Quick Guide to Health Literacy and Older Adults
http://www.health.gov/communication/literacy/olderadults/default.htm

Making Your Web Site Senior Friendly
is an informative checklist Web designers can use while creating online material for older adults. This checklist, published by the National Institute on Aging and the NationalLibrary of Medicine, is available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/checklist.pdf

Making Text Legible: Designing for People with Partial Sight
These guidelines provide good examples of effective legibility choices for anyone. It is available by the Lighthouse International at
http://www.lighthouse.org/accessibility/legible

Effective Color Contrast: Designing for People with Partial Sight and Color Deficiencies
These guidelines provide specific examples of
effective color contrast. It is available from Lighthouse International
at http://www.lighthouse.org/accessibility/effective-color-contrast

In Other Words…When Vision Is an Issue…Communicating With Patients Who Are Visually Impaired
is a concise article that offers practical tips for designing materials for people with visual challenges. You can find it at http://www.healthliteracy.com/article.asp?PageID=3774

Making Web Sites More Accessible for Users Who Are Older and/or Have a Disability
includes background information on visual disabilities and offers strategies for improving accessibility. It is available at
http://www.adrc-tae.org/tiki-index.php?page=TAEIssueBriefs

http://estudiabetes.com/
Thanks to a review done by librarian Maria Fernandez
Estudiabetes.com is a social networking site in Spanish dedicated to people of all ages with diabetes condition, and to the parents of children with diabetes. The main purposes is for them to share their experiences in dealing with the disease, as well as to offer to others, like them, information about diabetes that they have come across. The site also provides breaking news on diabetes.

The latest interview from the Health Out Loud Pocast Series is now online.  Domenic Screnci, Ed.D. is the Executive Director for Educational Media and Technology at Boston University. He also co-directs Boston University’s new online Master of Science Health Communications Program. Dr. Screnci has 30 years experience in the field of biocommunications and serves as an educational technologist, instructional systems designer and integrator, instructional designer and a producer of curriculum materials for traditional and new media based educational projects. In this Health Literacy Out Loud podcast, he talks with Helen Osborne about visual literacy. http://tinyurl.com/dax7jj

Topics include:

• What visual literacy is and how it relates to health literacy
• Ways visual literacy helps readers interact with information
• How to adapt visuals to meet the needs of specific audiences

When physicians use health information technology to its full potential, the result is fewer deaths, fewer complications, and lower health care costs, according to the first study to directly measure physicians’ use of health IT in a hospital setting.

In the study, Clinical Information Technologies and Inpatient Outcomes: A Multiple Hospital Study http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=796345 (Archives of Internal Medicine, Jan. 26), a team led by Ruben Amarasingham, M.D., of Southwestern Medical School surveyed physicians from 41 Texas hospitals treating patients for a variety of conditions, including heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia. The researchers found that relatively modest increases in technology use had dramatic results. For example, a 10-percentage-point increase in the use of electronic notes and medical records resulted in a 15 percent decrease in patient deaths. And when doctors electronically entered their instructions for patient care, death rates dropped up to 55 percent for some procedures. [Commonwealth Fun e-alert]

Beyond Words: The Dollar General School Library Relief Program
http://www.raconline.org/funding/funding_details.php?funding_id=1793
Application deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis.
Benefits public school libraries recovering from major disasters. The fund provides grants for books, media and/or equipment that support learning in a school library environment.

Do Something Disaster Grants
http://www.raconline.org/funding/funding_details.php?funding_id=2056
Application deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis.
Grants to young people across the US and Canada with a project idea around the themes of disaster preparedness and emergency response.

Emergency Capital Repair Program (ECRP)
http://www.raconline.org/funding/funding_details.php?funding_id=722
Application deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis.
Grant funds for private nonprofit owners of eligible developments designated for occupancy by elderly tenants to make emergency capital repairs.

Safe Havens: Supervised Visitation and Safe Exchange Grant Program
http://www.raconline.org/funding/funding_details.php?funding_id=1808
Letter of Intent (Optional): Jan 31, 2008
Application deadline: Feb 19, 2009
Funding for communities to support the supervised visitation and safe exchange of children in situations involving domestic violence, dating violence, child abuse, sexual assault, or stalking.

Communities Creating Healthy Environments
http://www.raconline.org/funding/funding_details.php?funding_id=2062
Application deadline: Feb 26, 2009
Funding to prevent childhood obesity by increasing access to healthy foods and safe places to play in communities of color.

Improving Literacy Through School Libraries Program
http://www.raconline.org/funding/funding_details.php?funding_id=448
Application deadline: Mar 6, 2009
Grants to support literacy in grades K - 12 through school libraries.

OVW FY 2009 Grants to Enhance Culturally and Linguistically Specific Services for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking Program
http://www.raconline.org/funding/funding_details.php?funding_id=2061
Application deadline: Mar 14, 2009
Funding to community based organizations to addresses language and communication barriers to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking victims.

[Rural Assistance Center Human Services Update]

Community Based Cancer-Control: A Seminar for American Indian and Alaska Native Community Health Advocates
March 8-13, 2009
Portland Oregon

All communities have unmet health needs. Sometimes it is hard to determine exactly what those needs are, and often it is hard to get programs funded. Researchers can help quantify health needs, but there is frequently a disconnect between what the community wants and what the researcher wants. That’s where a partnership between research and communities can help.

The goal of this program is to provide community members with the tools to approach researchers, identify research questions, write grants and collaborate on projects that address cancer health disparities.  This training seminar is open to tribal community members with an interest in improving cancer prevention, screening, and treatment in his or her community. Throughout the week, participants will become familiar with elements of writing a winning community-based grant. Seminar topics will cover the following grant-writing basics: where to locate funding sources, how to establish grant-writing goals and objectives, how to develop a budget, and more.

Successful applicants receive a scholarship covering travel, hotel, per diem meal allowance, and course materials.
Applications are due by February 6, 2009.

Please contact Jessica Kennedy and she can get an application form to you. Ms. Kennedys e-mail address is blarjesj@ohsu.edu and her phone number is (503) 494-1126.

[posted on CBPR listserv]

Public Librarians Response to Hurricanes: Lessons, Issues and Strategies
Lecture and Webcast
February 20, 2009 12:30 - 2:30
http://ci.fsu.edu/news/?p=1363

The five panel experts have had “hands on” experience in assisting libraries plan for and respond to hurricanes.  As such they are assisting the Information Institute in completing a study that will identify public library best practices in hurricane preparedness and response, create a web portal to organize and access a broad range of information that can be of assistance to public librarians and local communities regarding hurricanes, and provide training to public libraries for how best to use this website and the various materials generated by the study.  Detailed background information about the study, its goals, funding, activities, can be found at: http://www.ii.fsu.edu/news_detail.cfm?newsID=62 The program will also be webcast with access instructions to be announced on the College of Information webpage at http://www.ci.fsu.edu/.

Health Information Outreach and Community Engagement:  Lessons Learned from the Experts
Thursday, February 12, 2009 / 2 – 3:30 PM
Engaging your community with health information outreach projects is rewarding, meaningful work. Come learn from the experiences of experts in health information outreach and community engagement. Each speaker has led a successful health information outreach subcontract from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine/ New England Region. The program is intended for anyone interested in pursuing funding or learning more about how to engage the local community in effective health information outreach.
Registration is free and on a first come, first serve basis.  Session will be limited to fifty participants.
To register, please contact Martha Pearson at martha.pearson@umassmed.edu.
In your email please include:
•    Name
•    Institution / address with zip code / phone / e-mail
•    Name of the program (Health Information Outreach and Community Engagement:  Lessons Learned from the Experts).

“Update on PubMed”
Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009
1:00 MT, 2:00 CT.
“Spotlight! on National Library of Medicine Resources” is a new series of classes presented by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, MidContinental Region!  We’re focusing on the “spotlight” aspect - choosing limited databases on which to focus, and practice time with exercises in each monthly session. And the first is the ” Update on PubMed” This online training is FREE, and requires no registration. All you need is a computer with Internet access and a phone. All classes can be accessed by going to https://webmeeting.nih.gov/mcr. The series is targeted for the fourth Wednesday each month. Upcoming dates and topics include: Feb. 25 -MedlinePlus and the Household Products Database., March 25 - Educational Resources for Kids, and April 22 - Drug Resources. We hope to “see” you there!

http://tinyurl.com/d9334o
On Tuesday, February 24, at 2pm ET, the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools is hosting a webinar regarding how to help refugee and immigrant students achieve success in school. The webinar “will highlight successful strategies for supporting the mental health needs of immigrant and refugee students, focusing on engaging the family, which is often a close-knit and protective force in the child’s life. Immigrant and refugee students face challenges to learning beyond mastering a new language. The strategies to be presented were identified through the Caring Across Communities initiative, a series of innovative partnerships among schools, mental health service providers, and immigrant and refugee community organizations in 15 communities around the country, supported by grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.”
To register for the webinar, visit: https://rwjf.webex.com/rwjf/j.php?ED=117141422&RG=1&UID=0.
For more information about the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools, see http://www.healthinschools.org.

State of the U.S.A. Health Indicators
Committee on the State of the USA Health Indicators, Institute of Medicine, 2008
Available online at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12534
“………..Policymakers, the media, and the public should focus on 20 specific health indicators as “yardsticks” to measure the overall health and well-being of Americans, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM).
By providing information that can be compared over time, these 20 indicators will also help Americans track the nation’s progress on improving our health and the effectiveness of public health and care systems.
The indicators are intended for the health section of a new Web site that the nonprofit State of the USA Inc. (SUSA) http://stateoftheusa.org/ is building as a tool for measuring and monitoring the nation on several fronts. The site will aim to help people become more-informed and active participants in national discussions about important topics — such as health, education, and the environment — by giving them a way to measure national progress from year to year and to compare it to that of other countries. Until recently, only researchers and academics have had the capacity for this kind of analysis.
The 20 proposed indicators together provide a broad picture of Americans’ health and the nation’s health systems. They reflect a range of factors that determine well-being, including how many individuals engage in certain risky or healthy behaviors, how well patients fare from the care they receive, and to what extent health professionals and facilities are meeting specific goals. [posted on PAHO/WHO Equity list]

Reducing Inequities in Health and Safety through Prevention
http://www.preventioninstitute.org/documents/HealthEquityMemo_012309.pdf
Prevention Institute and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Institute for Health Policy have released a position paper, Reducing Inequities in Health and Safety through Prevention. The paper emphasizes the need for a national commitment and elements of an agenda focused on achieving equitable health outcomes for all. [Prevention Institute Alert]

Access to healthy foods worse in poor areas
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_74043.html
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
By Anne Harding
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who live in poorer neighborhoods in the US are less likely to have easy access to supermarkets carrying a wide variety of fresh produce and other healthy food, an analysis of 54 studies confirms.
But they probably have plenty of unhealthy fast food joints to choose from, Dr. Nicole I. Larson of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and her colleagues found.
“The research I reviewed suggests there is a need for new policies and other local actions to address the problem of poor access to healthy foods in many lower income, rural, and minority communities,” Larson told Reuters Health.
Evidence is mounting, Larson and her team note, that segregation of neighborhoods by “income, race, and ethnicity” plays a major role in US health disparities, and accessibility to healthy — and unhealthy — food may be a factor. [posted in MedlinePlus Health News, Thursday January 22, 2009]