$50,544 awarded to Arizona Health Sciences Library

The Arizona Health Sciences Library has received a grant from the National Library of Medicine to introduce minority students to health sciences librarianship, and to encourage them to consider it as a future career.

The $50,544 in funding comes from the NLM's Specialized Information Services, Office of Outreach and Special Populations. The NLM has a strong commitment to diversity among librarians and those working in related fields of knowledge and information management.

The award supports internships for graduate students in the Knowledge River Program in the School of Information Resources and Library Science at the UA. Knowledge River prepares Hispanics and Native Americans to be leading-edge information professionals.

Free CPR lessons Saturday

Members of the UA community are invited to learn a simpler method of CPR at a public demonstration on Saturday.

The new method, called "continuous chest compression CPR," is at the center of two major initiatives announced by the UA Sarver Heart Center earlier this month. The first is a partnership with the Tucson Fire Department, which, under the guidance of the Sarver Heart Center, has modified its paramedic protocols to incorporate the breakthrough CPR method. The second initiative is the "Be a Lifesaver" public education campaign, a citywide effort to teach CCC-CPR to as many Tucsonans as possible.

A decade of research at the Sarver Heart Center has found that stopping chest compressions to give mouth-to-mouth breaths may be more harmful than helpful. Unlike standard CPR, which alternates chest compressions with breaths, CCC-CPR involves only chest compressions.

The first public demonstration will be held at University Medical Center, 1501 N. Campbell Ave., at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The demonstration is free.

UA nutritional sciences students help out at Kids CafŽ program

As part of the Kids CafŽ after-school feeding program, children at the Marty Birdman Neighborhood Center in Tucson are learning how to prepare - and eat - their own healthy snacks.

"What happens when you put milk in the cabinet instead of the fridge?" asked recreation assistant Carrie L. Joe to 16 eager, restless and hungry students. Ten hands fly up, but they're too late. Someone blurts out, "It gets rotten!" Another part of the program involves discussing with children ways to properly store food and how to prevent food poisoning.

About 75 nutritional sciences students volunteer at five neighborhood centers twice each semester; they can go twice more for extra credit. They assist the recreational workers at the center during the lesson, and actually teach the lessons at three locations. This was made possible by a grant obtained through Arizona Cooperative Extension's involvement in the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program.