The Outreach Express Award entitled Only Connect….to the Community was funded by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Greater Midwest Region (NN/LM GMR). This award allowed the Medical Library Association’s (MLA) National Planning Committee ‘08 to provide the first annual community service events. The two community service events held in Chicago, Illinois, allowed medical librarians to put words such as advocacy and visibility into action by creating partnerships with public librarians and volunteering in the neediest community, North Lawndale on the west side of Chicago.

Fifteen health sciences librarians and ten public librarians from the south side of Chicago participated in the Each One Teach One event on Friday, May 16^th, 2008, at the Wrightwood-Ashburn branch of the Chicago Public Library. Medical librarians spent the day with the public librarians sharing their favorite health information websites or latest outreach projects. The branch manager of the Wrightwood-Ashburn, Regina Johnson, was unable to attend the event due to a prior commitment but that did not stop her from making a fifteen minute videotape highlighting the outreach projects completed by her and her staff. Ms. Johnson’s enthusiasm about outreach and potential partnership was electrifying, leaving a lasting impression. In addition, facilitated by Roberta Webb, South District Chief, Chicago Public Library, a panel of public librarians shared their strategies on thinking outside the box for outreach to their communities. The funding received from the NN/LM GMR provided support for this opportunity to create a model for future cross-reach collaboration, creating partnerships between medical and public librarians. Specifically, a portion of the GMR award provided needed transportation for the MLA volunteers by van to and from the Wrightwood-Ashburn branch.

The Rush University Free Health Fair: Spring into Health and Fitness took place on Saturday, May 17th, at the Chicago Christian Industrial League with 24 health sciences librarians working as volunteers. The health fair was held in one of Chicago’s neediest communities, North Lawndale on the west side of Chicago. The fair received the attention of hundreds of people from ages 3 and up who lacked health insurance. The attendees were able to receive needed healthcare such as: checking their blood pressure, dental care, and hepatitis shot. Some volunteers staffed the MLA table conducting literature searches for healthcare information, demonstrated MedlinePlus, and gave away MedlinePlus pens, Deciphering MedSpeak and NLM databases’ brochures while others assisted at the Fair’s book drive and information or interpreters’ desks. GMR funding supported the purchase of a printer as well as a laptop connector device with contract for Internet access.

These purchases were not only essential for health information delivery to the health fair attendees, but will continue to be used for outreach by the University of Michigan Health Sciences Libraries’ Outreach Librarian.

GMR funding also provided for the purchase of the volunteers’ T-shirts with MLA ‘08 Only Connect…to Community logo!

These community outreach events were the first to be held at an MLA annual meeting. We greatly appreciated the funding from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Greater Midwest Region, and the generous contributions from Rush University and the Medical Library Association (MLA).

Here are a few comments from our volunteers:

I am glad that MLA was involved in such a great cause. Thanks to Tammy & Deborah for asking and organizing the volunteers. I believe in health care for all, so I was very happy to assist any which way I could. I hope this will be a permanent feature offered at MLA every year. Thanks again!!

-Ivonne Martinez, Hospital Outreach Librarian, Georgetown University

“Just call them!” “Just connect with them!” These are some of the things that Chicago public librarians said to the group of us who met with them. Great advice…and a perfect match to our conference’s theme this year.

I look forward to seeing future Community Service Programs as a regular part of annual meetings. This gives us an opportunity to perform an advocacy push in the conference city.

I found it exciting to speak with a group that I wouldn’t be able to pull together at my institution or location (Los Angeles, CA). Hearing ideas and programs that our public librarians are making a reality gave me ideas on how I can collaborate with the local public library branch near my institution.

-Andrea Lynch, Instruction Coordinator,UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library

As one of the “gatekeepers” at the Health Fair I was in a position to observe all of the divergent volunteer groups, and all of the health care seekers as they entered this event. I worked with the “teen” coordinator, the MLA Spanish translator, medical school translators who speak Chinese dialects, Russian, and Spanish and witnessed the various Rush staff who gave this event their all. This Rush community health fair was impressive in size, scope and heart.

It was a privilege to use librarians’ organizational and people skills to contribute to this worthy initiative. It is usual for volunteers to benefit from the experience perhaps even more than the seeker of services.

-Sharon Brown, Database Trainer/Online Analyst, National Training Center & Clearinghouse, National Network of Libraries of Medicine, New York Academy of Medicine

I enjoyed participating in the event with the Chicago public librarians. I think this is a great idea and hope that Each One Teach One and Community outreach activities will be incorporated in all annual conferences.

-Linda Robinson, Associate Librarian (retired), Louis Stokes Health Science Library, Howard University

I absolutely enjoyed this event [Rush University Health Fair] and the organizers did a good job taking care of the volunteers. It was a good introduction to what I am going to be doing in the future! Thanks for including me in this event.

-Samanthi Hewakapuge, Consumer Health Coordinator, National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Greater Midwest Region

Here are a few testimonials taken from the online MLA evaluation forms:

Please continue the Community Service Projects…great way for medical librarians to connect to the host city.

Loved the idea of doing community service projects as part of the meeting.

The Community Service Project…definitely one to continue as part of our advocacy work in conference cities.

Each One Teach One participants:
Rhonda Allard, Weill Cornell Medical College
Ene Belleh, Christiana Care Health System
Ulrike Dieterle, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ruth Fenske, John Carroll University
Laurel Graham, American Dietetic Association
Carol Hartmann, Dominican University - Graduate School of Library and Information Science
Lisa Jacob, Illinois Masonic Medical Center
Deborah Jameson, Massachusetts General Hospital
Andrea Lynch, UCLA
Tammy Mays, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Patricia Mongelia, Weill Cornell Medical College
Diane Nordeng, VA Medical Center
Linda Robinson, Howard University (Retired)
Judy Rycombel , North Suburban Library System
Faye Williams, Office of Minority Health, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

Health Fair participants:
Margaret Alexander, Tuskegee University
Wanda Anderson, Boston College
Judi Bergjord, Creighton University
Sharon Brown, National Training Center & Clearinghouse
Kristina Flora, South Bend Medical Foundation
Christine Franks, Rush University Medical Center
Samanthi Hewakapuge, National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Greater Midwest Region
Kristine Hughes, VUC
Deborah Jameson, Massachusetts General Hospital
Shannon Jones, VC University
Ellen Justice, Christiana Care Health System
Darlene Kelly, Morehouse School of Medicine
Heather Kish, UH Richmond Medical Center
Tammy Mays, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Sarah McCord, Massachusetts College
Ivonne Martinez, Georgetown University
Vijay Padwal, India
JoAnn Sparks, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital
Erin Stuart, London Health Sciences Centre, Ontario, Canada
Karla Van Kessel, London Health Sciences Centre, Ontario, Canada
Sandra Wenner, Rush University Medical Center
Ely Whitaker, Rush University Medical Center
Faye Williams, Office of Minority Health, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

This project has been funded in whole or in part with federal funds from the National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health under Contract # NO1-LM-6-3503

This entry was posted on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 9:23 am and is filed under Consumer Health, General, NLM Resources, News from the Region. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.