FARMINGTON – Patients and visitors of Franklin Memorial Hospital now have the opportunity to view the Patient Education Channel in all patient rooms, waiting areas and in the medical library’s private patient education room.

The Patient Education Channel is provided through GE Healthcare and NBC to hospitals that are subscribers. It is located on channel 66 and all programs are closed-captioned. Closed-captioned programs have hidden text that can be made available for the hearing impaired.

More than 40 programs are available, which cover a spectrum of health and wellness topics, including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, asthma, smoking cessation and parenting.

“The goal is to educate patients and families and to stimulate communication with health care providers,” said Robin Gilbert, education director.

“Programming is offered 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A program schedule of educational offerings is provided on the television’s menu,” she said.

The education department is located in the hospital’s Ben Franklin Center. The center was created to provide patients, professionals, students and the community access to health information and educational programming.

The center’s medical library is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. It is located next to the main reception desk. For additional information, contact Jodi Cordes, activity coordinator, at 779-2451.