Healthy Communities
Our Healthy Communities, Community of Interest provides opportunities for health sciences librarians and other network members to collaborate and learn more about health information outreach, community engagement, and health information equity.
What is a healthy community?
"A Healthy Community is where people come together to make their community better for themselves, their family, their friends, their neighbors and others in their community. A Healthy Community creates ongoing dialogue; generates leadership everywhere; shapes its future; embraces diversity; knows itself; connects people and resources; and fosters a sense of community." (Massachusetts Partnership for Healthy Communities) Healthy Communities is an approach to understanding and improving health and well-being. (Ayre, Clough, and Norris)
How can my library contribute to a healthy community?Our Community of Interest offers webinars, an e-newsletter, a listserv, a program day, and opportunity for collaboration. Past webinars included health information outreach project planning with guest speaker, Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi; How to Contribute to Your Hospital's Community Benefit presented by Deb Clark and Michelle Eberle; and Clever Evaluation presented by guest speaker, Cindy Olney from the Outreach Evaluation Resource Center. To plan and implement an effective health information outreach project, the OERC recommends librarians:
- Find partners for health information outreach.
- Learn more about the outreach community.
- Inventory resources and assets.
- Include evaluation in outreach project planning.
- Learn more about how to collect and analyze evaluation data.
Connect with us to learn more about how your library can contribute to a healthy community:
- Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.
- Join our listserv.
- Read Healthy Community articles and announcements on the NN/LM NER blog.
Learn more:
- Planning and Evaluating Health Information Outreach Projects (Outreach Evaluation Resource Center)
- Toolkit for Community Action (National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities)
- Healthy People 2020 (US Dept of Health and Human Services)
- An Integrated Framework for Assessing the Value of Community-Based Prevention (Institute of Medicine)
Watch recording of our webinars:
- Community Outreach Program Planning Webinar, Presenter: Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi, 10/6/2011
- Clever Evaluation, Presenter: Cindy Olney, 3/10/2012
- Creating an Effective Health Information Handout, Presenter: Deborah Clark, 10/10/2012
- Creative Approaches to Health Information Outreach, Presenters: Irena Bond, Manuela Raposo, Nery Garcia, Margot Malachowski, and Nina Zeldin, 1/9/2013
- Once upon a time, there was an evaluation report that people actually read., Presenter: Cindy Olney, 2/14/2013
- Conducting Outreach with Immigrants in Your Area, Presenter: Lorena Sprager, 4/10/2013
Contact us for more information:
| Leader |
|---|
 Deborah Clark, MLIS, AHIP, oversees the health sciences library at Stephens Memorial Hospital on Norway, Maine. |
| Facilitator |
 Michelle Eberle, MSLIS, AHIP is Consumer Health Coordinator for the NN/LM NER. |
