Christine Frank
Director
Library of Rush University Medical Center
Chicago, IL

Library and McCormick Educational Technology (METC) staff volunteered their services at Rush’s Spring Into Health and Fitness Fair sponsored by held at the west side Chicago Christian Industrial League on May 16th. Linda Ronan and Chris Frank staffed a health information table, providing an array of consumer health pamphlets from the National Library of Medicine and the Medical Library Association. The pamphlets were funded with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine Department of Health and Human Services, Under Contract No. N01-LM-6-35-3 with the University of Illinois at Chicago. With their laptop computer and printer, Linda and Chris also answered specific health information questions through quality consumer health information Internet sites, including National Library of Medicine’s MedlinePlus (http://medlineplus.gov).
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Fran Kovach
Reference & Education Librarian
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
Springfield, IL

On June 5-7, 2009 Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Library participated in the 4th Annual Taylorville Black Horse Pow Wow in Taylorville, Illinois at the Christian County Fairgrounds. People came from the Christian and Sangamon county areas, as well as other cities in Illinois. Others attending were from the states of Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. The Tribes/Nations represented Apache, Blackfeet, Cherokee, Catawba, Cree, Kiowa, Mohawk, Meskwaki, Navajo, Ogalala, Oneida, Ponka, and Sioux. (more…)

Anna Ercoli Schnitzer
InfoPoint Librarian
Health Sciences Libraries
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI

On Friday, May 15, 2009, several librarians from the University of Michigan Health Sciences Libraries took part in the first employee health fair organized by the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA). Bus drivers, bus mechanics, office workers, and their family members were encouraged to attend this event for health assessment and disease prevention: blood sticks for cholesterol and glucose readings, an ultraviolet screening for melanoma, prostate specific antigen (PSA) analysis, and other types of health testing.

Vendors included the local Visiting Nurses Association, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, and similar organizations. In addition, free back massages were offered by a local firm; Whole Foods Markets gave out coupons and freebies; and a running shoe store exhibited its wares. There was also the possibility of winning a windshield screen, t-shirt, or water bottle by spinning a wheel of chance, as well as a $100 gift certificate—all as inducements to take part in the health fair. Healthy snacks were available: veggies, fruit cups, yogurt, and turkey franks.

In the midst of all this activity, throughout the day, the librarians had their own table from which they were offering reliable health information through distributing flyers (and pens) about MedlinePlus.  It was a well planned and well organized event that elicited good feelings that time and, potentially, good health results in the future.

Eileen Severson
MLIS Supervisor
Library and Health Information Services
Health Sciences Library
Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center
La Crosse, WI

At the WHSLA 2009 Annual Meeting in La Crosse, WI, the board was honored to award the Librarian of the Year award to Barbara Benisch Sisolak, Senior Special Librarian at the University of Wisconsin-Department of Surgery Library.

Barb has demonstrated many times her qualifications for this award.  Since becoming the Senior Special Librarian at the University of Wisconsin-Department of Surgery, she has been an active participant in our many library professional organizations.  She has participated in WHSLA as member of the Communications Committee, President-Elect, and subsequently President and Past-President.  Barb is a participant in surgery society conferences as well.  In all of her roles in library and health-related organizations, Barb is the consummate professional and serves as a mentor to others new to the organization, the profession, or outside the profession.

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Christopher Childs
Education & Outreach Librarian
Hardin Library for the Health Sciences
University of Iowa

Partnering for Patient Empowerment Through Community Awareness (PPECA) Article

Rhonda Reimer, the Special Project Coordinator of the Pella Regional Health Center in Pella, IA, and I recently collaborated on an article for the Focus On Patient Safety, the official newsletter of the National Patient Safety Foundation.  The article, entitled Hospital Uses PPECA “Train the Trainer” Program to Help Community Groups Empower Patients, discusses the PPECA  presentation made at the hospital and how the staff took the knowledge gained and created their own community outreach program on patient safety.

You can read this article by going to http://npsf.org/paf/npsfp/fo/pdf/Focus_Volume_12_%20Issue_1.pdf

Christopher Childs
Education & Outreach Librarian
Hardin Library for the Health Sciences
University of Iowa

New Influenza A (H1N1) also known as the Swine Flu Resource Guide Available from the Hardin Library

A new resource guide containing information on Influenza A (H1N1) has been created and is available from the Hardin Library.  All of the information contained in this guide is free and available to the public.  The guide includes: national & international resources, maps, blogs, an RSS and Twitter feed, Iowa resources, articles, and consumer health resources available in English, Spanish and multiple Languages.

The URL for this guide is http://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/content.php?hs=a&pid=43862 Please feel free to link this guide to your institution’s website.

By Barbarie Hill, Manager Edward L. Pratt Library Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Cincinnati, OH

Plans for the 2009 Midwest Chapter Annual Conference are firming up, and a lot of information has been added to the web site at http://midwestmla.org/conference2009/.  Check it out and start making your plans to come to Columbus to Seek, Explore, Discover with us October 3-6, 2009

Location: Hyatt on Capitol Square, Columbus, OH
Sponsors: Midwest Chapter/MLA and Ohio Health Sciences Libraries Association (OHSLA).

If you are unable to attend the MLA annual meeting this year, the Midwest Chapter meeting may be your only chance to meet with colleagues from across the region and recharge your professional batteries by engaging with stimulating speakers and attending top-quality CE courses.  And you’ll get all of that at a bargain rate!  Even if your institution pays only a part or none of the cost for you to attend professional meetings, you’ll get the most for your money at a regional meeting. Registration for the conference has not yet opened, but you can still begin now to prepare by:

• Checking out the conference web site http://midwestmla.org/conference2009/
• Submitting your travel request to your administrators
• Submitting a paper or poster abstract (May 31 is the deadline)
• Choosing CE courses of interest to you
• Making a reservation at the Hyatt on Capitol Square in Columbus for Oct. 3-6
• Talking to your colleagues about attending

See you in Columbus in October!

Last week, Go Local North Dakota reported utilizing the Featured Site option on the North Dakota Go Local homepage. For those of you in Minnesota, the Featured Site on My Health  Minnesota→Go Local links to flood Information as well. Take a look at the useful and interesting information on both the North Dakota and Minnesota Go Local sites.

For all you Web 2.0 participants, of particular interest is the the social network site created by The Forum, the newspaper for the Fargo-Moorhead area:  http://flood.inforum.com/. To access MedlinePlus Go Local, see http://medlineplus.gov and follow the link to Go Local.

Several Network members are in or near the Red River flood zone. The GMR will post information regarding any closings or other pertinent information related to rising river levels. For local river reports, please see The Fargo Flood Homepage: http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/fargoflood/, provided by North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND, and NOAA’s National Weather Service: http://www.weather.gov/.

For GMR Emergency Preparedness information, please see: NN/LM Emergency Preparedness and Response: http://nnlm.gov/gmr/member/emprep/index.html. Regional coordinator for ND is Ann Pederson and for MN, Paul Dahl.

Network members are encouraged to utilize the Comments section on the GMR blog to report relevant information.

_____

Note:

GMR Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for North Dakota, Ann Pederson, suggests the City of Fargo’s webpage as another source of information: http://www.cityoffargo.com/Flood09/.

–The Editor

Congratulations to the Library Journal Movers & Shakers for 2009! We are fortunate to have a few GMR members (and perhaps future GMR members?) among the bunch this year.
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