The ¡VIVA! Peer Tutors of the South Texas Independent School District are conducting a nationwide health literacy challenge.  Students enrolled in U.S. schools in grades 6-12 can submit a video promoting the website MedlinePlus.gov.  Video submission will open February 1, 2012 and will close March 23, 2012.  Winners will be announced on the ¡VIVA! website and Facebook page on April 16, 2012, and winning videos will be posted on the ¡VIVA! website.  For complete details about the video contest please visit the ¡VIVA! website at:  http://bla.stisd.net/viva.html.

Ann Vickman
Librarian
Biblioteca Las Américas
http://bla.stisd.net

Calling on MAR members to bring their expertise to volunteer and serve on the MAR Regional Advisory Committee or a Special Advisory Group

MAR is forming its Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) and four Special Advisory Groups (SAGs):

• Outreach to Health Professionals & Public Health Workers
• Consumer Health
• Hospital Libraries
• Resource & Academic Libraries

Now is your chance to help shape MAR programming and showcase your expertise.  To volunteer, complete our online application form (http://nnlm.gov/mar/about/volunteer.html) by January 22, 2012.

One in-person meeting will be scheduled before April 30th to introduce members.  Virtual meetings will occur at least every quarter.

Mark these dates in your calendar and join us for the following workshops…

January 9th:

• Valuing Your Library: Needs Assessment, Program Development, and Program Evaluation (Pittsburgh, PA)
• Nursing on the Net: Health Care Resources You Can Use (Online: 1/9/2012 – 2/3/2012)

January 17th:  Patient Safety Resource Seminar: Librarians on the Front Lines (Online: 1/17/2012 – 2/17/2012)

January 23rd:  EBM for Librarians (Bronx, NY)

February 6th:  Beyond an Apple a Day: Providing Consumer Health Information at Your Library (Online: 2/6/2012 – 3/9/2012)

“Tips for Overcoming the Gray Areas of Meaningful Use Stage 1 for Safety Net Providers”

Tuesday December 13, 2011, 2 pm EST

This webinar provides tips and guidance of how safety net providers, such as health centers, critical access hospitals, and rural health clinics can overcome common gray areas of meeting Meaningful Use Stage 1 objectives.  Gray areas are objectives within the final rule that are still not clear to providers.  Presenters from the Regional Extension Centers (REC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will review these problem areas based on previous comments and questions directed to HRSA, CMS, and ONC staff from safety net providers.  These areas include: dealing with vendors and other EHR issues; attesting data to CMS and State Medicaid programs; troubleshooting quality measures; and other Meaningful Use Stage 1 problems that safety net providers have encountered.  In addition, this webinar will include a presentation by CMS Staff on “Adopt, Implement, and Upgrade” (AIU) of electronic health records.

Presenters include staff from both the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Regional Extension Centers.  Questions to presenters are welcome ahead of the event and may be emailed to healthit@hrsa.gov.

• To register:  http://webcast.streamlogics.com/audience/index.asp?eventid=84138124
• Email questions or comments to HRSA’s Health IT mailbox at:  healthit@hrsa.gov
• Previous HRSA Health and Quality Webinars are available at:  http://www.hrsa.gov/healthit.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC) provides tools and resources around disaster medicine and public health.  For daily news bytes, follow DIMRC on twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/NLM_DIMRC.  If you are looking for a more in-depth review of items, subscribe to the DISASTR-OUTREACH-LIB listserv http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/dimrclistserv.html

You can find a listing of NLM social media tools on the “Follow, Fan and Connect with NLM” page http://www.nlm.nih.gov/socialmedia/.

The Michael E. DeBakey Library Outreach Services Award is now accepting nominations for 2012:  http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/842329/e852ed01fe/1573068959/683598f936/.

In JAAPA’s “Ask a Librarian” this month, topics that include how to evaluate the results of evidence-based literature searches, as well as use of the Evidence Pyramid for categorizing results:  http://bit.ly/vSHbZG.

Free registration is required to access JAAPA’s columns and articles, and you may choose Institution/Library as a profession.

The MAR Outreach Coordinator, Kate Flewelling, will be in Syracuse, NY, on December 12 to teach the following classes.

Patient Safety Resource Seminar:  Librarians on the Front Lines / 8:30 am – 12:30 pm

This interactive seminar focuses on ways librarians can become more involved in patient safety processes and activities—both within their institutions and organizations and in providing patient safety resources for health professionals, for administration and staff, and for patients and families.  Topics include understanding the definitions and issues of patient safety; locating where patient safety practices and contacts exist within an institution; identifying appropriate resources; and library advocacy in the area of patient safety.  These four hours of lecture, discussion and brainstorming help librarians in all fields become effective agents for improving patient safety.

Nursing on the Net:  Health Care Resources You Can Use / 1:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Looking for the latest developments in patient care but finding too much, too little or inadequate information?  Participants will learn to use and evaluate web based health information resources, find online news services, continuing online education courses, and consumer health websites.  Participants will also learn to search the National Library of Medicine MEDLINE database of over 19 million citations using the PubMed interface.  The workshop will also cover MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine website for consumer health information.

Sponsor:  Central New York Library Resources Council, 6493 Ridings Road, Syracuse, New York 13206
Registration information:  http://www.clrc.org/wrf/.

Mid-Atlantic conference (DE, MD, NJ, PA, DC) on literacy strategies for families.  NOTE:  NJ Department of Education has included health literacy in the core curriculum content standards for students.  Conference is free, breakfast provided.

• November 19 , 2011
• 9 am -12:30 pm
• Rutger’s University

Speakers include Dr. Joseph Torgeson, Florida State University.  For full event description and registration, see http://literacy2011.eventbrite.com/.

1.  New NLM Website:

On January 11, 2011, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) released a new design and organization for its Main Web site. The NLM homepage (www.nlm.nih.gov) has an entirely new design, focused on your top tasks.

 We also updated thousands of pages within the site. They now include site-wide navigation in the header so many of your favorite links should be just a click away. There is also a new “Share” feature so you can send content to your friends, colleagues or yourself via social bookmarking and networking. Plus, we’ve added links to make it easier to connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

 We hope you find this new design useful and welcome your feedback via our Contact NLM link.

2.  January NIH News in Health now online:

 The January issue of NIH News in Health (http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/), the monthly newsletter bringing you practical health news and tips based on the latest NIH research, is now available!

3.  Healthy People 2020 Objectives: Now Available for Review and Implementation

 On December 2, 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) unveiled the Nation’s new 10-year goals and objectives for health promotion and disease prevention. The launch, marking the beginning of Healthy People 2020, included remarks from the HHS Assistant Secretary for Health, Dr. Howard K. Koh; HHS Chief Technology Officer, Todd Park; Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Dr. Jonathan Fielding; Associate Dean for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Dr. Shiriki Kumanyika; and many others.

For more details about the initiative and how you can get involved, visit the newly redesigned Healthy People Web site at www.healthypeople.gov. The Web site allows users to tailor information to their needs and explore evidence-based resources for implementation.

Subscribe to the Healthy People E-mail Updates
Get the latest information about Healthy People 2020. Sign up for the Monthly e-Bulletin or the periodic News You Can Use, which features new tools, events, and resources to help you implement Healthy People.

Connect With Healthy People on LinkedIn

Find other professionals implementing Healthy People, share ideas, and network. Join the Healthy People 2020 LinkedIn group and invite your colleagues to do the same.

Follow Healthy People on Twitter

Stay current with the latest Healthy People information on Twitter; @GoHealthyPeople

Join the Healthy People Consortium
The Consortium is a diverse, motivated group of agencies and organizations that is committed to achieving the goals and objectives of Healthy People 2020.

We look forward to your continued participation. Now the real work begins!