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Disaster Info Specialist Program Meetings/Conference Calls

Upcoming Conference Call
Instructions to Join Conference Call
Previous Meetings (2013)
Previous Meetings (2012)
Previous Meetings (2011)
Previous Meetings (2010)
Previous Meetings (2009)
Previous Meetings (2008)
Disaster Information Specialist Program

 

Upcoming Conference Call

Thursday, February 14, 2013 at 1:30 pm ET
 Using Resilient Communication Systems and Gaming Technologies to Support Hospital Disaster Response
Victor Cid, Senior Computer Scientist in our National Library of Medicine Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC), will describe two projects that DIMRC is coordinating for the Bethesda Hospitals’ Emergency Preparedness Partnership (BHEPP). BHEPP is a partnership of four major healthcare institutions in Bethesda, Maryland who work collaboratively in response to man-made or natural disasters. The DIMRC projects support the work of the hospitals’ senior personnel who are in charge of managing the hospitals in case of a disaster. The first project is a resilient communications system that allows the hospitals’ emergency managers to keep connected through email when all other traditional communications systems are unavailable. The other is a learning system for the Hospital Incident Command System that makes use of gaming technology to enable the senior staff conducting collaborative exercises based on simulated disasters.
Instructions to Join Conference Call

A conference call for those interested in the Disaster Information Specialist Program is held on the second Thursday of each month at 1:30 ET. The monthly calls are open to all and can be attended in person in our offices, online through Adobe Connect, or by telephone. To receive announcements about the conference calls please join our DISASTR-OUTREACH-LIB listserv.

Log into the Adobe Connect session at https://webmeeting.nih.gov/disinfo

Enter your name in the guest box and click "Enter Room". A box should pop up asking for your phone number. Enter your phone number and the system will call you.

For those who cannot use the call-back feature or can only attend by telephone:
Dial-In: 1-888-757-2790
Pass-Code: 745907
Previous Meetings (2013)

2013 January 10
 Information Support During Emergencies: About VOST (Virtual Operations Support Team)
Scott Reuter, current president of Oregon VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters) and DHS/FEMA certified course instructor for the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center, and Marlita Reddy Hjelmfelt, Team Lead of Pacific Northwest VOST and member of the VOST Leadership Council shared information about VOST, including how they lend social media and information support to incident management teams.
Recording
Slides (PDF, 1.4 MB)

Previous Meetings (2012)

2012 December 13
 Using Social Media in Emergency and Disaster Response
Kelly Bennett, Diana Kushner, and Sara Harris from the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness & Response Fusion Cell presented on the impacts and benefits of using social media in emergency response. They also shared some insights from their recent deployment in support of Hurricane Sandy response efforts.
Recording
Slides

2012 November 8
 Science During Crisis
 Kristin Ludwig, an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Strategic Sciences Group, presented about how crisis science teams play a role in conducting research on medical and public health response to disasters.

2012 October 11
 Disaster Behavioral Health
The following speakers discussed concepts, components and resources about disaster behavioral health:
Darrin Donato, HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) Division for At-Risk Individuals, Behavioral Health, and Community Resilience
Cathryn Chiesa, MLS, Resource Librarian, UCLA-Duke University Center for Child Traumatic Stress, leading the National Child Traumatic Stress Network
Christian Burgess, LMSW, Director, Disaster Distress Helpline

2012 September 13
 Disaster Health Information Outreach Projects
Reports were heard from four of the seven disaster health information outreach projects funded by the National Library of Medicine for September 2011-September 2012:
Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, VA
American Academy of Pediatrics
Monroe County Department of Public Health, Rochester, NY
Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, Charleston, WV

2012 July 12
 Disaster Health Information Outreach Projects
Reports were heard from three of the seven disaster health information outreach projects funded by the National Library of Medicine from September 2011-September 2012:
University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
University of Alabama Health Sciences Library
Marshall County Health Department, Benton, KY

2012 June 14
 American Red Cross Digital Operations Center
Wendy Harman, Social Media Manager at the American Red Cross, spoke about the Red Cross Digital Operations Center, which was launched to monitor and respond to social media during disaster situations using trained "digital volunteers".

2012 April 12
 ASPR Fusion Cell
Jennifer Olsen, Branch Chief for the US Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness & Response (ASPR) Fusion Cell , in the Office of Preparedness & Emergency Operations, shared information about the ASPR Fusion Cell which analyzes and aggregates information from many data sources during public health emergency situations to enhance situational awareness and identify emerging threats.

2012 March 8
 Needs of Public Libraries Following a Disaster
Michelle Malizia, the Associate Director of the South Central Region of National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) reported on the results of a survey they administered to determine needs of public libraries following a disaster. Dan Wilson, Coordinator for the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Initiative, shared notes from the February 2012 NN/LM Hurricane Summit held in Miami.

2012 February 9
 Disaster Exercises and Drills 101
Steve Peterson, Emergency Management Specialist at the National Institutes of Health, presented about disaster drills and exercises – including what are they and why they are necessary.

2012 January 12
 Disaster Apps and Mobile-Optimized Web Sites
Staff from the National Library of Medicine demonstrated the new Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC) Web page and presented information about key disaster-related mobile tools and apps.
Previous Meetings (2011)

2011 November 10
 Information Tools for Chemical Mass Casualties
Mark Kirk, MD, medical toxicologist with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Health Affairs and Associate Managing Editor of CHEMM (NLMs Chemical Hazards Emergency Medical Management), gave a presentation on chemically-induced mass casualties and chemical emergency information tools and resources useful for planning for, responding to and recovering from the effects of mass casualty incidents involving chemicals. CHEMM was demonstrated during the meeting.

2011 October 20
 Disaster Health Information Outreach and Collaboration Projects
Cindy Love of the NLM Disaster Information Management Research Center shared information about the new Disaster Health Information Outreach and Collaboration Projects contracts recently awarded to seven partnerships between libraries and disaster-related organizations.

2011 August 11
 Pilot Disaster Information Specialist Projects
Patti Reynolds, Sarasota Memorial Hospital, and Fritz Dement, New York University Health Sciences Libraries, provided a final report on their disaster information specialist pilot projects.

2011 July 14
 NOAA Central and Regional Libraries
Neal Kaske, Director of the NOAA Central & Regional Libraries , and several members of his staff shared information about the disaster-related resources available at their library, including the extensive photo gallery that is available to the public.

2011 June 9
 REMM
Capt. Jeffrey Nemhauser, United States Public Health Service and Associate Managing Editor of REMM, gave an overview of NLMs Radiation Emergency Medical Management (REMM) which is designed to give health care providers who do not have a formal background in radiation medicine the guidance they need to treat victims in the event of a radiological or nuclear emergency.

2011 April 14
 Disaster Information Outreach Symposium Summary
This meeting included a de-briefing on the Disaster Information Outreach Symposium held on March 29-30 at the National Library of Medicine.

2011 February 10
 Haiti Earthquake
In recognition of the recent one-year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti, DIMRC staff member Victor Cid spoke his visit to Haiti where he supported efforts by WHO/PAHO to develop an emergency operations center and an information management infrastructure in Haiti.

2011 January 13
 Homeland Security Digital Library
Greta Marlatt spoke about the resources and services available through the Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL). The HSDL is a research collection of open-source resources related to homeland security policy, strategy and organizational management. The Library is sponsored by the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Preparedness Directorate, FEMA.

Previous Meetings (2010)

2010 November 18
 Disasters and Mental Health
Dr. Brian Flynn, Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD, spoke about disasters and mental health issues.

2010 October 21
 Professional Development in Disaster Information Outreach
Kathleen Combs, Medical Library Association (MLA) Director for Professional Development, and Debra Cavanaugh, MLA Continuing Education Coordinator, introduced a new joint MLA-NLM project. This project, funded by NLM, is to develop a disaster information specialization through MLA's professional development opportunities.

2010 September 9
 Community Day Preparedness Projects
In recognition of National Preparedness Month,five librarians shared information about Community Preparedness Day projects they planned and implemented with funds from NLM and the National Network of Libraries of Medicine. Librarians from Brunswick, ME; Sarasota, FL; Oklahoma City, OK; Wilmington, NC and Mobile, AL presented some highlights from their projects and share experiences about collaborations between medical and public libraries and with community emergency preparedness personnel.

2010 July15
 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
Joseph “Chip” Hughes, MPH, the Director of the Worker Education Training Program, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) shared his insights on the Gulf oil spill situation and discussed information needs related to the spill. He was deployed for several months to the Gulf region, where he was working with Coast Guard and BP officials, as well as local and state officials, academic institutions and other federal agencies to provide worker safety training.

2010 June 10
 Haiti Earthquake
Lt. Cmdr. Daniel D'Aurora spoke about his deployment on the USNS Comfort during the Haiti earthquake response. While serving on the Comfort, LCDR D'Aurora was responsible for Casualty Receiving and acted as the Triage Officer. He shared information about his experiences on the ship and what health/medical information was needed by the responders.

2010 April 8
 Pilot Project Partners’ Disaster Information Activities
Patti Reynolds, Librarian, shared a report on her disaster informationist activities at the Sarasota Memorial Hospital Bishopric Medical Library.

2010 March 11
 Pilot Project Partners’ Disaster Information Activities
Colleen Cuddy and Glenda Barahona from the Ehrman Medical Library, New York University School of Medicine, NYC reported on their disaster information activities over the past year.

2010 February 11
 Haiti Earthquake
The focus of this meeting was on efforts and experiences related to the Haiti earthquake. Stacey Arnesen, Head, NLMs Disaster Information Management Research Center, described the activities by NLM to assist in making information more accessible to responders and medical personnel, including the development of the Haiti Earthquake People Locator project. Librarians from University of Miami, Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Creighton University, New York University, and Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine reported on what their organizations did to support response and relief efforts.

2010 January 14
 Pilot Project Partners’ Disaster Information Activities
Reports were shared from two disaster information pilot project partners about their activities over the past year. Alicia Livinski, NIH Library, and Alison Rollins, James A. Zimble Learning Resource Center at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, described their successes and challenges.
Previous Meetings (2009)

2009 December 9
 Disaster Management for Information Professionals: Graduate Course
Dr. Ana D. Cleveland, Regents Professor and Director, Health Informatics Program, and Jodi Philbrick, Course Coordinator, Health Informatics Program, from the Department of Library and Information Sciences at the University of North Texas, discussed the development of a graduate-level course on disaster management for information professionals. The course was first deployed in the summer of 2006, and it has been taught each summer semester following. Over 50 students had taken the course, creating a new generation of information professionals trained to handle disaster situations.

2009 November 12
 FEMA National Emergency Training Center (NETC) Learning Resource Center
Edward Metz, Director of the FEMA National Emergency Training Center (NETC) Learning Resource Center in Emmitsburg, MD, discussed his library's comprehensive collections of all-hazards information resources, including a large collection of one-of-a-kind materials. The NETC houses the U.S. Fire Administration, the Fire Training Academy and the Emergency Management Institute where emergency response managers from all over the U.S. come to take 1-2 week intensive training courses on emergency management topics. The Institute also offers many online courses, including the Incident Command System (ICS) and National Incident Management System (NIMS) required of all emergency personnel. Several NLM staff visited the Training Center in October and added their observations.

2009 October 8
 National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health
Dr. Kenneth Schor, Acting Director of the National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health shared a brief history of the Center and its role as an education center for disaster health preparedness. The presentation included a discussion of the roles librarians can play in disaster preparedness training.

2009 September 10
 DIRLINE
NLM staff members shared that new disaster-related content has been added and organized on DIRLINE, NLM’s directory of health organizations. DIRLINE has been expanded to include 600+ state government agencies that have disaster responsibilities.

2009 August 13
 National Preparedness Month
September is National Preparedness Month (NPM). Since it began in 2004, NPM has raised awareness and promoted action surrounding emergency preparedness among citizens, businesses and communities. This meeting discussed about how disaster information specialists and libraries can engage with this effort. Also, Amy Donahue, a 2008-2009 National Library of Medicine Associate Fellow, presented her spring project results about the Bethesda Medical Libraries Emergency Preparedness Project. Amy visited and interviewed staff at each of the five partner libraries.

2009 July 9
 Disaster Preparedness for Medical Librarians
Dan Wilson and Susan Yowell discussed their NLM-funded project that created and sustains the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) Emergency Preparedness & Response Toolkit. This project also involves the training of medical librarians in disaster preparedness.

2009 June 11
 Communication During H1N1 Outbreak
This meeting included a recap of highlights from the 2009 Medical Library Association Annual Conference and the 16th World Congress on Disaster and Emergency Medicine and a discussion about communication during the initial stages of the H1N1 Influenza outbreak.

2009 April 9
 Information Professionals’ Responses to Disasters
Lisl Zach, Assistant Professor at the iSchool at Drexel University in Philadelphia, discussed her research on information professionals’ responses to disaster situations. She was joined by Prudence Dalrymple, Professor and Director of the Institute for Healthcare Informatics, also at Drexel University.

2009 March 12
 Ethical Considerations in Disasters
Dr. Edmund Howe presented on ethical considerations in disasters. Dr. Howe is a Professor in the Department of the Psychiatry and Director of Program in Medical Ethics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

2009 February 12
 Disaster Information Specialist Pilot Projects and Local Preparedness
This meeting focused on the status of NLM-funded pilot projects underway at NYU, NIH Library and National Naval Medical Center library. Updates were provided on local preparedness for the recent Presidential Inauguration, NLM’s Disaster Information Management Research Center activities, upcoming conferences and more.

2009 January 8
 Disaster Information Specialist Pilot Project Review
The first year of activities of the Disaster Information Specialist Pilot Project and the status of projects underway at NYU, Sarasota Memorial, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, NIH Library and the Bethesda Medical Libraries Emergency Preparedness Partnership were reviewed. Preparations for the upcoming Presidential Inauguration and “lessons learned” from the October disaster drill conducted by the Bethesda Hospitals Partnership were also discussed.
Previous Meetings (2008)

2008 December 11
 Emergency Management at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
This meeting focused on emergency management at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA provides federal benefits to veterans and their families, including health care at 153 medical centers and hundreds of additional health care facilities. VALNET, the extensive Veterans Affairs Library Network, supports the information needs of VA clinicians, researchers, administrators, staff, patients and their families across the U.S.

2008 October 8
 CERT and Fire Corps
Greg St. James, Administrator of CERT and Fire Corps for Montgomery County, Maryland Fire and Rescue, introduced two national programs for citizen involvement in disaster and emergency response: Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) and Fire Corps. These programs are in many communities and have trained thousands of volunteers interested in personal and community readiness and response in the event of a disaster. These and other community training opportunities can enhance a librarian’s understanding of disaster preparedness and response. Examples include training provided by the American Red Cross, local fire-rescue-emergency medical services, local bus/rail systems, and HAM radio groups.

2008 September 11
 Disaster Information Specialists
A discussion was held about possible disaster information specialist activities, especially related to the recent and current tropical storms, and an update on NLM's Disaster Information Management Research Center.
Disaster Information Specialist Program

The Disaster Information Specialist Program is a collaborative effort to explore and promote the role of information specialists in the provision of disaster-related information resources to the workforce and communities.