Providing a S.H.I.E.L.D. When Disaster Strikes: Librarians and Healthcare Providers Collaborate

Class Experience Level
Beginner

In this 60-minute webinar, presenters from the library team at the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) in North Carolina will describe how, post-Hurricane Helene, they collaborated with healthcare providers and stakeholders to create portable disaster kits.  The kits provide essential information and technology for healthcare providers in the event of a disaster or emergency that causes power and/or Internet outages. 

About the Presenters

Meg Everist, MLS, is a Clinical & Research Librarian for the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) in Asheville, North Carolina. Prior to joining MAHEC, she was a Health Science Librarian in Maine. She holds a Master's in Library Science from the University of North Carolina, where she also received her undergraduate degree and was an EPA Library Intern. She is passionate about public and environmental health and user engagement in libraries.

Ellen M. Justice, MLIS, AHIP, is a Clinical & Research Librarian for the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) in Asheville, North Carolina.  She has expertise in complex literature searching; supporting Graduate Medical Education by providing informative instruction and relevant resources to residents, fellows, and faculty; designing and maintaining LibGuides; and embracing opportunities to bring library services to MAHEC’s various clinical sites and healthcare providers in Western North Carolina.   Prior to joining MAHEC, she worked as a clinical and also a consumer health librarian for Christiana Care Health System in Delaware.   She earned her Master of Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina. 

Objectives:
  1. Learn about how the library team partnered with stakeholders and used emergency-preparedness literature to inform the content of SHIELD kits.
  2. Be able to identify information and technology that can support healthcare providers’ emergency response, especially after a disaster that causes widespread electrical and internet outages.
  3. Learn about how the librarians assembled the kits and worked with leaders in other departments to maintain and distribute the SHIELD kits and assure they are included in site-specific emergency plans.

Class Details

Date(s): September 23, 2025
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT
Platform: Zoom
CE Credits: 1.00
This class is sponsored by Region 1.
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Class Contacts

Host/Instructor: April Wright
Technical Assistance:
last updated: 08/10/25 01:19