For an overview of the original health library project and vision, see our historic Outline page. What progress did we make towards implementation? Here are some informal notes about activities and developments:
Progress reports, July - December 2000
Progress reports, January - June 2001
Progress reports, June - December 2001
Progress reports, January - June 2002
Progress reports, June 2002 - mid-2003
6/26/02
The Holyoke Consumer Health Library planning group met 1:00-2:30 pm at Nuestras
Raices, corner of Cabot and Main St, Holyoke. Minutes taken by S Lawson, awaiting
typing by S.Ward.
Next meeting of the Holyoke Consumer Health Library planning group? No regular meetings in July (or Aug?), but several small group projects:
Webpage Committee met on a Sunday afternoon at home of Sandy Ward. We reviewed two prototypes designed by Anita Smith, and selected one. Jim Craig and Sandy Ward met July 15 with Dr Rita Luthra, who is planning a large website project for women's health.
Wed July 17, 2002 Book sorting party at Holyoke Community College, Donahue building, Library Room 303. 1:30pm - 3:30pm or later. Come join us!
Heather Warner and Sandy Ward met July 17 3:30 pm to update the postal mailing list (in ACCESS software) and then pass it to Chris Lapon for future maintenance. Note: we have not sent a printed mailing in over a year. We have used email exclusively, thereby saving postage but reducing the reach of our announcements and appeals for volunteers.
7/26/02
Email from Daniel Ross, "The library space is done... We have installed
the carpet and shelves, we moved in a table and chairs, the room is brand new
and beautiful. We have even moved in some books. The only things that are lacking
are phone lines and the partition for the staff desk that we have to fit into
the room." This is exciting, and challenging news. We (HCHL) aren't as
ready as the room is! Summer vacations have interrupted our progress and I'll
be away 7/30-8/15.
7/27/02
Sandy visited Nuestras Raices and took a few photos of the library and the impressive
mural being painted outside.
7/30/02
Doris McKethan and Sandy Ward brought many pamphlet boxes, videotapes, and books from storage at Sandy's house to the new shelves at the library (photo). Judy Atkin met us there and we discussed the project with the teens at Mercy Women's Health Center. We selected some tentative dates for Internet workshops this fall. Sandy emailed Javier Crespo to alert him to save the dates. [Javier later confirmed that the dates are OK.] Photo of Doris and Judy by Nuestras Raices mural.
8/16/02
Sandy returned from vacation and opened a letter from Heather Warner formally
notifying us that she will no longer be able to participate in HCHL. She will
be busy with twins, due in the fall. We will miss Heather, who has been a major
cheerleader and volunteer for this project, serving on the first Board of Directors.
She was our Clerk. A big THANK YOU to Heather!
9/9/02
National Library of Medicine launches Spanish-language
version of MedlinePlus. (MEDLINEplus es el portal de Internet de la Biblioteca
Nacional de Medicina de información de salud para el público.)
Sandy adds links to our lists of major health websites.
9/9/02
Judy Atkin and Sandy Ward confirm by phone that the date of the Internet workshop
for the Mercy Women's Health Center Teen Group will be Tuesday October 1, 3-4;30pm.
Sandy will investigate which location is best, e.g, one of the new Community
Technology Centers in Holyoke. Javier Crespo has been invited to teach the
workshop.
9/10/02
Several of us attend the Holyoke CHNA meeting, 9:30-11am, Holyoke Youth Alliance, 167 Chestnut St, Holyoke. It was followed by potluck lunch with special tribute to Polly Prunuske who has been so helpful to us all. [Funding for Polly's employment at the MA Prevention Center ended 6/30/02.] Thanks, Polly!
9/16/02
Anita Smith and Sandy Ward met Monday evening to continue Website planning.
9/17/02
Chris Lapon, Javier Crespo, Deborah Sibley, and Sandy Ward met with a Holyoke Health Center grant writer to discuss various NLM grant opportunities for HHC.
9/18/02
Lunch meeting at Open Square Cafe, 12-1:30pm. Good discussion of our support for the Teen Group at Mercy. Check for $300 rec'd!
9/18/02
Mark Jimerson, MSPCC, gave Sandy a tour of the recently completed Community
Technology Center (CTC). Six PCs and 4 iMacs are in a small room at MSPCC. Although Mark was very eager to have us use this facility for the Oct 1 workshop for the Mercy Teen Group, we concluded that the space was too small, and only 6 of the computer connect to the Internet. Mark recommended the larger CTC on Suffolk Street. These CTCs are being set up by the Light of Restoration Ministry, 98 Suffolk St, Holyoke. Sandy visited the site at 102 Suffolk (still under construction) and saw that it would be perfect for the workshop, if finished by October 1.
9/21/02
Sandy attended Benefit concert for Nuestras Raices, Saturday, Sept 21, 2002, 7:00 pm @ Open Square.
9/24/02
Sandy delivered some donated books to the pilot library and talked with William Aponte, NR's Youth Director. He described how the library resources will soon be reorganized by an intern. He also requested English dictionaries to help the youth do their homework.
9/24/02
Grand Opening of ACCESS Holyoke's technology hub at the Greater Holyoke YMCA's Lou Parent Youth Center, Beech Street. The 16 computers here could be used for Internet workshops in the future. Seven agencies collaborated in planning this $300,000 project, funded by the US Dept of Education. Computers are being added to eleven locations throughout the city.
9/28/02
Sandy attended 9th Annual Harvest Festival, Centro Agricola, Nuestras Raices, Saturday, Sept 28, 2002.
10/1/02
Special CHNA meeting at Holyoke Health Center, 9:30am. Presention by Massachusetts Dept of Public Health (MDPH) Community Health Worker (CHW) Project.
10/1/02
Internet workshop for Holyoke Public Library staff taught by Sandy Ward, 11am. Javier Crespo, NN/LM, had called in sick; Maria Pagan wished to proceed with Sandy Ward as substitute instructor. Introduction to these four databases: Expanded Academic ASAP, Health Reference Center, MedlinePlus, and PubMed.
10/1/02
Computer literacy workshop for Teen Group from Mercy Women's Health Center. The CTC facility at 102 Suffolk St was ready just in time! The computers worked well. The Internet connection --which had been down for hours thanks to a major problem at Verizon that day--even came back up just moments before it was needed.
10/2/02
Sandy delivered two boxes of videos (donated from LPVPC) to NR. William will sort through and see what he can use with the youth. Meanwhile, other boxes of videos and books from LPVPC that had been stored all summer at Holyoke Community College Library were given this week to Jeannette Rodriguez, Holyoke Health Center, for possible use in her outreach programs on cancer, Hepatitis C, etc.
10/9/02
HCHL meeting, 10:30am -11:30am, at Nuestras Raices - Nomination of officers
for 2003. Minutes taken by Kathleen McDonough.
It was decided to do a mailing announcing the Oct 23 annual meeting. Chris Lapon,
Sandy Ward, and Jim Craig followed up in the next few days: designing the flyer,
printing mailing labels, buying stamps, etc,
10/11/02
At 7:30pm Friday night Anita Smith posted the prototype of our new website onto
the HG&E webserver. A recent flurry of emails among Sandy, Anita, and reps
at HG&E and at GoDaddy.com (where our new domain name WWW.HOLYOKEHEALTH.INFO
had been "parked") had resulted in action on several fronts. At last
the domain name pointed to a place where we could control content. During the
weekend of Oct 12-13, Sandy added more content to the website and prepared it
for real use by the public -- driven by the deadline of our mailing, which included
the new URL. Testing of the website revealed that users of Netscape 4.7 (an
old, but still very popular browser) could see nothing. On Oct 18, Sandy announced
by e-mail the "launch" of www.holyokehealth.info (with cautionary
note about the browser problem). Finally the HTML coding was fixed so that (hopefully)
it now works well with all browsers, as of Oct 22. Try www.holyokehealth.info
and let us know what you think.
10/23/02
Annual Meeting. Wed October 23, 10:30am -11:50am at Holyoke Public Library.
Minutes taken by Jayme Hannay including a list
of suggested next steps for HCHL. and Election
of officers for 2003:
President: Sandy Ward
Vice President: Maria Pagan
Treasurer: Judy Atkin
Clerk: Kathleen McDonough
10/26/02
La Unidad, a student group at Mount Holyoke College, held a Haunted House party
and donated the proceeds to HCHL, Inc. Each year they select a community organization
as their beneficiary. On October 31, La Unidad's treasurer presented Sandy Ward
with a check for $321. A very impressive total from a party that charged only
$3 at the door!
11/2/02
Two members of our Collection Development committee spent Saturday morning at
Barnes & Noble bookstore selecting and purchasing books.
We purchased $466 worth of books. Next step will be to put appropriate bookplates
on each and bring them to the pilot library. Chris Lapon had previously designed
some bookplates; Kathleen McDonough and Sandy Ward selected a simple legible
design; and Chris forwarded the file to Sandy. [An unintended extra step --due
to software incompatibility--was redesign of the bookplate in a label-making
program. This work was done by Ken Harstine Nov 9.] By Nov 10, sheets of printed
Avery labels were ready.
11/13/02
Sandy Ward brought the new books and newly-designed bookplates to the pilot
library at Nuestras Raices. As the new books were unpacked, William Aponte and
Jaime Iglesia, staff at N.R., examiined some of the books and spoke to each
other excitedly in Spanish about these resources. Sandy wished she had a camera
to catch this special moment.
11/02
Donation of $250 received from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts. This money will be used to purchase additional resources for the pilot library collection.
12/17/02
Three members of our Collection Development committee met at the pilot library
to review what we already own and revise our wish-list for future purchases.
12/21/02
Major updating and reorganization of the multilingual section of our website www.holyokehealth.info . Sandy moved some of the instructional annotations to a new page of tips for volunteers: http://www.holyokehealth.info/guide/spanishtips.html How to help find Web-based Health resources in Spanish (www.holyokehealth.info/guide/spanishtips.html)
1/8/03
Judy Atkin, our new Treasurer for 2003, met with Sandy Ward to review the financial
record.
1/13/03
Meeting in the pilot at Nuestras Raices. Several members of the planning group
were quite impressed by the progress that had been made! Minutes.
After the meeting, Sandy contacted Jay Breines of the HHC and Mark Jimerson
of MSPCC to discuss possible collaborations.
2/10/03
Meeting in the pilot library at Nuestras Raices. Minutes by Kathleen McDonough.
2/19/03
Sandy Ward began staffing the pilot at Nuestras Raices. 10:00am-12noon every Wednesday. Additional books purchased and processed. Signs hung.
3/10/03
Meeting in the pilot library at Nuestras Raices. Minutes by Kathleen McDonough.
4/1/03
Sandy attended last 30 min. of CHNA meeting and passed out business cards. The
CHNA group decided to meet next month (Tues May 6, 9:30 am) at Nuestras Raices
and to see the pilot library there. After the meeting, Sandy called Marcia Sullivan,
Holyoke Community Housing, to discuss possible volunteers.
4/10/03
Major Springfield newspaper (The Republican) published article about our project. See Holyoke Plus section, Latin Beat column, page H6: "Health Library opens at Nuestra Raices" by Natalia Arbulu. April 10, 2003. Includes photo of Sandy standing in front of bookshelves.
4/11/03
Jim Craig, Chris Lapon, and Sandy accepted the invitation of La Unidad (Mount Holyoke student group) to attend La Noche de la Latina. We staffed an information table for Community networking 6-7:30pm. Students on a neighboring table represented CAUSE, an organization that works to match student volunteers with community projects. They wish to list our project next year.
NOTE added 4/24/2004 by Sandy Ward
I stopped maintaining this report mid-2003 as our focus shifted to staffing the pilot library and maintaining our new website for the public. In contrast, this website had been for our own internal use, to track our history. I have started a smaller administrative section of the new website, but no longer have time to be "historian" of the project. In October 2003, I cut back to 80% time at my main job (Science Librarian, Mount Holyoke College) in order to devote time to the pilot library and this project. Unfortunately, I'm still unable to keep up this log.
What's New?
April 2004 -- We are now preparing for a new phase. We are seeking grant funding for staff -- not for our pilot library, but for a more central location. A new vision is emerging: a network of "modules" coordinated by a health librarian/project manager working out of a larger organization. (e.g., Holyoke Health center or the Holyoke Public Library).
Each "module" would have 3 components:
Want to join us? Or add your comments and suggestions? Please send email to sward @ ... [no longer valid]
This webpage maintained by Sandy
Ward.
Last updated: April 24, 2004.
