NOTE: The NN/LM Projects Database lists projects across all the NN/LM regions that have received funding from 2000 through the present.

All of the following outreach projects were funded by awards from NN/LM PNR and carried out by Network Members and partner organizations. Other grants and contracts awarded in the Pacific Northwest by the National Library of Medicine are listed in the CRISP database.

Express Outreach Awards

Addressing Health Disparities with Health Education

Public Health - Seattle & King County
Seattle, WA
Project Manager: Elizabeth Comstock
July 2005 - March 2006
Phone: 206-296-3512
E-mail: elizabeth.comstock@metrokc.gov
Final Report ( 767kb)

The project plans to work with the Snohomish County Health Department and Pierce County Health Department to provide access to reliable sources of health information on the Internet to public health staff working with populations facing health care disparities. Staff will be trained in the use of National Library of Medicine and Washington Department of Health web-based resources. Staff will also be taught to understand the issue of health literacy and to evaluate health education resources. Free trainings will be conducted at both health departments and a workshop will be held at the Washington Joint Health Conference in October.

Fairbanks African-American Health Initiative (FAAHI)

Alaska Health Fair, Inc.
Fairbanks, AK
Project Manager: Phyllis Tugman-Alexander
July 2005 - March 2006
Phone: 907-458-5426
E-mail: ahfrur@gci.net
Final Report ( 53kb)

This project will utilize a collaborative, community-based and participatory approach to assess the health information needs of the African-American community in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Healthy Kids in Kittitas County

Catholic Family & Child Service
Yakima, WA
Project Manager: Nancy Probst, MA
July 2005 - March 2006
Phone: 509-965-7100
E-mail: nprobst@cfcsyakima.org

This project will foster collaboration between community agencies, public health entities, and libraries in Kittitas County, Washington. In addition to learning about the resources of the National Library of Medicine and NN/LM network members in the area, low-income families will receive health information and materials and will learn where to go to investigate other health topics.

Improved Access to Health Information for Low-Income Residents

Kootenai Medical Center Library
Coeur d'Alene, ID
Project Manager: Marcia Horner
July 2005 - March 2006
Phone: 208-666-2483
E-mail: mhorner@kmcmail.kmc.org
Final Report ( 52kb)

Kootenai Medical Center Library staff will research and install software for a computer kiosk at Dirne Community Health Center, which serves low income, uninsured, and underinsured populations of Kootenai and Shoshone Counties in Idaho. They will train the staff at Dirne to use the kiosk to teach health care consumers to access online health information though MedlinePlus.gov, the DeArmond Consumer Health Library, and Community Health Web Portal through www.nicon.org.

In the Know

Portland State University - Branford P. Miller Library
Portland, OR
Project Manager: Rose M. Jackson
July 2005 - March 2006
Phone: 503-725-3689
E-mail: rosej@pdx.edu
Final Report ( 42kb)

The Project Manager and a Student Intern will train staff at Outside In, a social service agency which operates a medical/dental/alternative health clinic and provides day programs and transitional housing to homeless youth and low-income adults within the Portland Metropolitan Area. Clinical and administrative staff will learn to find sources of health information on the Internet, to evaluate the information, and to teach the skills to the population they serve.

Linking Rural Network Health Workers to Online Health Information Resources

Montana Health Network
Miles City, MT
Project Manager: Janet Bastian
July 2005 - March 2006
Phone: 406-234-1420
E-mail: jbastian@montanahealthnetwork.com
Final Report ( 69kb)

The Montana Health Network, in conjunction with two Montana medical librarians, will conduct training via teleconference on accessing health information to health care employees in the Montana Health Network, which will allow the health care employees to provide a patient education component in the case management of their patients.

Need Health Info? Assessing Trustworthy Health Information Online in Northwest Montana

Kalispell Regional Medical Center Medical Library
Kalispell, MT
Project Manager: Heidi Sue Adams
July 2005 - March 2006
Phone: 406-752-1739
E-mail: hadams@krmc.org
Final Report ( 28kb)

The librarian at Kalispell Regional Medical Center will work with previously trained "Health Information Providers" to increase access to health information by health care consumers. She will offer training sessions with the help of a Traveling Training Lab with laptop computers. When the Traveling Training Lab is not in use, the lap top computers will be used as a bank of "Medical Information Stations". She will collaborate with other organizations that serve health care consumers and rotate the Traveling Training Lab/Medical Information Stations among their locations, with priority given to those locations with the highest percentage of visits by members of the public.

Pilot Project to Demonstrate the Effective Use and Integration of Regional Library Resources in a Rural Health Care Setting

St. James Healthcare
Butte, MT
Project Manager: Laurel Egan
July 2005 - March 2006
Phone: 406-723-2523
E-mail: legan@sjch.org
Final Report ( 44kb)

The goal of this project is to further understanding of the information and resource needs of rural health care facilities in Southwest Montana through a training program designed to address these needs. The project will be collaboration between St. James Healthcare and the Community Health Center, both located in Butte, Montana, and the Ruby Valley Hospital in Sheridan, Montana. Onsite assessments will be performed and appropriate training materials will be developed. Knowledge and availability of resources, including an expanded use of internet assets, will increase and thus enhance medical education and facilitate more efficient and effective information retrieval.

Quick Link Web Based Health Resources for KCHA Residents

Puget Sound Alliance for Community Technology
Seattle, WA
Project Manager: Sandra Mears
July 2005 - March 2006
Phone: 206-267-2879
E-mail: sandra@psact.org
Final Report ( 48kb)

The Puget Sound Alliance for Community Technology (PSACT) will collaborate with the King County Housing Authority (KCHA) to provide access to health information resources online to KCHA residents. The MedlinePlus and Ethnomed websites will be utilized, and a directory of online resources will be produced.

University District Homeless Youth Health Education Project

Street Youth Ministries
Seattle, WA
Project Manager: Shelly Smith, M.S.
July 2005 - March 2006
Phone: 206-524-7301 ext. 186
E-mail: shellys@upc.org
Final Report ( 767kb)

Street Youth Ministries will assess the health-related information needs of homeless and street-involved youth ages 13-24 in Seattle's University District, assist services providers for this population to learn more about available resources, and train youth leaders to share resources with other underserved youth.

Using the NN/LM to Improve Health Education in Royal City

The Clinic at Royal City
Royal City, WA
Project Manager: Mario Godoy-Gonzalez
July 2005 - March 2006
Phone: 509-346-1121
E-mail: mgodoy@smwireless.net
Final Report ( 43kb)

The staff at the Clinic at Royal City will work to assess the health needs of the rural community where they are located, and to create a user-friendly, bilingual web site for health information. They will build and continue partnerships with other organizations, including the Royal School District, Grant County Health Department, Worksource of Grant County, the Migrant Daycare Center, the Association of Samaritan Physicians, Hospital District 7 and the Royal City Library. They will hold informational meetings with other health care providers, health educators and health advocates, and plan collaborative activities which will lead to increased access to health information for community members.

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Planning and Impact Awards

Cross Cultural Health Care Program (Planning Award)

270 S. Hanford St., Suite 100
Seattle, WA 98134
Project Lead: Alyssa Sampson
July 2005 - March 2006

The Cross Cultural Health Care Program will work with other agencies in the area to develop a plan for collecting, organizing and sharing information resources pertinent to immigrant and refugee health. The target population comprises all institutions and agencies (including hospitals and clinics, projects, public health services, libraries, school districts) or individuals in the State of Washington who create, store, or disseminate electronic health related information for LEP (limited English proficiency) users including refugee populations. As a planning project, community assessment will take up a large part of the work. The project team hopes to identify all the relevant groups and individuals in the state, find out what they have and what they need, put them into natural groupings, find out who is especially interested, and conduct a meeting with these parties to determine how to create an infrastructure to share information. These will be the first steps toward creating a pilot project, a state plan for how to work together and add Washington materials to the RHIN project. At that time they will also ensure that these stakeholders are aware of the resources available to them through NN/LM, PubMed, and MedlinePlus and how their own materials will help fill in missing information that will benefit a larger user base. This meeting will be held no later than May 31, 2005.

Idaho State University, Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, and Education of the Deaf (Planning Award)

Campus Box 8116
650 Memorial Building
Pocatello, ID 83209
Project Lead: Janene Willer, MA
October 2005 - April 2006
Phone: 208-282-3827
Email: Willjan1@isu.edu
Final Report ( 321kb)

Project leaders will partner with the Idaho Speech, Language, and Hearing Association and several clinics to conduct an information needs assessment of health professionals in speech-language pathology (SLPs) and audiology in the state of Idaho. SLPs and audiologists are working in private hospitals, clinics, and public schools which cannot afford online medical databases and journals. The rural nature of Idaho, critical shortage of trained SLPs and audiologists, and services available from the ISU library all impact information access and utilization. In order to provide evidence-based care, timely access to best evidence resources is required. Prior to developing a plan for improving knowledge about information resources and their applicability in practice settings, project leaders will use this planning award period to design and administer an assessment questionnaire. They will analyze responses and write a survey report on which to base strategies for improved information services.

Kalispell Regional Medical Center Library (Planning Award)

310 Sunnyview Lane
Kalispell, MT 59901
Project Lead: Heidi Sue Adams
July 2005 - February 2006

There are very few health sciences libraries in Montana, and no professional organization of health librarians exists in the state. Those interested in the topic meet as a Special Interest Group (SIG) within the general Montana Library Association. At the 2005 meeting the group decided that the availability and quality of consumer health information services in Montana was unknown and that an assessment would be beneficial.

Kootenai Medical Center (Planning Award)

2003 Lincoln Way
Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814
Project Lead: Marcia Horner
December 2005 - April 2006

The Medical Library at Kootenai Medical Center has a long history of partnerships with community agencies in North Idaho. In this planning project, staff will work with Information & Referral/Volunteer Connection, Inc (IRV), a 501(c)3 organization, to enhance IRV's database and export records to Idaho's 2-1-1 system. Currently, Idaho's statewide 2-1-1 system does not have data from the five northern counties. Eventually, the same information may be incorporated into NLM's Go Local feature of MedlinePlus. A recent planning effort funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to improve the quality of life for elderly residents in North Idaho documented the need to improve access to information about health and human service providers. IRV has partnered with the Medical Library at Kootenai Medical Center in previous projects to provide resources to Idaho school nurses (www.snoi.org), low-income residents (www.nicon.org/communityhealth ), and community health center clients.

Montana Tech College of Technology, Health Programs (Planning Award)

25 Basin Creek Road
Butte, MT 59701
Project Lead: Karan Kunz
April 2004 - October 2004

Montana Tech College of Technology and the University of Montana Missoula have a collaborative agreement for parallel Associate of Applied Science in Radiology Technology Programs. They are working to develop and implement a web-based curriculum that could be accessed statewide. New partnerships with St. James Healthcare in Butte and other institutions that may provide clinical staff and clinical experiences for the students are also under development. Montana Tech will use this planning award to assess information needs of students and persons already employed in the field of Radiology Technology in Montana. A framework for collection development, networking resources, and outreach to technicians throughout the state will be designed.

Puget Sound Alliance for Community Technology (PSACT) (Planning Award)

157 Roy Street
Seattle, WA 98109
Project Lead: Sandra Mears
February 2005 - August 2005

King County Housing Authority family developments in east King County (Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, and Woodinville) provide housing to 560 families, over 1,000 individuals. Thirty-four percent of the residents are children, of which 85% are school age. Seventy-seven percent of the households have incomes between 0 and 30% of the area's median income. Puget Sound Alliance for Community Technology (PSACT), in partnership with the King County Housing Authority, will conduct facilitated focus groups of residents to assess their need for health-related materials. An evaluator will review information obtained from the focus groups and make recommendations for implementing the findings.

St. James Healthcare (Reassessment/Impact Award)

400 S. Clark Street
Butte, MT 59701
Project Lead: Laurel Egan
February 2004 - February 2005

From 1998 through 2001, the medical librarian at St. James Healthcare in Butte conducted a series of outreach activities at Barrett Hospital and Healthcare in Dillon, Montana. Ms. Egan established a small onsite medical library and conducted training sessions covering a variety of information access topics in the isolates, rural hospital. Outreach funding from the Pacific NW Regional Medical Library made it possible to furnish the library and provide a collection. Training sessions, demonstrations and workshops on health information resources were held; for the hospital staff, the public and community groups.

This award was was used to assess the impact of previous activities and to explore follow-up opportunities. Interviews of administrators, users, library committee members, and physicians were conducted to evaluate the present situation and informational needs.

Voices of Hope (Planning Award)

Box 6644
Great Falls, MT 59406
Project Lead: Susie McIntyre
March 2005 - July 2005

Suicide is a major public health problem in Montana. Federal legislation has recently passed that will provide some funding to the states for suicide prevention. Voices of Hope will work with target groups including the Missoula Suicide Prevention Task Force, Billings Suicide Prevention Task Force, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Montana Chapter, Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, Regional Mental Health Centers, and Indian Health Services to begin a prevention planning process. They will use e-mail discussions and conference calls to determine what information (population data, research studies, best practices, funding opportunities, other state initiatives) the target population needs in order to create a comprehensive suicide response plan. Two meetings of stakeholders will be held to present information findings, determine further information needs, and to develop information gathering and sharing capabilities. Participants will become more familiar with MedlinePlus and other NLM resources and will consider how these products might be part of a comprehensive suicide prevention plan.

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Outreach Project Awards

AHEC of SW Oregon Cyber Health Camp

Southwest Oregon Area Health Education Center
Roseburg, OR
Project Director: Brendan L. Ashby
November 2001 - May 2003
Phone: 541-672-1945
E-mail: bashby@healthyoregon.com
Final Report ( 82kb)

The Cyber Health Camp provided high school youth and educators with a regional health career and medical issues information repository using the Internet and online resources, increasing knowledge of rural health opportunities through the development of an interactive web-based application. This application allows students from disadvantaged backgrounds to develop Internet skills and to access information on health careers, rural healthcare opportunities, a healthcare calendar of events/programs, university and college healthcare related programs, scholarships, and regional healthcare institutions. The Cyber Camp program is the culmination of multiple collaborative relationships including partners from high schools, universities, hospitals and other community based organizations.

Alaska Health Information Outreach Project

Alaska Division of Public Health, Health Promotion Program
Juneau, AK
Project Director: Jayne Andreen
February 2005 - April 2006
Phone: 907-465-5729
E-mail: Jayne_Andreen@health.state.ak.us
Final Report ( 49kb)

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Public Health, Health Promotion Program in cooperation with partners will produce and offer six two-hour training sessions on health information and health education to public health professionals across Alaska. Training will be broadcast via the Alaska Public Health Training Network (APHTN) Distance Education System and will cover the following or similar topics: Alaska Health Education Library Project (AHELP); online resources for health professionals; consumer health resources; health literacy; searching PubMed; public health information and data; CDCynergy, a computer-based health communication tool. In addition, investigators will continue to promote the resources of the NN/LM at statewide meetings and trainings.

Central Washington REACH

Washington State University Health Sciences Library
Pullman, WA
Project Director: Sarah McCord
December 2002 - September 2004
Phone: 509-335-7646
E-mail: mccord@wsu.edu
Final Report ( 34kb)

Central Washington Resources and Education for Achieving Community Health was an outreach project of the WSU Health Sciences Library in collaboration with the WSU College of Pharmacy, Yakima Valley Farmworkers Clinic, Yakima and Chelan County WorkSource offices, and local area hospitals. Given the complex health status of the migrant and seasonal worker community in the area, health care providers who practice in the clinics need to be especially well informed about the latest research and the specific health care problems common among the predominantly Hispanic population. Access to current, evidence-based research and accurate, linguistically and culturally appropriate patient health materials is also crucial to improving health. Central Washington REACH developed a website and provided hands-on training, striving to create an information network responsive to locally-identified needs and building on established relationships in the community.

Cross Cultural Health Care Program Resource Center

Cross Cultural Health Care Program
Seattle, WA
Project Director: Alison Alfonzo Pence
November 2001 - May 2003
Phone: 206-764-4545
E-mail: Resource@xculture.org
Final Report ( 52kb)

The goal of the Cross Cultural Health Care Program Resource Center is to provide current and often difficult to obtain resources and to improve users' access to relevant content. The Resource Center is a small "special library" with a valuable and sizable collection, primarily serving CCHCP staff and training participants, health care providers, students, consultants, and members of community service agencies. The Resource Center had not conducted outreach in the past, and external users had typically discovered it through CCHCP staff, the web site, or word of mouth. This project supported outreach efforts to increase visibility and services to health care providers, institutions, and providers-in-training throughout the region. With the increasing growth of immigrant and refugee communities, providers will benefit from access to the services and resources.

Evaluating and Promoting Health Literacy in Recovering Alcoholics and Addicts at the Seattle Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center

University of Washington Health Sciences Library
Seattle, WA
Project Director: Joanne Rich
February 2005 - April 2006
Phone: 206-616-6601
E-mail: jrich@u.washington.edu
Final Report ( 53kb)

This project will provide an opportunity for the exchange of information and knowledge regarding the health literacy of recovering alcoholics and addicts in the setting of the Seattle Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center (ARC). Investigators hope to promote long-term recovery and long-term self care of this population using three approaches: 1) by conducting an exploratory study of health literacy with the aim of informing future efforts in support of health literacy as a part of recovery; 2) by providing health education information to residents of the ARC (called beneficiaries); and 3) by training the beneficiaries and staff of the ARC to find appropriate health information. The project will be carried out by the Project Leaders, a Project Assistant, and volunteer students potentially drawn from all six UW health sciences schools and the Information School. This group will form the ARC Practicum.

Health Information Online Project

St. Mary's Hospital and Clinics
Cottonwood, ID
Project Director: Pam McBride
January 2004 - June 2005
Phone: 208-289-5509
E-mail: peterpam@tds.net
Final Report ( 104kb)

The project has provided easy access to consumer health information in three counties of rural north-central Idaho. Rural hospitals, public libraries, and the Idaho State Library partnered together to create a user-friendly website; train public librarians to conduct efficient searches using MedlinePlus, PubMed, and the state full-text databases; and to promote use of these resources. These efforts were built on an existing consumer health partnership, funded in part by an NLM grant. Initially, health professionals serving two critical access hospitals and 10 associated clinics and library staff from two districts serving the same area were involved. In turn, these library and clinic staff provided outreach to consumers. In a second, statewide phase, consumer outreach products were made available to all public libraries in Idaho.

Locating Resources for Children at Risk

Oregon Pacific Area Health Education Center
Corvallis, OR
Project Director: Karen Bondley
December 2002 - September 2004
Phone: 541-994-4938
E-mail: bondley@charter.net
Final Report ( 21kb)

In this project, the AHEC used Internet technology to enhance practitioner and parent knowledge of online education resources for children-at-risk of mental health disorders. Activities were conducted in ten rural Oregon counties and involved a needs assessment and subsequent training program targeting the Medicaid providers of children's mental health services. There was also a consumer outreach component, using local media and health fairs to disseminate information.

Public Health Nurses and the Internet

Oregon Health & Science University
Portland, OR
Project Director: Dolores Z. Judkins
January 2004 - December 2005
Phone: 503-494-3478
E-mail: judkinsd@ohsu.edu
Final Report ( 44kb)

OHSU will work with public health nurses in Oregon to develop a web site that will include resources relevant to their daily work. This web site will then be used as a basis for training sessions on the use of sources, including PubMed, health statistics sites, consumer/patient education materials, and other Internet resources pertinent to public health nursing. With access to the Internet readily available to these members of the workforce, the goal of the project is to help public health nurses quickly find and disseminate quality health information to their constituents.

Skagit County Health Literacy Project

Skagit Valley Hospital
Mount Vernon, WA
Project Director: Sue Jacobsen
February 2005 - April 2006
Phone: 360-428-2276
E-mail: sjacobsen@skagitvalleyhospital.org
Final Report ( 92kb)

This project will attempt to improve the health literacy of the low-income population of Skagit County, Washington. The approach will be multi-dimensional an will include train the trainer efforts, marketing, and education activities. Medical librarians will train key personnel in partner agencies to access reliable health information that is understandable by low-literacy individuals. Sessions will also include background on providing basic health reference services. Promotional materials, in English and Spanish, will be developed and distributed at community agencies, food banks, and offices providing services to low-income residents. Project staff will participate in community events, publicize quality health resources via local media, and will provide training to ensure improved consumer health information services at contact sites throughout Skagit County.

Technology Training for Trusted Sources in Diverse Communities

Associates in Cultural Exchange
Seattle, WA
Project Director: David Woodward
January 2004 - April 2005
Phone: 206-217-9644
E-mail: dbw@cultural.org
Final Report ( 85kb)

This project targets families with children with developmental disabilities in the Latino, African-American, Somali, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Chinese Islander communities within King County, Washington. Associates in Cultural Exchange (ACE) will provide identified family advocates the tools and resources necessary to use the Internet to identify accurate, high-quality, culturally relevant health information for these families. Primary partners who will work with ACE include: The ARC of King County, Refugee Women's Alliance, Children's Hospital and Medical Center, and Harborview Medical Center. NN/LM network librarians and health educators from partner agencies will modify existing training materials and conduct workshops.

Walking for Health Program

Willamette Falls Hospital, Community Health Library
Oregon City, OR
Project Director: Katherine R. Martin
February 2005 - April 2006
Phone: 503-650-6757
E-mail: kathy.martin@wfhonline.org
Final Report ( 25kb)

To combat the obesity problem in Clackamas County, Oregon, the Community Health Library at Willamette Falls Hospital, along with local physicians, will promote a more active lifestyle by supporting walking as exercise and the use of pedometers. The project team will assist patients in participating in the 10,000 Steps Program, a national program that emphasizes fitness by encouraging walking. The team will provide route maps and reading materials through the Community Health Library to help people make walking for health a routine part of their lifestyle. In addition, the project will promote the library and its resources to community members, with a special focus on overweight seniors. Local AARP and American Heart Association agencies will partner in the effort, publicizing health information classes at the library and publishing topical articles in their newsletters.

X-plain Vietnamese Breast Cancer Tutorial Project

University of Washington Health Sciences Libraries
K.K. Sherwood Branch (Harborview Medical Center)
Seattle, WA
Project Director: Christine Wilson Owens
December 2002 - September 2004
Phone: 206-521-1287
E-mail: cpw2@u.washington.edu
Final Report ( 127kb)

The EthnoMed project team at Harborview Medical Center collaborated with the Patient Education Institute (PEI). PEI creates interactive tutorials on a variety of health topics in English and Spanish that are available for public access on MEDLINEplus. In this project, staff of the EthnoMed group, Harborview clinicians, and Vietnamese community members adapted and translated a PEI X-plain module about breast cancer. The process for translation and narration included integrating focus group feedback, clinical review of content, and back translation to modify PEI's English text and existing graphics for an audience of Vietnamese patients at Harborview and other Vietnamese health consumers who access the internet. The product is a prototype that can serve as an example for creative modules about health topics for immigrant patient populations.

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Access to Electronic Health Information Awards

African American Reach and Teach Health Ministry: Access to Wellness Project

AARTH
Seattle, WA
Project Director: Rev. Mary Diggs-Hobson
March 2003 - August 2004
Phone: 206-325-3359
E-mail: mhobson222@aol.com
Final Report ( 367kb)

This project will provide the African Americans Reach and Teach Health Ministry (AARTH) with the tools and resources necessary to access culturally relevant health information. The project will establish and equip the faith based health ministry network with an infrastructure to increase awareness and knowledge about prevention and health care, and promote responsible health choices and practices. A user-friendly Web site with links to culturally relevant health information will also be developed.

African American Reach and Teach Health Ministry: Access to Wellness Project 2004-2005

AARTH
Seattle, WA
Project Director: Rev. Mary Diggs-Hobson
September 2004 - March 2006
Phone: 206-850-2070; FAX: 206-722-8869
E-mail: mhobson222@aol.com
Final Report ( 110kb)

This project will expand upon the Access to Wellness Network Project previously developed with NLM support. Expansion activities will focus on providing access to culturally relevant and user-friendly NN/LM health information at six additional African American/African congregations and faith-based organizations in King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Thurston counties in Western Washington. AARTH staff and partners will work with members of these faith communities to assess and improve Internet connectivity and availability and to assist members in building health information search skills..

Alaska Health Education Library Project (AHELP)

Department of Health and Social Services
Division of Public Health
Juneau, AK
Project Director: Patricia Owen
March 2003 - December 2004
Phone: 907-465-3140; FAX: 907-465-2770
E-mail: Patty_Owen@health.state.ak.us
Final Report ( 192kb)

The purpose of this project is to ensure that health professionals, their patients and the general public in Alaska are connected to the health information resources they need to make informed health care decisions. The project will link to the resources of the Alaska Health Education Library Project and its partner libraries.

Computer Health Literacy for Seniors in Northern Idaho

Kootenai Medical Center Library
Coeur d'Alene, ID
Project Director: Marcy Horner
March 2003 - August 2004
Phone: 208-666-2483; FAX: 208-666-2854
E-mail: mhorner@kmcmail.kmc.org
Final Report ( 23kb)

Kootenai Medical Center (KMC) Library will partner with four representative senior groups, the Lake City Senior Center in Coeur d'Alene, the Post Falls Senior Center in Post Falls, the Rathdrum Senior Center in Rathdrum, and the Senior Striders to improve access to electronic health information resources by senior citizens living in northern Idaho. A "senior friendly" Web page will be created with appropriate support and self care instructions for common diagnoses encountered by senior citizens and with links to MEDLINEplus. Computer training and Internet access will be provided at these centers.

Electronic Access for Reliable Health and Medical Information Project

Sno-Isle Regional Library
Marysville, WA
Project Director: Chari McRill
September 2004 - March 2006
Phone: 360-240-1791; FAX: 360-679-3761
E-mail: cmcrill@sno-isle.org
Final Report ( 86kb)

Sno-Isle Regional Library will provide the residents of Island County, Washington, electronic access to credible health information and community resources through a partnership between Sno-Isle Libraries, a regional public library system, and Whidbey General Hospital. Patients, their families, health care professionals, and the general public will be connected with the resources needed to answer their health questions in a timely, reliable, and confidential manner. By establishing two Medical Resource sites at Whidbey General Hospital with a direct electronic link to the Library District's health related databases and/or a reference librarian, staff will be able to provide accurate information to help individuals make informed health and medical related choices. Training is also vital to aid in locating and understanding consumer health information. A major component will be to familiarize health care professionals and Sno-Isle library staff with specialized health and medical databases. Senior Centers and support groups, sponsored by Whidbey General Hospital, will also receive training. The ongoing use and value of the project to the public, healthcare professionals, and library staff will be evaluated through online and written surveys, and by counting "hits" made through the Sno-Isle Libraries website to MedlinePlus and other health databases.

Empowering Parents of Children with Special Health Care Needs

Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center
Center for Children with Special Needs
Seattle, WA
Project Director: Nanci (Larter) Villareale
March 2003 - August 2004
Phone: 206-987-5733, Fax: 206-987-5705
Email: nanci.villareale@seattlechildrens.org
Final Report ( 76kb)

The purpose of this project is to train parents of children with special health care needs to advance their skills and abilities in using the Internet to seek health information and resources. In partnership with the Washington State Fathers Network and Washington State Parent to Parent, the Center for Children with Special Needs at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle will develop a skills-based train-the-trainer curriculum with parent input that will provide the basis for Internet training on accessing health information and resources.

Health Reference Triage: Health Resources for Public Librarians

Tuality Health Information Resource Center
Hillsboro, OR
Project Director: Judith Hayes
September 2004 - March 2006
Phone: 503-681-1121; FAX: 503-681-1729
Email: judith.hayes@tuality.org
Final Report ( 36kb)

The members of the Oregon Health Sciences Libraries Association (OHSLA) will hold a series of "Health Reference Triage" classes in the state of Oregon and in Vancouver, Washington to reach public librarians in their home areas. The purpose is two-fold: 1) to expand the knowledge and ability of public librarians to deliver health information to the public, and 2) to foster connections between clinical and consumer health science libraries and public libraries. Classes will be held in local public, academic, or health science libraries, hands-on when possible. The syllabus and web links will be available on-line through the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) website. Tuality Health Information Resource Center, a consumer health library funded by the Tuality Healthcare Foundation, will manage the project.

Locating Healthcare Resource for Rural Communities

Oregon Pacific Area Health Education Center
Corvallis, OR
Project Director: Karen Bondley
September 2004 - March 2006
Phone: 541-737-8600; FAX: 541-8606
E-mail: bondley@charter.net
Final Report ( 34kb)

Oregon Pacific AHEC will use Internet technology to enhance consumer use of online medical educational resources in northwest rural Oregon. This Internet promotion project has two components. The first is a program to promote MedlinePlus, Profiles in Science, and Images from the History of Medicine to high school students enrolled in health career programs with particular focus on minority students participating in the Multi-Cultural Youth for Health Careers Program, a collaborative project with Oregon Health and Science University, AHEC Program Office. Anticipated number of participants to be served is estimated at 150 students. An additional 250 students will be reached through participation in high school career fairs. The second component is a consumer outreach program using local media and participation in multi-cultural community health fairs to disseminate medical Internet resource information. Local newspapers in rural northwest Oregon serve 75,000 households, and participation in local health fairs will reach additional residents. Evaluation will be based on the number of participants receiving medical Internet information and specific surveys which will be designed to determine the effectiveness of the student and consumer outreach activities by measuring use of NLM web sites and consumers' perceptions of the usefulness of the information they receive.

Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence

Voices of Hope
Great Falls, MT
Project Director: Susie McIntyre
September 2004 - March 2006
Phone: 406-268-1330 ext. 1671; FAX: 406-771-3946
E-mail: susiemcintyre@sofast.net
Final Report ( 43kb)

Voices of Hope and the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence (Montana Coalition) will improve access to mental health and crisis information for mental health providers and domestic violence and sexual assault service providers in Montana. Responding to a statewide action plan that calls for development of a resource for "accessing technical assistance, training, 'best practices' information and updated listings of community resources," the project will expand resource centers at Voices of Hope and the Montana Coalition. Project staff will disseminate accurate, up-to-date mental health and crisis information to service providers across the state. They will provide training and information skills development workshops and will evaluate the impact of their activities.

Online Access to Reviewed Health Education Materials

Public Health - Seattle King County
Health Education Materials Program
Seattle, WA
Project Director: Elizabeth Comstock
March 2003 - November 2004
Phone: 206-296-4354, Fax: 206-296-4379
E-mail: elizabeth.comstock@metrokc.gov
Final Report ( 33kb)

The Health Education Materials Program (HEM) of Public Health - Seattle and King County (PHSKC) will collaborate with Washington State Department of Health (DOH) Office of Health Promotion's Health Education Resource Exchange (H.E.R.E.) to provide electronic access to reviewed health education materials. This project will create the Online Reviews of Health Education Materials (ORHEM) using the database of health education materials maintained by the Health Education Materials Review Committee of Public Health - Seattle and King County. It will expand understanding of the effective use of selected health education materials among health and human services providers by providing access to HEM review comments, previously unavailable in print catalogs or outside of King County, and by the online inclusion of review standards.

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Resource Library Outreach Subcontracts

Finding It on the Internet: Health Access for Elders

OHSU Library
Oregon Health & Science University
Portland, OR
Project Director: Dolores Zegar Judkins
November 2001 - May 2003
Phone: 503-494-3478
E-mail: judkinsd@ohsu.edu
Final Report ( 49kb)

The purpose of this project was to provide easily accessible health information for elders through the Internet. Using a web page designed by elders and persons from the OHSU Division of Medical Informatics and Outcomes Research, OHSU Library and the OHSU Center for Healthy Aging, elders will be able to find information on health, illness, end of life issues, and other health-related topics of interest. The site contains links to established health sites on the web as well as original content written by nursing faculty at OHSU. It also contains information on local organizations that work with elders. In addition, the project examined the relationship between what participants say is useful site design as compared with generally accepted best practice for usability. This research can be used by others to assist in their own web development, and the site can serve as a model for future sites.

EthnoMed Community Outreach Project

University of Washington Health Sciences Libraries
K.K. Sherwood Branch (Harborview Medical Center)
Seattle, WA
Project Director: Ellen Howard
July 1999 - April 2001
Phone: 206-731-3360; Fax: 206-731-8673
E-mail: ehh@u.washington.edu

In 1994 the librarian at Harborview Medical Center (HMC), a member of the UW Health Sciences Libraries staff, worked with University of Washington (UW) faculty, staff and students from various departments to establish what has become the Web-based file known as EthnoMed. The Community House Calls program at HMC is now considered the home of the overall project. The EthnoMed team designed the site to provide health-related information via the Web in order to improve communication between targeted refugee/immigrant populations in Seattle and their health care providers and strives to make this cultural information useful in the clinical setting. The team includes the target populations in the creation of the cultural information written about them or for their use. For the outreach project the team worked with six refugee/immigrant groups in Seattle to improve their knowledge of and access to the Web and get them involved in the process of writing health-related documents for the Web. Goals of the project included: 1. Increased use of technological resources by the communities, 2. Increased information in EthnoMed reflecting health-related needs and interests of the target populations, 3. Improved use of information resources by the providers, 4. Improved awareness of the librarians/libraries role in the collection, organization, presentation and access to information.

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