by Paula Maez, Youth Services Librarian & Paulina Aguirre-Clinch, Librarian
Pima County Public Library
Tucson, Arizona

In January 2012, Pima County Public Library (PCPL) partnered with the Pima County Health Department, to become the first public library in the nation to have a public health nurse permanently assigned to its staff. Because the pilot program proved successful, PCPL was able to expand it to additional branches in the summer of 2012. (more…)

I just returned from a great trip to the 3rd Biannual National Latino Cancer Summit, held July 23-25, 2012, at the Mission Bay Campus of the University of California, San Francisco, where I presented an overview of NLM’s TOXNET system to researchers and community activists working to eliminate cancer in the Latino community. The summit is organized by Latinas Contra Cancer, a nonprofit organization established in 2003, which is dedicated to assisting Latino cancer patients and advocating on their behalf. In addition to organizing the Biannual summit, Latinas Contra Cancer mobilizes promotoras community health workers to provide linguistically appropriate patient navigator services in cancer centers, support groups, and educational workshops for cancer patients and their families. The organization also advocates for increased cancer research funding and community engagement, and provides access to bras, wigs, and prostheses for cancer patients and survivors. The summit is held biannually in San Francisco, with an estimated attendance of 200. (more…)

by Lynn Kysh
Department of Information Studies student
UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies

During the 2012 spring quarter, I had the opportunity to intern with the Pacific Southwest Regional Medical Library. For the past ten weeks, I’ve taken on three projects: a training session on MedlinePlus for medical social workers, a webinar focused on resources for sexual violence survivors, and a project modifying an existing curriculum, which instructs senior adults how to find and evaluate online health resources for a low literacy population. These projects all complement my interest in providing instruction services, and my growing commitment to health literacy. (more…)

by Patricia Vader and Frances Chu
Harriet K. & Philip Pumerantz Library, Western University of Health Sciences
Pomona, CA

Pumerantz Library at Western University of Health Sciences received an outreach funding award in August 2011, to plan and implement a diabetes information outreach program to the Hispanic community of Pomona, located roughly 30 miles east of Los Angeles. This resulted in a pilot program to teach the community members about a range of topics related to diabetes, and how to use MedlinePlus to find information related to the health issues associated with diabetes. (more…)

By Vicki Burchfield
Department of Information Studies student
UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies

During the winter quarter, 2012, UCLA Department of Information Studies student Vicki Burchfield completed an internship with the Regional Medical Library. Through her previous work as a Public Service Assistant at the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, Ms. Burchfield had experience with answering reference questions and researching subject guides. Upon completion of her internship, Ms. Burchfield wrote the following summary reflecting upon her experience and the lessons learned during the process of researching and creating an online subject guide for the Clinical Social Work Department at the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center. (more…)

by Sherrill Olsen and Louisa Verma
Health Sciences Library, Huntington Hospital
Pasadena, CA

Last August, the Health Sciences Library at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, CA received an outreach funding award to develop a web site for health issues related to teens. The result is Healthy Teens Pasadena (HTP), a multimedia web site that brings Pasadena-area and Internet resources for teen health issues together in one place for teens, parents, and adolescent educators. (more…)

by Yamila El-Khayat, MALS
Outreach Services Librarian, Arizona Health Sciences Library
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ

Love of Reading Week, occurring February 13-17, 2012, was a national celebration promoting an appreciation of literature among students and adults through author readings, special presentations, and other literary activities. During this time, students had the opportunity to interact with different professionals in various fields, to hear about the importance of reading in career development, and to share reading a book that will leave a lasting memory. This has truly become a wonderful experience for grade school children in helping to explore new career fields and inspiring them to continue their education. (more…)

November is National Native American Heritage Month! Beginning as “American Indian Day” in 1915, National Native American Heritage Month recognizes the achievements of American Indians and Alaska Natives during the month of November. The Pacific Southwest Region is home to over 1.1 million American Indian and Alaska Natives (AI/AN), nearly 20% of the country’s AI/AN population. Unfortunately, AI/ANs have disproportionately high prevalence of diabetes, suicide, infant death, unintentional and motor vehicle injuries, chronic liver disease, and cirrhosis than other Americans. These health disparities may be the result of inadequate education, disproportionate poverty, discrimination in the delivery of health services, and cultural differences, caused by economic adversity and poor social conditions. As health information professionals, we work not only with our patrons, but we work with our hospitals, our institutions, and our communities. This allows us a unique role in the fight against health disparities: we have the health resources and we have the ability to bring these parties together to make change. (more…)

by Yamila El-Khayat, MALS
Outreach Services Librarian, Arizona Health Sciences Library
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ

On September 7-8, 2011, I attended the Arizona Refugee Resettlement Conference, which is dedicated to identifying the needs and providing a better understanding of the refugee community, and how we can come together to help enrich the lives of refugees. The event was held at the Westin La Paloma in Tucson, Arizona. There were approximately 400 participants, from many different sectors and companies, but all united in the cause to help the refugee population adapt to their foreign country and culture. (more…)

By Yamila El-Khayat, Outreach Services Librarian, Arizona Health Sciences Library

I recently came back from attending the Arizona State Library Summit, “Adult Services for the 21st Century Summit: Living Longer, Living Better” which gives public librarians a space to learn about community resources and also attend sessions by various speakers. The event took place in the heart of Phoenix, our state’s capital city. The conference drew approximately 71 participants from all around Arizona. This two-day event had a theme centered on health information. (more…)