National Family Health History Day

Posted by Miles Dietz-Castel on November 9th, 2018 Posted in: All of Us, Blog, Partner Outreach Libraries
Tags: Partner Outreach Library

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Written by Erika Johnson. Erika is a health sciences librarian at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences and a GMR Partner Outreach Librarian.

Thanksgiving Day is just around the corner – a day when families gather to enjoy time together. Did you know that Thanksgiving Day is also National Family Health History Day? Chances are you will be seeing grandparents, aunts and uncles, and other family members who have important memories to share. What a great opportunity to start a conversation about your family’s health! Documenting medical and health information is an important part of protecting your family’s health in the future.

As librarians and information specialists, we can help spread the word about this often-overlooked element of family history. In September, I gave a presentation at a family history workshop. My session focused on how librarians can help genealogists locate and learn about their relatives. I also included a brief section on gathering medical and health information as an important component of a family’s history.

The 2018 workshop, “Over There,” presented by the Heritage Education Commission, was the organizations 43^rd annual workshop. With planning already underway for the 44^th annual workshop in 2019, I’m looking forward to focusing my next presentation on family health history and leaving the genealogy stuff the experts! There are many excellent resources available from the NNLM and other organizations. Here are just a few that I plan to use as I create my next presentation:

• NNLM Reading Guide Family Health History: Health Information Resources
  A list of print, online, and multimedia resources for supplement your program or event
• A Guide to Family Health History
  A PDF guide to asking questions and organizing a family health history
• Finding Your Roots – The Seedlings
  A series of videos documenting genetic, genealogic, and anthropologic investigations by a group of young scientists; includes curriculum resources