By Anne Conner, Gale Medical Library, Littleton Regional Healthcare, Littleton, NH

I’d like to share a few words about my recent trip to Chicago March 7-8, 2013, which the NN/LM-NER funded, to attend a Disaster Communication Summit sponsored by the NN/LM Greater Midwest Region (GMR) and Midcontinental Region (MCR) offices. For starters, I made it out of Logan Airport just before Winter Storm Saturn (a.k.a. “Snowquester”) blasted in to the Northeast, and right after it left the Midwest, dumping record amounts of snow in Chicago. As Ruth Holst (Associate Director of the NN/LM GMR) welcomed all of us at the beginning of the first of three courses, she noted that her hero of the day was the woman from the Northeast (that would be me).

The first session featured a panel discussion with speakers from the emergency planning community, and focused on the roles libraries can play before, during, and after a disaster. The workshop on service continuity planning given by Dan Wilson, Coordinator, NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Initiative, was particularly helpful. Dan presented a step-by-step approach to how a library can continue to provide its core resources and services to patrons in the event of a disaster or any kind of service disruption. He will continue to work with the attendees over the course of 9 weeks to complete their own library’s service continuity plan. I commend the GMR and MCR (hosts of the Summit) for having their own service continuity plans in place, as they had the capacity to bring in two of the faculty using the National Library of Medicine’s Adobe Connect®. Cindy Love, from the National Library of Medicine (NLM), effectively taught “US Response to Disasters and Public Health Emergencies”. She never realized when she had agreed to teach this course that, not only would the winter storm prevent her from traveling to Chicago, but also the sequestration and resulting government travel restrictions would also interfere. Due to the winter storm, Dan Wilson from the U. of Virginia was not able to travel, either, and he also used Adobe Connect.

Kacy Allgood, MLS, gave a presentation titled Roles for Librarians in Disaster Communications: Experiences of an Ambulance-Riding Librarian. As a Sewell Fellow, her position is currently embedded in several Emergency Medical Services agencies in the Indianapolis, Indiana region. I came away from this experience having met some great librarians from the Midwest and Midcontinental Regions, having learned quite a bit, and having a heightened appreciation for the value of our RMLs. Many thanks to the NER office!

The article, What Health Information Do Consumers Seek Online, reminds us that women, seniors and caregivers are the top seekers of online health information. Baby Center identifies that women make most of the decisions for their family’s health care and often go online to look up information in advance of medical appointments. Enspektos, a marketing company, reported that 1/3 of mom’s look up health information daily or every few days, and of mom with apps, 1/2 downloaded a health app.

The NN/LM’s Health Literacy Manual is quoted in the article:

For seniors, the health information they seek is more specialized. The National Network of Libraries of Medicine said, for example, that “older adults use more medical services and acquire more chronic illnesses than other population segments.” Yet the American Academy of Family Physicians found that half of the US seniors it surveyed in March 2012 felt there wasn’t a single online resource where they could find highly credible health information, including information about prescription drugs for the elderly (14%) and preventative medical care for seniors (13%).

More seniors need to learn about National Library of Medicine sites, especially MedlinePlus and NIHSeniorHealth. The National Library of Medicine is a source of highly credible health information that seniors can trust. The information on MedlinePlus must meet Quality Guidelines. The quote from the AAFP may be also related to seniors comfort level with the internet in general. It is also important to note that there are differences within the senior generation, as “boomers” are often more internet savvy than their parents in the “matures” generation.

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine plays a key role in teaching consumers how to find and use National Library of Medicine resources. Librarians are essential to help seniors increase their comfort level with internet searching, learn how to critically evaluate online resources, and become familiar with sources of highly credible health information like MedlinePlus. The NIHSeniorHealth includes a Trainer Toolkit. The Toolkit for Trainers provides free, easy-to-use training materials to help older adults find reliable, up-to-date online health information on their own. The NN/LM offers classes to help librarians connect older adults with health information. These include: Healthy Aging at your Libary: Connecting Older Adults to Health Information, and Senior Moments: Health Information and Older Adults.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project is an excellent source exploring the health information seeking behaviors of Americans. Take a look at their latest report, Health Online 2013.

Health Literacy Leadership Institute
http://healthliteracyleadership.org
June 10-14, 2013, Tufts University School of Medicine, Downtown Boston

This one-week Institute will directly support the work of health professionals and educators engaged in health literacy work to transform public health and healthcare delivery in the United States and abroad. Those working towards improving patient-provider communication and healthcare quality as well as those working directly with patients or adult learners in educational settings will find the Institute to be directly applicable. Peer learning and the sharing of research and best practice from professionals in the fields of health and education are core components of the Institute’s educational approach. Participants will work on a curriculum development project of their choice resulting in a final product that is current, comprehensive, informed by research, and reflective of best practice.

Enroll in the Health Literacy Leadership Institute online http://healthliteracyleadership.com/enrollment. Register before April 21, 2013 to receive the early registration discount of $1,810. Full tuition after April 21st is $2,260. Breakfast and lunch are included.

For more information, contact course director Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi, M.Ed., sabrina.kurtz-rossi@tufts.edu or visit the course website http://healthliteracyleadership.com

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, New England Region, will be hosting three Webinars on PubMed Searching Support on Thursday, March 14, 2013, Thursday March 28, 2013 and Tuesday April 2, 2013. Please see details below:

PubMed Searching Support Webinar

• Do you have any searches you’ve attempted in PubMed that you’ve had difficulty with?
• Are you unsure why you’re getting the results you are?

Keeping up with the changes and enhancements to PubMed and taking advantage of the full power of the PubMed search options can be challenging.   If you have had difficult searches, questions regarding search strategies, or other issues with PubMed, email them to us and we will show you the solutions in a webinar.

We will answer any questions emailed to us prior to the webinar or you can call in with your questions.

DATES and TIMES:

Thursday, March 14, 2013 Time:  2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST

Thursday, March 28, 2013 Time 11:00 am – 12:00 pm EST

Tuesday, April 2, 2013 Time 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EST

To REGISTER: http://nnlm.gov/ner/training/register.html?schedule_id=2093

For more information: http://nnlm.gov/ntcc/classes/class_details.html?class_id=591