by Janice Kelly, executive director

In January the Regional Advisory Oversight Committee voted to add a new standing committee to the SE/A regional advisory structure. The RAC Emergency Preparedness Committee is charged to provide leadership in promoting emergency preparedness, continuity of service and follow-up reporting for emergencies. The committee is comprised of representatives from each state in the region with Dan Wilson from the University of Virginia serving as chair.

To fulfill its charge, committee members will:

• Assist the SE/A with developing and implementing a regional emergency preparedness plan to ensure continuity of service for Network members.
• Recommend improvements and new avenues for the SE/A to promote and deliver emergency preparedness/disaster recovery support to Network members.
• Serve as regional coordinators for emergency preparedness activities in the state:
  • Promote emergency preparedness in individual libraries and the state
  • When necessary, work as part of the regional emergency team to ensure continuation of services and recovery to affected Network member(s) in the state
  • Provide the SE/A office with follow-up and reporting of events following a disaster to include a description of the incident, the response, follow-up activities, and lessons learned.

Appointed to the new committee are:

AL: Jie Li, Senior Librarian
University of South Alabama Biomedical Library

DC: Leah Pellegrino, Librarian
George Washington University Himmelfarb Library

FL: Nadine Dexter, Associate University Librarian
Florida State University Medical Library

Allison Howard, Catalog/Reference Librarian
University of South Florida Shimberg Health Sciences Library

Gediminas (Geddy) Paulaitis, Director for Access and Biomedical Communications
University of Miami Calder Medical Library

GA: Kevin Bradford, Instructor/Clinical Information Librarian
Medical College of Georgia Greenblatt Library

MD: Teresa Knott, Deputy Director
University of Maryland, Baltimore Health Sciences and Human Services Library

MS: Susan Clark, Head, Reference
University of Mississippi Medical Center Rowland Medical Library

NC: Robert James, Associate Director of Access Services
Duke University Medical Center Library

PR: Charles Sequi Caballero, Assistant Librarian III
University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus Library

SC: Felicia Yeh, Assistant Director for Collections Management
University of South Carolina Library

TN: Marcia Epelbaum, Assistant Director
Vanderbilt University Eskind Biomedical Library

Richard Nollan, Associate Professor
University of Tennessee, Memphis Library

Sandra Oelschlegel, Director
University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine Preston Medical Library

VA: Daniel T. Wilson, Assistant Director for Collection Management & Access
University of Virginia Claude Moore Health Sciences Library

WV: Jean L. Siebert, Learning Services Coordinator
West Virginia University Health Sciences Library

NN/LM: Beth M. Wescott, ex-officio
Network Access Coordinator

We thank them all for agreeing to serve.

Soon you will be learning more about the national emergency plan and may be asked to respond to a short questionnaire on your library’s emergency preparedness activities. Your participation will greatly enhance our ability to assist you in an emergency. Thanks for your cooperation.

http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/pillcard/pillcard.htm

The Agency for Health Research and Quality has just released free, online instructions for creating a pill card using only a personal or lap top computer and printer. A pill card can serve as a visual aid for confirming that patients understand how to take the medicines properly and as a reminder to take medicines. AHRQ’s How to Create a Pill Card provides step-by-step instructions for making a pill card. One in four Americans do not take prescription medicines as prescribed. Many people who fail to adhere to medication instructions do so because they do not understand how to take their medicines. Research has shown that using a pill card-which uses pictures and simple phrases to show each medicine, its purpose, how much to take, and when to take it-reduces misunderstandings.

http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov/news.html

WISER 4.0 now available! You may download it from the WISER web site http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov/, or access the on-line version http://webwiser.nlm.nih.gov/getHomeData.do. This new version introduces a biological substance list to augment the existing chemical and radioisotope lists. Highlights of this version include:

• Substance data for the six “Category A” biological agents (see the list http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov/substances.html)
• WMD Response Guidebook pages are included into the substance data where appropriate
• A new tool for general browsing of the guide pages of the WMD Response Guidebook (except for Palm OS)
• A new Radiation Unit Conversion tool
• WISER can now automatically check for updates
• Incorporation of the latest NLM Hazardous Substance Data Bank updates
• And many more miscellaneous application and data enhancements

Want to get notices of WISER updates and news? If so, please go to http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov/listserv_join.html to sign up for the WISER e-mail list. This list is used to send important announcements about WISER, such as updates, bug fixes, and new capabilities.