So Warner put all his expertise to work and started SeniorNavigator.com, an Internet guide that links seniors, their families and caregivers with information on health and aging.

“SeniorNavigator is a great example of where technology and the community intersect. It’s a great resource for those people who will never touch a computer,” Warner said.

The site, launched in February 2001 by its co-founders, the Virginia Health Care Foundation and the AOL Time Warner Foundation, contains a database of more than 17,000 community-based services across Virginia.

Warner said he intends to share the site with other governors to see if it could be replicated in other states.

David Eisner, senior vice president for the AOL Time Warner Foundation, said the organization was interested in the Web site from the start because of its potential to be replicated and expanded.

“SeniorNavigator could become a national program, but it would need to be implemented on a state-by-state basis,” Eisner said. “From there we’ll have a better look at what would be required to knit all of the states together.”

Nationwide potential

Rick Luftglass, director of U.S. Philanthropy for Pfizer Inc., said a transition from a local program to a national one is natural.

“Technologically, the infrastructure is there. The basic framework’s there,” Luftglass said. “The challenge will be … accessing and collecting and synthesizing information from all of those health and human service providers across the states.”

	These sites have senior-friendly information: www.seniornavigator.com www.seniornet.org www.csun.edu/cod/ conf2001/proceedings/ 0313schwerdtfeger.html

Pfizer became a contributing partner in December, joining the likes of Trigon Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Verizon Communications, Dominion Virginia Power and Owens & Minor Inc. Fifteen hospital and health care organizations in Virginia sponsor the site.

Users can search for services and providers by ZIP code. They can seek answers to medical questions, learn about power of attorney or research nursing homes or assisted-living facilities.

The site is high-tech but it offers a personal touch quite unlike traditional Web sites. About 6,500 trained volunteers across the state help seniors without computers use the site.

‘Easy to use’

“It’s a wonderful way for us to disseminate information,” said Betty Newell, a SeniorNavigator who finds rides for people through the Community Association for Rural Transportation, a nonprofit transportation provider that serves low-income and elderly riders and riders with disabilities.

The site was handy when Newell was preparing to undergo knee surgery.

“There have been questions I’ve had that I could’ve gotten somewhere else, but I’ve gone to the SeniorNavigator site just because it’s so easy to use and it’s so credible,” she said. “You don’t have to be a techie to use it.”

While much of the same information can be found at senior centers, that information is available only during regular business hours. The Web site, however, is accessible 24 hours a day.

The site contains information such as Medicare and Medicaid availability and whether a medical provider is currently accepting new patients. Debbie Frett, executive director of SeniorNavigator, said it receives an average of 4,000 hits per week.

Lois Brittell, a registered nurse at Inova Fair Oaks Hospital in Fairfax, uses the site almost daily to help patients. Her job often requires that she find nursing home placement and social service resources for the patients.

“I have found resources that I wasn’t totally aware of in the community,” Brittell said. “Every time I use it, I find something new.”

She has discovered that many of the site’s resources can be translated into other languages for patients who don’t speak English.

Even as the Web site continues to offer new links to related services in Virginia, Frett said it could be expanded with programs for children and the disabled that could overlap with existing services.