Thank You for Visiting!

The Greater Southern Brooklyn Health Coalition (GSBHC) hosted its Fall 2006 General Membership Meeting on September 27 at Brooklyn Borough Hall. The meeting included engaging presentations on Disaster Preparedness and Health Literacy, and an update on GSBHC's plans for the coming months. Upon popular demand, we are happy to share information and resources from the meeting here.
Click here to see a photo slideshow of the event.

GSBHC's New Directions for 2006-2007: On behalf of GSBHC's Executive Board, Executive Consultant and Founder Rabbi Bob Kaplan announced that we will be organizing a Healthy People in Brooklyn 2010 conference. In order to determine the conference's areas of focus, we will be putting together a Planning Committee to identify the top priorities for addressing Brooklyn's most pressing health needs. We ask that our members please use this forum to make their voice be heard and to put their concerns on the agenda. The first meeting will take place at the beginning of November. If you are interested in attending, please contact Kimberly George, Executive Director at 718-462-8654, ext. 214.

Health Literacy in New York City: To download the presentation given by Fatima Shama from the Office of the Mayor, please click here.

Community Involvement in Disaster Preparedness: Benjamin Whitfield from the New York City Office of Emergency Management provided the following information in response to questions from various GSBHC members at the meeting:

1. To schedule a Ready New York presentation at your organization or for your community, or to order bulk Ready New York Guides, please contact Amber Greene at OEM (718-422-4887 or agreene@oem.nyc.gov).

2. For help developing your own contingency plan to ensure that your agency can continue to serve its clients in the case of an emergency, a great resource for non-profits is
   http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/tab7.html.

3. For organizations interested in receiving more information and timely updates, OEM has a CorpNet website set up to send out alert bulletins to City corporations. This is a good resource for agencies who want lots of information (traffic delays, fires, water main breaks etc). While it is geared towards corporations, non-profits with valid email addresses (not hotmail or AOL), should be able to sign up for it at
   nyc.gov/html/oem/html/businesses/businesses.shtml or
   nyc.gov/html/oem/html/businesses/businesses_continuity_eap.shtml
   for general guidelines for continuity planning. Lastly try OEM's Ready New York Guide for Small Business's
   http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/html/ready/biz_guide.shtml.

4. For organizations who do not want that much info, but want to know when a coastal storm or something else is going on, you can sign up for a number of other email lists at nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.03d6517e206411428a37472361c789a0/

5. Lastly, to answer a question about homebound individuals, Mr. Whitfield let us know that currently, in the event of a coastal storm, OEM has a call down list which would include several large agencies Department for the Aging, Dept of Health, Greater New York Hospital Corporation and others. Once OEM gives these agencies all of the information, they will in turn contact their direct service agencies and so forth. Mr. Whitfield encourages us to create our own call down mechanism to notify each other in the event of a large scale emergency. Also, we are encouraged to create mutual aid agreements so that in the event something happens, our organizations can support each other.

As you know, GSBHC relies on its members to help make its work a success and have the most impact for the communities we serve. Included on this site is a membership form that we are asking EVERY organization to complete. Membership to GSBHC will allow for partnerships in upcoming programs for the year, opportunities to receive mini-grants and subcontracts, joining in collaborative efforts, receiving technical assistance, participating in the HITE project, and much more. Please renew your membership today by clicking here.

Thank you and we hope to see you at our next membership meeting and in the spring at Healthy People in Brooklyn 2010!