Guest blog post by: Margot Malachowski, Outreach Librarian, Baystate Health, Springfield, MA

In early April, I attended the 2012 National Health Promotion Summit in Washington, DC. I was there with a poster describing my NN/LM NER-funded collaboration with the Springfield City Library. Over the course of the day, I spoke about my poster with over a dozen people. My business cards and copies of my poster flew off the board.

At the Opening Presentation of the Summit, Howard Koh, Assistant Secretary for Health, welcomed the attendees. He exclaimed that it was tremendous to have us here from all over the country to show our passion. He exhorted us to protect the gift of good health, pray for boredom and enjoy the miracle of a healthy day.

Secretary Kathleen Sebelius took the stage for the Keynote Address, claiming the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound. We all need that level of confidence! She spoke to the national goal of improving health as fundamental to opportunity. Prevention, she said, is not just the work of health agencies. I felt heartened by this, as my goals are to work with public libraries and other community organizations to disseminate reliable health information. Here are her priorities for a healthier, stronger, more prosperous America: http://www.hhs.gov/secretary/about/priorities/strat_initiatives.pdf

After the Summit, I took at look at the section in this document that addresses Accelerate the Process of Scientific Discovery to Improve Patient Care. Health sciences libraries play a part in this translational process. We support biomedical discovery by supporting our researchers as they expand the knowledge base. And, this knowledge base encompasses everything from developing medical treatments to designing screening programs. Our outreach programs address the Secretary’s call to disseminate health information to the public. As my director says, this is where the rubber meets the road in translational science.

I recommend attending HHS events—great to meet people who work in a variety of public health organizations. For my comments on the Plenary Panel and presentations, please visit my blog at http://pointguardlibrarian.com

In the May edition of NIH News in Health, you will discover information about suicide awareness and action, swimming safety and healthy vision. Learn more at: http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/

NLM’s Specialized Information Services (SIS) will once again be funding AIDS community outreach projects. The announcement of the forthcoming RFP is listed currently on FedBizOp at the URL below. The RFP will be available on May 15 with proposals due on June 18.

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=617fb50d5cbee0ed17add7b770d12226&tab=core&_cview=0

Projects must involve one or more of the following information access categories:
1. Information Retrieval: To provide or improve access to electronic AIDS- and other health-related information resources by the organization or by the clients they serve and to implement access to state-of-the-art AIDS-related information tools via the Internet and/or mobile phone technologies. This may require the purchase of hardware (computer equipment), software, or contractual relationships necessary to obtain a connection to the Internet for the purpose of accessing AIDS-related information or sharing AIDS-related information;

2. Skills Development: Training to develop skills in accessing or using HIV/AIDS-related information including the use of NLM online databases and mobile resources as well as general AIDS information resources in order to improve services and benefit the community. This may include training for the staff of the agency, development of training programs for clients and patrons, training programs for other agencies, etc. ;

3. Resource Development: To support an organization to meet the needs of their clients or communities by developing specific educational or informational materials such as culturally or language specific fact sheets, bibliographies, guides or other products to meet NLM Section 508 compliance regulations.

NLM is particularly interested in involving the affected community in the development of these new programs. Emphasis will be placed upon small businesses and the following types of organizations or arrangements for developing these programs:
1. Community-based organizations (CBO) or patient advocacy groups currently providing AIDS-related services to the affected community. This encompasses both individual groups wishing to enhance their own services, as well as several cooperating for the purpose of this project;

2. Public Libraries wishing to serve their communities in the provision of AIDS-related information and resources;

3. Health departments or other local, municipal, or state agencies working to improve the public health;

4. Faith-based organizations currently providing AIDS-related services to the affected community; and/or

5. Multi-type consortia of the above listed organizations that may be in existence or formed specifically for this project. This consortium should include at least one of the groups listed above in the management of the project, but may include other types of agencies, such as health sciences libraries, that may be able to provide expertise and resources for the project. Where necessary, formation of consortia for the purpose of carrying out an NLM-supported project is strongly encouraged.

Hello All, For those of you who could not attend the Healthy Communities COI’s webinar on creative ways to evaluate community outreach projects presented by the OERC’s Cindy Olney, you may listen to the recording of the webinar. The presentation is captioned. Cindy did a great job of explaining various methods of activity and outcomes evaluation.

She gave some practical examples and advice on how to measure behavior change outcomes as well as surveying for changes in participants’ knowledge and attitudes after a community health education event.

Learn when you can employ a direct surveying approach and when a logic model method of evaluation works best. Cindy was also willing to speak to anyone individually and advise them on evaluation possibilities for a specific outreach event being planned. The OERC has some helpful booklets that can be printed from the website at http://nnlm.gov/evaluation/ . Check it out along with the webcast.

By Deb Clark, Healthy Communities COI Leader