Instructor: Mary Spalding, MA, MLIS
Medical Librarian, Western Maryland
Area Health Education Center (AHEC)
This program is sponsored in whole or in part by the
National Library of Medicine
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After this presentation, attendees will be able
to:
◦ Identify reliable Internet-based disaster health
resources relevant to women and families in
Western Maryland.
◦ Identify reliable Internet-based disaster health
resources relevant to seniors and other vulnerable
populations, as well as caregivers.
Mary Spalding, MA, MLIS
Western Maryland AHEC Program
Coordinator and Medical Librarian
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Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science from University of
South Carolina; Master’s Degree in English from West Virginia University
with additional PhD course work;
Medical Librarian for WMAHEC since 1999, either full time or on contract;
Serves as medical library consultant for Western Maryland Health System
and Somerset Hospital; formerly medical librarian at Meritus Health in
Hagerstown, Maryland.
Project Coordinator, Safe Seniors: Appalachian Disaster and Emergency
Health Information Outreach.
Grantwriter, project coordinator, and project librarian on numerous
programs for Western Maryland Area Health Education Center (AHEC).
Western Maryland Area Health Education Center Learning Resource
Center in partnership with:
Allegany College of Maryland Health Continuing Education Department
Allegany County Health Department
Emergency Preparedness Caucus, WMAHEC
Frostburg State University Pre-Medical Society
Garrett County Health Department
Meritus Health Medical Library and Education Department
Social Work Caucus - Allegany/Garrett Counties, WMAHEC
Social Work Caucus - Washington County, WMAHEC
Washington County Health Department
Western Maryland Health System Parish Nurse and Health Minister
Program
The goal of Safe Seniors: Appalachian Disaster and Emergency Health Information
Outreach is to improve disaster medicine and public health information access for health
professionals, first responders and others (paid or volunteer) who play a role in healthrelated disaster preparedness, response, and recovery in three rural Appalachian
counties in Maryland, with a focus on the elderly population.
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Please!
◦ Be sure to complete the WMAHEC Participant
Information Form and, after the presentation, the
Evaluation Form and turn them in to the instructor after
the presentation ends, and
◦ Sign in on the sign-in sheet.
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THANK YOU! These materials help WMAHEC
plan better programs!
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A Google search will return resources from all
types of organizations and individuals. How
do you know which ones are reliable?
Know how to evaluate Web sites! See these
evaluation strategies on evaluating medical
Web sites:
http://nnlm.gov/outreach/consumer/evalsite.html
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Today’s focus will be on the National Library of Medicine’s
Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC). For
more information on the site, go to:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/dimrcfs.html.
DIMRC provides links to resources that have been evaluated by
the National Library of Medicine’s medical librarians who are
experts in disaster literature. Resources linked to by DIMRC have
been produced by organizations deemed reliable on the topic,
including government, educational, non-profit, faith-based, and
other organizations. Evaluation criteria used in selecting these
resources can be found here:
http://disaster.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/envirohealthlinkscriteria.h
tml
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In your packet is a list of resources demonstrated today.
http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc.html
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Keep the National Library of Medicine’s
Disaster Information Management Research
Center’s URL (Web address) handy!
http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc.html
OR:
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Google two words: NLM disaster; the DIMRC
should be your first result!
Free, downloadable or printable resources found at NLM
DIMRC include:
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Fact sheets, tip sheets, checklists;
Sample disaster plans for a variety of purposes, including
personal and community preparedness;
Educational videos and online courses;
Reports of best practices based on evidence from actual
events;
Resources on coping with disasters;
Downloadable apps for your phone or mobile device;
Index of professional literature on disasters with links (in
some cases) to the full text;
And much more!
Disaster Types and Topics
http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc.html
Disaster Types:
Bioterrorism
Chemical Emergencies
Fires and Wildfires
Geographical Hazards
(Earthquakes)
• Pandemic Disease
Outbreaks
• Radiation Emergencies
• Weather and Storms
•
•
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•
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For instance, if you wanted
to find information on
preparing for tornadoes, one
way to find that information
at NLM DIMRC would be to:
1) Click on “Disaster Types”
2) Click on “Weather and Storms”
3) Click on “Tornadoes”
A list of relevant resources already “vetted” by NLM
medical librarians will appear—Click on any of these
to read, download, or print
A printout of this fact sheet/tip sheet from the
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration
is included in your packet as a sample
Tornado
Watches and
Warnings are
in RED
A Sample Resource Found under Disaster Types
/ Weather and Storms / Tornadoes:
Frequently updated National Weather Service
display of national warnings and advisories
Direct URL:
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/wva/
Disaster-Related Topics
• Animals in Disasters
• Disaster Apps and Mobile Optimized Web Pages
• Community Preparedness
• Coping with Disasters, Violence, and Traumatic
Stress
• Disaster Recovery
• Ethics in Disaster Medicine and Public Health
• Personal Preparedness
• Mass Gatherings
• Special Populations
• Disaster-Related Competencies for Healthcare
Providers
• Sources of Emergency and Disaster Information from
the U.S. Government
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This is a lot of clicking! Are you feeling
overwhelmed?
The DIMRC is very well organized; remember that
you can always return to the “Home” page and
start again.
You can also use the “bread crumbs” at the top of
each screen to see where you are and where
you’ve been; however . . .
Once you’ve left DIMRC to go to a resource at
another organization’s site, you will lose your
breadcrumbs—that’s when the BACK button
comes in handy.
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NLM’s DIMRC does not, generally, create its own
content.
DIMRC is a directory to disaster resources
created by other organizations that NLM medical
librarians have selected as reliable.
Think of DIMRC as a sort of disaster encyclopedia
with clickable links.
Within DIMRC are numerous ways to find
resources, and you will often see topics and
resources repeated in various places.
Try several ways to search for your material
within DIMRC!
Now, back to NLM DIMRC – Disaster Topics
Let’s look at Special Populations
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Emergency Preparedness for Older Adults; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
URL: http://www.cdc.gov/aging/emergency/index.htm
Disaster Planning Tips for Older Adults and their Families (PDF, 105 KB)
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; URL:
http://www.cdc.gov/aging/pdf/disaster_planning_tips.pdf
Disaster Preparedness for Seniors; State of Florida, Department of Elder Affairs; URL:
http://elderaffairs.state.fl.us/doea/disaster.php
Disaster Preparedness for Seniors by Seniors (PDF, 2.2 MB); American Red Cross; URL:
http://www.redcross.org/images/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m4640086_Disaster_Prepare
dness_for_Srs-English.revised_7-09.pdf
Emergency Assistance Guide (PDF, 81 KB); U.S. Administration on Aging; URL:
http://www.aoa.gov/AoARoot/Preparedness/Resources_Network/pdf/Attachment_1356.pdf
Emergency Preparedness Tips for Older Adults; American Geriatrics Society
Guidelines for Mainstreaming the Needs of Older Persons in Disaster Situations in the
Caribbean (PDF, 1.5 MB); URL:
http://www.cridlac.org/digitalizacion/pdf/eng/doc18956/doc18956.htm
Just In Case: Emergency Readiness for Older Adults and Caregivers (PDF, 874 KB)
U.S. Administration on Aging; URL:
http://www.aoa.gov/AoARoot/AoA_Programs/HCLTC/Caregiver/docs/Just_in_Case030706_lin
ks.pdf
Nursing Home Emergency Prepardedness and Response During Recent Hurricanes (PDF, 1.2
MB); Office of the Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services; URL:
http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-06-06-00020.pdf
Older Adults and Fire (PDF, 131 MB) ; U.S. Fire Administration, FEMA; URL:
http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/tfrs/v1i5-508.pdf
Older Americans (PDF, 545 KB); FEMA Brochure; URL:
http://www.ready.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/olderamericans_quadfold.pdf
http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc.html
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What to do?
Check out the resources at DIMRC’s Disaster
Topics – Animals in Disasters
Resources About Coping with Disasters,
Violence, and Traumatic Events
(also found under Disaster Topics)
http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc.html
Coping Resources – A
variety of categories
• Each Disaster topic ends
with links to PubMed/
MEDLINE citations on
that topic with the
search already done for
you!
• MEDLINE (searched with
PubMed) is the National
Library of Medicine’s
index of virtually all
reliable medical/health
professional literature
published in the U.S.
and from some places
abroad.
A searchable Resource Guide
is available on the DIMRC
Home Page
As is a
general
search
window,
and an A to
Z index of
resources
http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc.html
Resource guide search
for “rural” – (a few of the
results)
http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc.html
2013 March 21
Disability Inclusive Emergency Management
Marcie Roth, Senior Advisor on Disability Issues for FEMA,
spoke about integrating the needs of the whole community
into all aspects of emergency preparedness and disaster
response, recovery and mitigation efforts.
Recording
Slides (PDF, 4 MB)
See more topics on the Disaster Information Specialist
Program Meetings/Conference Calls page at
http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/dismeetings.html;
these are free for you to download and watch – You do not
need to be in the Disaster Information Specialist Program!
http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc.html
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Maryland Emergency Management Agency
(MEMA) http://mema.maryland.gov/Pages/homePrep
aredness_heat.aspx
Allegany County Health Department http://www.alleganyhealthdept.com/ - Go to
Public Health Preparedness site http://www.alleganyhealthdept.com/bioterru
pdate.html
Each county health department has local
disaster health information
http://gov.allconet.org/DES/docs/Allegany%2
0County%202012%20Hazard%20Mitigation%20
Plan%20Update.pdf
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Maryland has defined16 Emergency Support
Functions (ESFs) to plan and carry out the
various activities that may be needed during
an emergency event.
Each ESF covers a span of activities that focus
on specific emergency functions such as
Health and Medical Services (ESF #8) or
Transportation (ESF #1).
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Primary Agency: Department of Health and
Mental Hygiene (DHMH)
Your county’s health department is the local
arm of DHMH.
Other types of emergencies are overseen by
other Maryland agencies, described in the
Maryland Emergency Management Plan at
http://mema.maryland.gov/prepared/Docum
ents/The_State_of_Maryland_Emergency_Oper
ations_Plan_26Aug09.pdf
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita reminded us that personal emergency readiness needs to
be a priority for everyone, including older adults and caregivers. This supplement to
Aging in Stride – Plan Ahead, Stay Connected, Keep Moving recommends a simple,
three-step approach:
Step 1 – Know the basics. Learn about the risks your particular community faces;
know how to do things like turning off your gas and electricity; get to know your
neighbors.
Step 2 – Have your emergency supplies ready. This includes items you would need to
survive in your home until help arrives; it should also include a personal evacuation
bag, partially packed and ready to go.
Step 3 – Make a personal plan. Many older persons have special needs relating to
medications, medical equipment, mobility, and support services; making a personal
emergency readiness plan increases the likelihood that essential needs will still be
met, even in an emergency situation.
http://www.aoa.gov/AoARoot/AoA_Programs/HCLTC/Caregiver/docs/Just_in_Case0
30706_links.pdf
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Complete your evaluation form and participant
information form and return them to the instructor
today.
Contact Mary Spalding for further information and
copies of peer-reviewed articles (free until
September 16) – mspalding@wmahec.org or 301777-9150, Ext. 116
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STAY SAFE!
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