The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) Libraries will be hosting the 2009 Promotores de Salud Conference Friday, October 2, 2009 at the Isla Grand Beach Resort, South Padre Island, Texas.

Library staff and other community agencies are planning this conference with the following objectives:

1. Increase promotores’ (community health workers) awareness of health information resources, especially those appropriate for the diverse Rio Grande Valley community;
2. Empower promotores personally and professionally as advocates for health information, health careers, and health literacy;
3. Identify and present opportunities for collaboration among agencies, promotores and librarians on efforts to disseminate locally relevant health information to the broader community.

As part of the conference, the UTHSCSA Libraries are also offering “The Librarians’ Experience,” a unique opportunity for librarians, with a demonstrated interest in community outreach and health literacy. Librarians interested in participating in The Librarians’ Experience should submit the following:

• A current CV
• A brief (500 words) statement describing reasons for pursuing this opportunity, including past outreach experience in health information and current/future outreach projects.

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As part of an NN/LM SCR funded project, SMILE (Sharing MedlinePlus/MEDLINE for Information Literacy Education), library staff from the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio developed an online tutorial to provide instruction that focuses on finding and evaluating information relevant to public health dental practice. The Oral Health Information Tutorial is now available for practitioners such as educators, dental hygienists and dentists working in the field of dental public health.

You can view each of the 4 modules of the tutorial independently:

• Module 1: Toolkit for Dental Public Health Professionals - Learn how to define public health dentistry and identify professional resources to help stay informed of developments in the field.
• Module 2: Evidence-Based Dental Public Health - Learn how to find evidence-based scientific literature and apply it to your practice.
• Module 3: Oral Health Data Tools and Statistics - Learn about available statistics related to oral health and how to find these resources on the Internet.
• Module 4: Oral Health Resources - Learn what quality online resources exist for patients and consumers.

Posting adapted from Staying Well. Connected. blog.  Written by Lara Sapp, Outreach Fellow, UT Health Science Center San Antonio

Healthy Roads Media has responded to numerous requests for materials available in a format which could be used in closed-circuit television or video-on-demand systems by hospitals, large clinics, educational systems and social service systems to provide information to populations they are trying to serve.

Healthy Roads Media has recently converted approximately thirty topics into an MPEG video format that will work in these systems. To cover the costs of this effort and maintain the resources, a fee will be requested for these files.

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Just a reminder: August 3th is the deadline for several of the funding opportunities available from the NN/LM SCR office:

Access to Electronic Consumer Health Information:
http://nnlm.gov/scr/funding/aechi.html
This funding is for a project that uses electronic consumer health information to assist health professionals, their patients and/or the general public to find the health information resources they need to make informed health care decisions.  Three (3) projects up to $25,000 each will be available.

Express Outreach Award:
http://nnlm.gov/scr/funding/exp_outreach.html
This funding is for a project that will highlight the National Library of Medicine’s databases to improve access to health and biomedical information.  Special consideration will be given to first-time applicants for this award. Thirteen (13) projects up to $5,000 each will be awarded.

Information Access Improvement Project Award:
http://nnlm.gov/scr/funding/iaip.html
The purpose of the IAIP award is to help NN/LM SCR Network members to improve their access to Internet-based health information including National Library of Medicine products and services. Ten (10) projects up to $5,000 each will be awarded.

Library Technology Award:
http://nnlm.gov/scr/funding/librarytech_award.html
The purpose of the LTA award is to assist full Network members in the NN/LM SCR to implement large-scale technology applications to further encourage library improvement and expansion of library services. Three (3) projects up to $20,000 will be awarded.

Professional Development Award:
http://nnlm.gov/scr/funding/pda.html
The purpose of this award is to enable individuals at NN/LM SCR Network member institutions to expand professional knowledge and experience to provide improved health information access to health care professionals and consumers.  Ten (10) awards up to $1,000 each are available.

Partners in Public Health Information Outreach
http://nnlm.gov/scr/funding/publichealth_rfp.html
The purpose of the Partners in Public Health Information Outreach award is to provide the public health workforce with timely, convenient access to information resources that can help them perform their jobs more effectively.
Two (2) projects up to $25,000 will be awarded.

Library Student Award
http://nnlm.gov/scr/funding/lso.html
The purpose of this award is to promote the value of outreach to library school students interested in health sciences librarianship.  As part of the award, students would attend the South Central Chapter of the Medical Library Association in Tulsa taking place October  17-21.  Ten (10) awards are available. This award is intended to cover all expenses, up to $1,400 per student

The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Robert M. Bird Health Sciences Library and the Metropolitan Library System have been selected for a pilot program sponsored by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and NN/LM. The program, entitled “Community Day,” is designed to assist libraries in becoming active partners in their community’s emergency preparedness, response and recovery planning. Community Day will make libraries part of the nationwide effort encouraging all Americans to take simple steps in preparing for possible emergencies in their homes, businesses, schools and communities.

Title: From Band-Aids to Twisters: Enhancing Community and Personal Preparedness
Lead Library: University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Robert M. Bird Health Sciences Library, Oklahoma City
Partner Library: Metropolitan Library System, Oklahoma City
Project Manager: Shari Clifton

Since there were only three sites selected nationwide, the NN/LM SCR is proud that libraries in Oklahoma will be participating in this important project.

The recording of the June 17 SCR CONNECTions webmeeting “Health Information Literacy Research Project Update” is available online at http://nnlm.gov/scr/training/webmeeting.html.  This presentation was made  by Jean Shipman, Director of the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library and the NN/LM MidContinental Region, and Lenora Kinzie, Director of the Stormont-Vail Healthcare Stauffer Health Sciences Library in Topeka, KS.

Please note, due to technical difficulties there are some problems with the sound for approximately three minutes of the recording.  This problem has been fixed so in the future this will not happen.

Next month’s meeting will be held Wednesday, July 15 at 10:30 am CT.  Re Mishra, the Health Professionals Outreach Coordinator, will be presenting “Introducing DOCLINE 4.0.”

Karen

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today that the Indian Health Service (IHS) will release $500 million allocated for improvements in Indian health in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.

“These Recovery Act funds will provide critical assistance to American Indian and Alaska Native communities,” said IHS Director Yvette Roubideaux. “These funds will help improve health care, create jobs and make our native communities stronger.”

The Recovery Act funds are to be expended by the IHS as follows: $227 million for health facilities construction, $100 million for maintenance and improvements, $85 million for health information technology, $68 million for sanitation facilities construction, and $20 million for health equipment that will help improve health care in Indian Country.

For more information, see news release: http://tinyurl.com/l4tn9k

According to the AP article that appeared in the Washington Post on June 14, 2009, the infant death rate of American Indians is 40 percent higher than the rate for whites.  American Indians are twice as likely to die from diabetes and 60 percent more likely to have a stroke.  In 1787, the United States government agreed to provide American Indians with free health care on reservations.  However, patients on many reservations often do not get the care they need until it is too late.  Many of them are eligible for Medicare and Medicaid but have not enrolled because they do not have access to computers.

PROMISES, PROMISES: Indian health care needs unmet
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
The Associated Press

The American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, in cooperation with the National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health, announced that 12 libraries will host “Harry Potter’s World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine,” for a four-week display period between September 2009 and November 2010 and present at least two public programs on the exhibition themes.  All showings of the exhibition and related programs will be free and open to the public.

Congratulations to University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas for being selected to host this exhibit in the South Central Region!

To see the rest of the selected libraries, go to: http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2009/june2009/harrypotter_ppo.cfm

The NN/LM SCR is now accepting applications for the 2009 Library Student Outreach funding opportunity.  The purpose of this award is to promote the value of outreach to library school students interested in health sciences librarianship.

The award provides funding for students to attend and participate in NN/LM SCR outreach activities at the South Central Chapter (SCC) of the Medical Library Association’s Annual Meeting taking place in Tulsa, OK October 17 – 21, 2009.  At the conference, students will attend meetings and other activities designed for them to learn about the importance of health information outreach and outreach services conducted by librarians in the South Central Region.  (more…)