UCLA Center for Prehospital Care Donates Brand New Textbooks

UCLA Center for Prehospital Care is recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in prehospital education and research and as an innovator and advocate for the development of quality emergency medical services (EMS) systems. As part of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, it is the leading emergency and prehospital academic center on the West Coast. Now, citizens in Afghanistan and the Philippines also benefit from the center's committment to providing outstanding prehospital education.

Over the last few months, the center has donated almost $10,000 in new educational resources to OML. These books will save countless lives and make a difference - every day.


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UCLA OB/GYN Department Donates Library

The UCLA Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology donated all of the medical education resources in its Moore Library to OML. The 547 books and 89 videos and will have a signficant impact in women's health and infant mortality rates in Afghanistan and the Philippines.



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OML Expands to Assist British Coalition Efforts

Operation Medical Libraries has received a request from a member of the British Forces, who currently works as a Paramedic supporting and training the Afghan police force. Below is a description of his assignment.

"My assignment is to work on medical development for the newly built medical centre for the police force. It's an isolated area currently with 1 x doctor 1 x nurse and 2 x medics. The infrastructure is fantastic, purpose built but they are lacking in the resource department. They are keen to study and develop their medical knowledge. we also have members going on medical courses and would like to do some pre reading before attending. Any medical literature relating to general practice, first aid, trauma and topographical would be welcome. I am currently deployed and will be here until December. My replacement will take over then but would still like to receive any donations." Darren

If you live in the United Kingdom and would like to support Darren's efforts, please send them to him at the following BFPO address at a date no later than October 15, 2011. Once OML has been notified of his replacement's name, another blog entry will be posted to notify our British supporters.

Darren Smith
Medical Centre
UK AVN DET (FH)
BFPO 798

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OML Welcomes New POC in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan

OML would like to welcome its newest POC:

Charlotte Shealy mentors Afghan doctors, nurses, and technicians who care for men, women, and children in northern Afghanistan. She has requests for general text books in internal medicine texts (especially copies of CURRENT Medical Diagnosis and Treatment), general surgery, critical care (i.e. The ICU Book), general pediatrics (i.e. Nelson's Essentials of Pediatrics), ob/gyn (i.e. Essentials of Obstetrics & Gynecology), clinical pharmacology and nursing. At this hospital, they have a decent library of the "big texts", but they are opting for the more user friendly ones that are very outdated (1990s) like the books listed. Also requests copies of the Oxford Picture Dictionary English/Farsi version.

You can send Charlotte Shealy any of these resources through October 1, 2011.

The shipping label should be:
Charlotte Shealy
METT
Camp Mike Spann
APO AE 09368




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Photos From Afghanistan

These photos were received today by an OML POC is a classified area of Afghanistan.


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Another Satisfied OML Customer

OML recently received an email from one of its POCs in Kabul, Afghanistan. For classified reasons, the military representative's name is not being released. I echo the POC's gratitude to all of the OML donors.

Here's the email text:

Just a quick note to let you know that we have received several shipments of outstanding medical literature for use in our hospital, schoolhouse and outlying clinics. In fact, we are now at capacity for the libraries, and I would request that we go ahead and hold off on shipping more books out for now. We do certainly appreciate all of the efforts through several organizations that have graciously donated much needed training material!

Please pass on to your donors that their part has helped further the education and knowledge of the Afghan medical system, and for that we are all extremely grateful. In the mean time, I will forward out your contact information to our other counterparts throughout Afghanistan and see if they could coordinate with your wonderful program.

Thanks, and God bless!

V/R
Medical Embedded Training Team

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SLA Pittsburgh Student Group Collects Medical Literature for US Troops

Members of Special Libraries Association Pittsburgh Student Group (SLAPSG) have been hard at work this semester collecting medical textbooks to send to U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The LIS students were first made aware of the efforts when they read the New York Times article about OML (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/health/31library.html) in Dr. Ellen Detlefsen’s Health Sciences Resources and Services course during the fall semester. Surprised to see that the University of Pittsburgh was not a participating institution, SLAPSG president Amy Yonick decided to start OML @ Pitt after positive feedback from other student members. The outreach project has also generated a couple new members for SLAPSG. The faculty advisor for OML @ Pitt is Ellen Detlefsen.

So far the LIS students have collected over 70 textbooks; they plan on having the first shipment sent by April 8. They have reached out to various schools at the University of Pittsburgh, including the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing. Some SLAPSG members handed out flyers at a PalPITTations concert, an a cappella group at the university consisting of medical students. Yonick designed a strategic marketing plan for OML@Pitt for Dr. Sue Alman’s Marketing and Public Relations for Libraries course.

SLAPSG will continue to ship books as they are received through the summer. Yonick hopes that incoming LIS students and SLAPSG members will continue to work on the project after she and the other members graduate this summer.

More information about OML @ Pitt

OML Uploads VOA Broadcast to You Tube

Voice of America (VOA) produced a video on OML's impact in Afghanistan, especially at the Cure Hospial in Kabul. To 3:55 broadcast aired in Afghanistan in early January 2011 and was shared with VOA Urdu Service, which broadcasts to Pakistan.

To view the English translation, visit:
OML on You Tube


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