Making the Neighborhood Connections - Matas Library receives grant funding from the National Library of Medicine (NLM)

The Matas Library has just received a NN/LM SCR Resource Library Outreach Award. The specific award is titled, “Making the Neighborhood Connections: Matas Library Links the Community to Health Literacy”. This award, funded by the National Library of Medicine(NLM), for up to $15,000 will be used to conduct community outreach in the New Orleans area and is funded by the National Library of Medicine (NLM).

In this effort the library will be promoting health literacy initiatives to the community in activity partnership with: Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI), Dr. Mark Alain Dery, via Covenant House and the NOSIDA project, New Orleans City Hall, and the Neighborhood Partnerships Network (NPN). These activities include training some public health professionals, clinical professionals, community leaders, and youth to use basic health information resources provided through the National Library of Medicine in order to spread a wider use of credible and authoritative health information tools among the communities. MedlinePlus, a consumer health information tool, will be one of the key resources.

Matas Library, through Neville Prendergast, Matas Library Director, and Elaine Hicks, Matas Education Librarian, will spearhead a number of planned activities, and a community health information needs assessment, using the funds awarded to conduct community outreach in the New Orleans area.