REMM (Radiation Emergency Medical Management) has just released new online and Mobile versions.

What’s new on REMM lists some of the key updates, but there are many, many more.
The following may be of interest:

1. Mobile REMM: updated content for Android (new), iPhone, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile
2. Nuclear Reactor Accidents: new content and references
3. Potassium Iodide: new content and references
4. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): 14 new pages with photos
5. Seven new video screencast tutorials: explaining key REMM interactive clinical tools
6. Nuclear detonation clinical triage tool: for use if medical response resources are scarce
7. Simplified clinical algorithm for managing radiation exposure: new format and content

Contact the REMM Team directly with questions or comments: Contact us.

For more information, visit http://www.remm.nlm.gov.

The recording from the videocast of the Disaster Information Outreach Symposium, held March 29-30 at NLM, is now available:

Day 1, http://videocast.nih.gov/launch.asp?16561 

Day 2, http://videocast.nih.gov/launch.asp?16556

Speakers’ slides will be added to the videocast in the coming weeks.  Medical Library Association continuing education credit is available for watching the videocast through March 2012.

The PowerPoint slides for the class “Roadmap to Disaster Health Information Resources and Tools” are now available in PDF format at the “Class slides” link on this page, http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/symposium2011class.html.

The Disaster Information Outreach Symposium for and about information professionals meeting disaster health information needs will be March 29-30, 2011. This free event will be held at the National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

While registration for onsite attendance is now closed, the Symposium will be videocast. It is not necessary to register in order to view the videocast. Please see http://videocast.nih.gov/summary.asp?live=9836  for day 1 and http://videocast.nih.gov/summary.asp?live=9837 for day 2. Prior to the event, you may wish to visit the Web site and click “Player Software” near the top of the page to download the software necessary to view the program. A recording will be archived for later viewing following the symposium.

More information is available at http://disaster.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/symposium2011.html . Click on “Speakers” to learn more about the lineup of experts, including keynote speaker Dr. Nicole Lurie, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The second day of the symposium will be devoted to professional development for librarians. Individuals who attend or view both days of the event will be awarded 10.5 Medical Library Association continuing education credits.

Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, snowstorms, tornadoes, fires, and more! The South Central Region is prone to a variety of “disaster” situations which have the potential to interupt library services.

The NN/LM SCR will offer the two hour class A 10 Step Approach to Service Continuity at the Texas Medical Center Library in the Street level Classroom in Houston, TX on Wednesday, April 6, 2011. 

Class: A 10 Step Approach to Service Continuity

Instructors: Cheryl Rowan, NN/LM SCR and Deborah Halsted, The TMC Library

Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Time: 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.

Emergencies affecting libraries go beyond hurricanes and tornadoes. Is your library prepared for a leaky pipe, fire, flood, pandemic flu or other emergency event? The 10-Step Approach to Service Continuity Planning is designed to provide beginning level training in emergency preparedness for librarians in medical libraries and information centers. The class consists of a PowerPoint presentation, interspersed with several interactive portions. Participants will learn how to conduct a basic risk assessment for their libraries, how to craft a basic emergency preparedness plan, strategies for continuing library services from off-site, and options for obtaining assistance, both web-based resources and via the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response structure.

Registration Required. Register online. Deadline to register is April 1, 2011.

A new study that will look at possible health effects of the Gulf of Mexico’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill on 55,000 cleanup workers and volunteers begins this week in towns across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.

The GuLF STUDY (Gulf Long-term Follow-up Study) is the largest health study of its kind ever conducted among cleanup workers and volunteers, and is one component of a comprehensive federal response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The study is being conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is expected to last up to 10 years. Many agencies, researchers, and outside experts, as well as members of the local community, have provided input into how the study should be designed and implemented.

Over time, the GuLF STUDY will generate important data that may help inform policy decisions on health care and health services in the region. Findings may also influence responses to other oil spills in the future. According to the principal investigator of the GuLF STUDY,  ”The goal of the GuLF STUDY is to help us learn if oil spills and exposure to crude oil and dispersants affect physical and mental health.”

The GuLF STUDY will reach out to some of the 100,000 people who took the cleanup worker safety training and to others who were involved in some aspect of the oil spill cleanup. The goal is to enroll 55,000 people in the study.

For more information, or to inquire about enrollment, call the GuLF STUDY toll-free number at 1-855-NIH-GULF (1-855-644-4853) or visit the GuLF STUDY website at http://www.niehs.nih.gov/GuLFSTUDY.

Winter storms have been affecting a significant portion of the country, requiring libraries to shut down. Are you ready for an emergency that could require your library to temporarily close? Do you have a disaster plan that will ensure that your users can access the resources even if they can’t make it to the library?

If not, now is the perfect time to plan. Take a look at the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Toolkit ‘s recent blog posting on writing a disaster plan. You’ll find templates, examples and videos on creating your own library disaster plan.

Remember, an emergency can take place at any time. Make sure you’re ready.

Registration is now open for the Disaster Information Outreach Symposium, to be held March 29-30, 2011 at the National Library of Medicine (NLM), Bethesda, Maryland. Information professionals, library staff, as well as students are encouraged to attend this free event.  Seats are limited, so register early! The symposium, co-sponsored by NLM, the Medical Library Association, and the Special Libraries Association, will focus on librarians and libraries providing high quality health information during all phases of disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery.

More information and registration are available at: http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/symposium2011.html .

National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) Emergency Access Initiative, http://eai.nlm.nih.gov, has been extended through December 18 for access to resources usually available only by subscription. Publishers are providing access only for those affected by the cholera outbreak in Haiti and for those providing assistance to the affected population.

Click on Online Databases for access to Cochrane, DynaMed, and UpToDate. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews has relevant materials under “cholera.” DynaMed has an entry for “Cholera” and UpToDate has a section titled “Overview of Vibrio cholerae infection.” Over 70 online textbooks and over 200 journals are also available.

NLM also has a topic page, “Health Resources for Haiti, Post-Earthquake,” http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/haitiearthquake.html with information about cholera in the top section labeled “Earthquakes and Health.” Some resources are also in Spanish, French, or Haitian Creole.

MedlinePlus offers cholera information for the general public at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/cholera.html in English and http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/cholera.html in Spanish.

Based on feedback provided from the Toolkit Usability Report, the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Toolkit (http://nnlm.gov/ep/) now has a new look. The site now features a “cleaner” presentation of content and some new features, including a section for Emergency Preparedness and Response-related Twitter feeds and easier access to weather alerts and warnings.

A new tutorial has also been created to assist users in navigating the toolkit: http://nnlm.gov/ep/toolkit-navigation-video/.

The EP & R Toolkit may also be accessed from the NN/LM SCR homepage through the Emergency Preparedness link under Member Services (http://nnlm.gov/scr/services/prepare.html).

Public Health Preparedness: Strengthening the Nation’s Emergency Response State by State highlights progress in preparedness and presents data on a broad range of preparedness and response activities occurring at state and local levels across the nation. The report features national data and individual fact sheets for the 50 states and four directly funded localities (Chicago, the District of Columbia, Los Angeles County and New York City). An overview of the preparedness activities and challenges in the U.S. territories, commonwealths, and freely associated states funded by CDC’s Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Cooperative Agreement are also included.

Fact sheet data expand and update those presented in CDC’s first state preparedness report (2008), and cover activities conducted in 2008 and 2009. The report also highlights state and local preparedness and response activities occurring during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. The  table of contents, as well as a link to download the complete report, may be accessed at: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/publications/2010phprep/.