Consumer Health Information Champions
After a regional scan funded by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) identified community libraries as important sources of consumer information about healthcare conditions, JHF started the Consumer Health Information Champions Fellowship. Using the process improvement principles of PRHI's Perfecting Patient Caresm (PPC), the Fellowship is a multi-session program designed to equip community librarians with the specialized skills needed to assist patrons in researching consumer health information. As part of the program, librarians receive the 12 hours of online training needed to meet the Medical Library Association’s requirements for certification as consumer health information specialists. The Fellowship also helps librarians increase their awareness of different types of patrons seeking health information and improves their comfort level in discussing difficult health issues with them.
Using the information gleaned throughout the Fellowship, the Librarian Fellows were able to update their library systems’ consumer health database and related web information, design a staff training module regarding health information, and develop community presentations related to accessing health information.
In the first Fellowship, librarians from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh were exposed to experts in the healthcare field, toured various medical libraries and spoke with medical librarians, and learned relationship-building skills. Most importantly, the Fellowship helped the librarians expand their knowledge of the types and sources of reliable information on healthcare providers, health conditions and healthcare quality. The Fellowship is now being replicated with a group of librarians from the Allegheny County Library Association.
Current
Ann Andrews |
Susan McClellan |
Ronda Dibas |
Tom Muldowney |
Tracy Happe |
Mary Lee Resnick |
Megan Heady |
Antoinette Ruta |
Denise Ignasky |
Lynn Schneider |
Maria Joseph |
Dustin Shilling |
Charity Leonette |
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Alumni
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Holly Anderton (Main) |
Candace Kail (Main) |
Thomas Barnes (Main) |
Julianna Kuchta (Carrick) |
Jessica Clark (Brookline) |
Barbara Lawler (Allegheny Regional) |
Ian Eberhardt (Hill District) |
Kathy Maron-Wood (Main) |
Chris Gmiter (Sheraden/West End) |
Mary Ann McHarg (Hazelwood) |
Linda Gmiter (LBPH) |
Charmaine Mozlack (Main) |
Denise Graham (Homewood) |
Mark Russell (Squirrel Hill) |
Danielle Greenburg (Brookline) |
Lydia Scott (Southside) |
Ryan Hughes (Main) |
Marian Streiff (Mt. Washington) |
Audrey Iacone (Beechview) |
Nancy Worek (Downtown) |