OML Celebrates Second Anniversary with Photos from Bagram, AF

Under the Taliban rule, Afghan medical students were unable to learn the human body through anatomy books because all of the medical textbooks with illustrations were confiscated and destroyed. OML libraries throughout Afghanistan contain books that were once banned. These photos are of MAJ Nolen's current class (MDs, DDS & NRs) with the books they have selected from the OML "Library."

The photos are courtesy of Maureen A. Nolen, MAJ, USA, AN
Two Week Medical Mentorship Program Coordinator
Bagram, Afghanistan

OML Receives Daily Points of Light Honor

 

President George H.W. Bush’s inaugural address invoked the vision of a "thousand points of light," and invited the nation to take action through service to their fellow citizens . I welcome you to watch the video of this portion of his address. It's inspiring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_3MoJSIOX0&feature=player_embedded

Since the inception of the Daily Points of Light Award (DPOL) by President George H. W. Bush in 1990, individuals, organizations, and corporations have been honored for being a "light."

http://www.pointsoflight.org/who-we-are/our-history

Today, Operation Medical Libraries was honored as the 3,932 Daily Points of Light for demonstrating how "a neighbor can help a neighbor."

http://www.pointsoflight.org/programs/recognition/dpol/awards/3932

Link

OML Library Branches Out to Mazar-e-Sharif School of Nursing

The Association of Nursing Students at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte collected nursing books throughout the fall 2008 semester. The eight boxes of textbooks were transported to Mazar-e-Sharif in January 2009 on a pallet when an Army unit from Ft. Bragg in Fayetteville, NC was deployed to Afghanistan. As a result, the association did not have to pay for shipping. Instead, the funds raised to cover shipping expenses were used to purchase new books, which are now part of the OML library in the Mazar-e-Sharif School of Nursing.

Above are a few photos taken at the Mazar-e-Sharif School of Nursing where the donated books have been placed. Books are a shared resource. Students take notes on what is presented to them. Most nurses are men.

CDR Resa Warner
Team Lead, Embedded Training
Afghanistan National Army Regional Hospital
Mazar-e-Sharif

7,000 Tons of Usable Medical Materials Discarded Daily in the U.S.

According to the Clinton Global Initiative, over 7,000 tons of usable medical materials and supplies are discarded every day in American hospitals and clinics. Most of these items are outright incinerated or deposited in land-fill.

The global impact of donating your medical textbooks will be immediate and lasting. The effect of change will be significant. The scope includes advancing medical education; improving health care; extending the productive life of a product made by cutting trees; and reducing the pressures on our land fill sites and the pollution from incinerators. Don't throw away knowledge. Pass it on to your medical colleagues! Make a global difference!

Current textbooks in the health sciences fields of dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacology, and physical therapy are needed, as well as anatomy and basic science books. Textbooks need to be new or gently used, contain current information, and published after 2001. For more information, please visit the
OML Website

Medical Author Donates 1,100 Copies to OML

Kudos to Harry Rosen, M.D., who recently donated 1,000 residual copies of the first edition of The Consult Manual of Internal Medicine. It is a handbook of Internal Medicine, published in 2006. At Dr. Rosen's expense, these books will be sent to medical schools in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the medical staff at Isabel Province in the Solomon Islands.

For more information, visit the
MedConsult Publishing Website

OML Launches Website with Donation Procedures

Thank you for your interest in Operation Medical Libraries. There is a tremendous need for initial and continuing education materials for all of the health sciences. Your book and/or journal donations will help fill the education gap and be greatly appreciated by Afghan and Iraqi students and professionals.

All the information you need to participate in this project, such as the who, what, where, and how procedures, is on the
Operation Medical Libraries Website

If you have follow up questions, please call 310-794-4025 and leave your name and phone number on the voicemail. Please speak slowly and clearly, so the information can be retrieved accurately. It is helpful if you state your phone number twice. If you prefer email, you can email me at valerie@OperationMedicalLibraries.org

If your organization, medical university, or library is considering sponsoring an OML book drive, please email me. I can email you the OML logo for your PR and marketing, as well as match your institution up with a particular medical facility in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Thank you for being part of the solution and being a blessing to people you will never meet.

With appreciation,
Valerie Walker
OML Founder

American Medical Association Features OML in Its Online Version of "News"

Providing Texts to Teach Anatomy and Medicine in Taliban-torn Countries

The American Medical Association published an Aug. 25 article in its online version of American Medical News on Operation Medical Libraries, a partnership between medical schools at UCLA, UCSD and UCI, hospitals, physicians and the U.S. military, to collect and distribute medical textbooks and journals to support the medical community in Afghanistan and Iraq. Valerie Walker, director of the UCLA Medical Alumni Association, which launched the project, was quoted.

“Tons of Donated Medical Texts Sent to War Zones in Afghanistan and Iraq”

To read the article, copy and paste the following URL into any Web browser.
http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/08/25/prl20825.htm