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Nov
18
Posted by Alison Aldrich on November 18th, 2008
Posted in: Funding, Training & Education
Web Tools Training for Rural Oregon Health and Social Service Professionals
By Laura Kuperstein
Oregon SafeNet Program Manager
A year ago I received funding from NN/LM Pacific Northwest Region’s Express Outreach Award to train health and social service professionals on four websites- Oregon SafeNet, MedlinePlus, Oregon Helps and the Beehive – and to give information about Oregon SafeNet, our statewide maternal and child health line. My proposal was to partner with the Oregon Child Development Coalition, an agency that provides Head Start and child care to 3500 primarily Hispanic children in mostly rural areas of Oregon.
The ten regions operated by OCDC have Health Managers who organize meetings to network, discuss current health issues, and to have a presentation on a relevant topic. It was at these meetings that I proposed to distribute newly created SafeNet brochures and posters and present the four websites.
It’s now a year later and I have definitely been on the road! I visited 9 of the 10 locations which included Hood River, Jackson, Jefferson, Klamath, Malheur, Marion, Multnomah, Polk and Washington Counties in Oregon. I presented before professionals who work in education, public health, medical, dental, mental health and social services. Each presentation included a handout with materials about the websites so that participants could focus on the training and could make copies for clients/patients. There was a post test and then a follow up survey 2-3 months after the event. Statistics were gathered from our online directory and our phoneline to try and measure the impact of the trainings. Based on the answers to the post test, I found that the trainings were very well received and seemed quite relevant. I believe that some of what made this a success was my informal style, my demonstration of how these sites can easily move from English to Spanish, the fact that the sites are reliable and current, and that the helpline and the sites each play a part in helping participants work with families.
Questions? Feel free to contact me, Laura Kuperstein, Oregon SafeNet Program Manager at laura@211info.org or 503-416-2604.
ABOUT Alison Aldrich