from left, George Franklin, Dr. Judy Goforth Parker, Michael Peercy and Cynthia Gains. Michael works for the Chickasaw Nation Health System in IT and Cynthia and George are here from the National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine.

Staff from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) visited in Ada this week for the planning of a summer workshop that will be hosted by the Chickasaw Nation. George Franklin and Cynthia Gains toured the Chickasaw Nation and helped the Division of Education in planning what I believe will be a very exciting workshop for junior high and high school students.

The NLM has taken these workshops all over the United States in efforts to interest youth in careers in the sciences and medicine. Topics they will cover include forensics, medicine, disaster planning, toxicology and others. They will demonstrate such projects as Toxtown and the NLM project called “Turning the Pages.” You can visit Toxtown at http://toxtown.nlm.

nih.gov for a preview. I have visited the “Turning the Pages” project at the National Library of Medicine in Washington, D.C. You can get some information about this at the web site http:// archive.nlm.nih.gov/proj/ttp/

books.htm. The web site has an excellent simulation of the project that lets you feel what it would be like to turn the pages of a book that is 200 years old. They will demonstrate this project with the Harry Potter series of books.

Cynthia and George actually loved Ada. They toured our capitol and bought a substantial amount of chocolate at Bedre.

If you would be interested in your youth attending this summer institute, contact the Division of Education at 580-436-7711 to ask questions. It would be a great way to spend a part of the summer. The National Library of Medicine has a great deal of interest in the health of Native Americans. The following web link is actually to a link on the National Library of Medicine History of Medicine that chronicles the history of health care to Native Americans. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/if_you_knew/if_you_knew_01.html 

Mr. George Franklin is over the powwow program for the National Library of Medicine. George travels to different powwows in the United States. I am sure he would love to come to any that you might be aware of in your area.

The next link is for the National Library of Medicine American Indian Health page. http://americanindianhealth.nlm.nih.gov  . I am publishing an article very similar to this one on my blog at www.goforthparker.com so you can go directly to the links. I think that you will find this information both useful and interesting.

As always, I look forward to hearing from you. The blog is growing. I have had more than 1,000 visits, though some may be the same person coming back. I encourage you to do the same.

Judy Goforth Parker, Ph.D, RN

Chickasaw Legislator, Pontotoc District, Seat 2