University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
| By Cathleen Rineer-Garber |
New Mexico is home to 19 Pueblos, the Jicarilla and Mescalero Apache and the eastern portion of the Navajo Nation. This significant number of Native Americans has made communicating with the native population about health issues a high priority for the UNM Health Sciences Center (HSC).
One way the HSC accomplishes this is through the Native American Health Information Services Program, which connects the Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center (HSLIC) to Native Americans in New Mexico. The program offers resources to health care providers serving Native Americans and to community members of the 22 Native nations in New Mexico, says Patricia Bradley, MLS, Native Services Librarian.
One of the key components of the program is the Native Health Database which contains citations and abstracts of health-related articles, reports, surveys, and other documents pertaining to the health and health care of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Canadian First Nations. According to Bradley, the databases include more than 9,000 records. Formerly divided into two separate databases, one historical and one contemporary, a merger completed in September, 2007 makes the records searchable through one interface.
Some records date from as far back as 1672, says Bradley. Titles include “An account of an extraordinary disease among the Indians, in the islands of Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard, in New England,” from 1672; “Popular Medicine, Customs, And Superstitions of the Rio Grande,” from 1894; and “Tuberculosis among the Indians of Arizona and New Mexico,” from 1906.
There are about 5,700 more recent records, dating from 1966 to the present. Articles cover a range of issues from diabetes and cancer surveillance to hantavirus.
“The articles in the database are primarily medically-related, but there are also articles about nursing, behavioral health and social issues,” says Bradley. Throughout the year, Bradley combs through relevant materials looking for new records to add to the database. In 2006, 235 new records were added.
“The database provides unique and vital health information for native populations,” says Bradley, adding that many of the people who benefit from the information are often isolated by language and cultural barriers, and also by physical geography.
The database, originally established in 1994 as a historical database spanning 1672-1966, has open access, so anyone can conduct a search and registration is not required. Bradley says that most of the users are health care professionals, students and researchers. People from all over the globe access the information, she says. Based on the 1800+ hits each month, the resource is well-used. “As far as we know, this is the only database of its kind in the US,” says Bradley.
