http://nihseniorhealth.gov/medicare/toc.html
If you’re caring for an older friend or family member, you’ve probably had questions about Medicare, the federal health insurance program for adults 65 and older and people under age 65 with disabilities. While you may know that Medicare helps pay for medical and prescription drug costs, you may want to become more familiar with the Medicare benefits and resources available to your friend or loved one. An easy-to-read overview, “Medicare Basics for Caregivers,” is now available at NIHSeniorHealth.gov, the Web site for older adults from the National Institutes of Health. This brief, yet comprehensive introduction to Medicare gives caregivers the basics and helps them find answers to their questions. The complete NIH News Release is available online at: http://www.nih.gov/news/health/may2009/nia-13.htm

The Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights issued a statement addressing Civil Rights in Response to the
H1N1 Influenza. http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/h1n1_response.php

California’s Emergency Preparedness Efforts for Culturally Diverse Communities: Status, Challenges and Directions for the Future
http://tinyurl.com/pdznan
prepared by the Center for Health Equality at the Drexel University School of Public Health, with joint support from The California Endowment and the HHS Office of Minority Health. [from Diversity Preparedness http://www.diversitypreparedness.org]

Women at Risk: Why Many Women Are Forgoing Needed Health Care
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Issue-Briefs/2009/May/Women-at-Risk.aspx
This study, by Commonwealth Fund researchers Sheila Rustgi, Michelle Doty, Ph.D., and Sara Collins, Ph.D., reveals that seven of 10 working-age women have no health insurance coverage or inadequate coverage, medical bill or debt problems, or problems getting needed health care because of cost.[posted on The Commonwealth Fund]

New Study Finds Fewer Families Can Afford Health Insurance
http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2009/faminspr.htm
The majority of uninsured American families who are not covered by group health insurance through an employer cannot afford to buy health insurance, according to a new study by HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). [AHRQ updates email]

Key Role of Sole Community Pharmacists in Their Local Healthcare Delivery Systems
http://www.shepscenter.unc.edu/research_programs/rural_program/pubs/finding_brief/FB88.pdf
A new publication is available from the North Carolina Rural Health Research & Policy Analysis Center that examines the role in their community of independent pharmacists whose store is located at least 10 miles from the next closest retail pharmacy.

2nd International Day for Sharing Life Stories
http://newroutes.org
May 16. This year’s theme is Journey for Justice - Migration and Refugees. Here at New Routes we believe in the power of first-voice stories to make connections among all of us who live in the United States–immigrants and non-immigrants, alike. View digital stories, listen to radionovelas, read about the lives of our New Routes leaders

Hesperian (http://hesperian.org/ And in Spanish http://espanol.hesperian.org/) is a non-profit publisher of books and newsletters for community-based health care. Simply written and heavily illustrated, Hesperian books are designed so that people with little formal education can understand, apply and share health information. Publications include “Helping Health Workers Learn: A book of methods, aids, and ideas for instructors at the village level” Available in Spanish: “Aprendiendo a promover la salud” and “When There is No Doctor: A village health care handbook” Available in Spanish: “Donde no hay doctor”

Henry the Hand
http://www.henrythehand.com/pages/content/index.html
This is a curriculum that was started for young schoolchildren

Dalls County Health and Human Services Just for Kids

• Cover That Cough Game  http://www.dallascounty.org/department/hhservices/coverthatcoughgame.html
• Be A Germ Stopper http://www.dallascounty.org/department/hhservices/documents/GermStopper_Girl_Print.pdf
• Scrub Club http://www.scrubclub.org/home.aspx
• Hand Washing For Kids http://www.dallascounty.org/department/hhservices/documents/handwashingforkids.pdf

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences National Institutes of Health (NIH)
http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/pandemic.htm

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/04/departments/native-names-interactive
National Geographic has created a fantastic interactive “Native Names” U.S. map. Towns and states with native names are labeled with their names’ literal translations–so you see “Shakes Himself” instead of “Kupunkamint Mountain, MT” and “They are killers” instead of Yosemite, CA.  [American Indian Library Association listserv posting]

The DiversityRx project http://diversityrx.org/ announces a new initiative for people working in the field of culturally and linguistically competence health care to network, collaborate, offer support, and learn from each other using Web 2.0 and virtual learning tools. The goal is to bridge distance and institutional isolation, to unearth the practice innovations and challenges faced by those on the front lines, and to share those experiences for mutual support.

To start with, you can apply to participate in the first Community of Practice, which is a small group (12-20 participants) of professional colleagues who ‘meet’ monthly on a specific topic through teleconference or online learning platforms to discuss common practice challenges and share information about strategies and resources. The theme for the first Community of Practice is “Managing the implementation and acceptance of cultural competence training for health care organization staff.”  Details and a link to the application are online at http://www.diversityrxconference.org/Your-Voice/Communities-of-Practice/140/
Applications are due on Friday, May 22, 2009.

http://www.rwjf.org/qualityequality/product.jsp?id=39591
Clear communication is a cornerstone of patient safety and quality health care. Quality translated health materials can serve as valuable communications tools for both patients and providers, and can help to ensure the delivery of safe, effective and high-quality care. The More Than Words Toolkit Series, a new resource developed by Hablamos Juntos with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, clarifies the translation process and provides a roadmap to help health care organizations improve the quality of their translated materials in order to get better results. [RWJF Content Alerts]

http://tinyurl.com/dlvwvf
In this podcast, Dr. Rima Rudd, Senior Lecturer on Society, Human Development, and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health talks with Helen Osborne, President of Health Literacy Consulting, about the health literacy burden in healthcare. Topics include:

• Literacy-related disparities and barriers as they relate to healthcare
• Deconstructing healthcare language, instructions, and activities
• Literacy demands in chronic disease management, prevention, and navigation
• Why it’s time to reconsider the definition of health literacy

Swine Flu advisory info in multiple languages
Look for the swine flu special focus on the Refugee Health Information Network (http://www.rhin.org). Information will include the recent CDC Swine Flu advisory (translated by the American Bureau of Professional Translators) in Vietnamese and Arabic (we are adding some English materials, though RHIN primarily focuses on refugee languages paired with English “parent” text).  Other languages to be added include Burmese, Kirundi and Somali translations, also from Texas. [CLAStalk}

Pandemic Flu Preparedness: A Checklist for Faith-based and Community Organizations
The collaboration of faith-based and community organizations with public health agencies will be essential in protecting the public’s health and safety if and when an influenza pandemic occurs. This checklist provides guidance for religious organizations (churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, etc.), social service agencies that are faith-based, and community organizations in developing and improving influenza pandemic response and preparedness plans. Many of the points suggested here can improve your organization’s ability to protect your community during emergencies in general. You can find more information at www.pandemicflu.gov. To identify steps you can take to prepare yourself and your community, visit http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/community/faithcomchecklist.html [posted on HHS CFBCI Listserv - April 29, 2009]

Pan American Health Organization
Swine Influenza
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=805&Itemid=569

Swine Flu Scare 1976
http://libguides.bgsu.edu/SwineFlu
The Swine Flu Scare of 1976: U.S. Government Publications A bibliography of United States government publications about the Swine Flu scare of 1976. This is accompanied by a brief article summarizing events.

Swine Influenza (H1N1) and Adults and Adolescents Infected with HIV: Considerations for Clinicians
CDC has published interim guidance for clinicians regarding management of patients with HIV who have been exposed to or who have contracted the swine influenza. strongly encourages clinicians to familiarize themselves with the interim guidance and organizations with Web sites to link to this guidance, which can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/guidance_HIV.htm.

MedlinePlus Health Topic on Swine Flu
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/swineflu.html

Environmental Health and Toxicology Links on Swine Flu
http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/swineflu.html
The National Library of Medicine Division of Specialized Information Services has released an Enviro-Health Links page on Swine Flu. This page contains links to resources about the 2009 Swine Flu outbreak, including transmission, prevention, treatment, and the genetic makeup of the influenza virus.

CDC has updated travel recommendations with regard to travel to Mexico.
http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/contentSwineFluMexico.aspx

HealthMap added a page just for swine flu
http://www.healthmap.org/swineflu