Host Organization Partnership Proposal
San Antonio Metropolitan Public Health District

The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (Metro Health) is the single public agency charged by State Law, City Code, and County Resolution with the responsibility for public health programs in San Antonio and the unincorporated areas of Bexar County.  Metro Health’s mission is to provide leadership and services for San Antonio and Bexar County to prevent illness and injury, promote healthy behaviors, and protect against health hazards.  Metro Health achieves this through provision of the core public health functions: community health assessment, development of policies to improve health, and assurance that quality health services and programs are provided. Metro Health provides direct services, but works closely with both public and private partners to leverage resources and achieve health goals. Major Health District activities include: preventive health services; health code enforcement; environmental monitoring; disease control; health education; dental health; maintenance and sale of birth and death certificates; emergency planning and response for natural and manmade disasters; and regulatory functions. 

San Antonio is a multi-cultural community with a current population of 1,320,130, making it the seventh largest city in the country.  Located wholly within Bexar County (population 1,489,077), demographically the city’s racial/ethnic background is 59% Hispanic, 37% Non- Hispanic White, 7% African American and 2% other racial/ethnic groups. The population of Bexar County is characterized as 94% urban and 6% rural. Metro Health has jurisdiction for public health activities for all of Bexar County, but operates within the City of San Antonio (CoSA) governmental structure.  CoSA has a city manager/city council organizational structure.  Currently Metro Health has 385 professional and paraprofessional staff.

 Description of the facility in which the librarian would be working

The Learning Partnership Librarian (LPL) will be housed at the Health District’s Administrative offices with full organizational support from Metro Health and the City of San Antonio allowing the convenient access to colleagues.  Metro Health will provide a fully equipped office in its main building. The LPL will receive the most up-to-date office equipment including a laptop computer with CD-ROM, sound card, speakers, and connection to a LAN system.  In addition to having access to the internet at his/her workstation, the LPL will also have access to a wireless internet card, and all support equipment, e.g., fax machines, LCD projectors, etc.   A designated technology support specialist and a team of administrative specialists will be available. Located in downtown San Antonio, one block west of city hall, parking is available immediately behind the health department and local bus lines are available to and from most parts of the city.

Additionally, the LPL will have access to the UT Health Science Center library facilities to support the learning partnership. The UT HSC Libraries include five libraries in three cities:

 Partnership Description

The LPL associated with this application will take a leadership role in the development and implementation of two major department initiatives:

Support from numerous Metro Health staff will be provided to inform and assist in the development of these programs, however the LPL will take a primary role in directing activities given his/her training and experience in information management.  Additionally, both of these projects will be informed by departmental self-assessment data and draft public health accreditation standards which have been used by Metro Health over the past six months to support the development of an organizational strategic plan. Metro Health has identified the areas of workforce development and communications to be critical areas for performance improvement and staff at all levels of the department are committed to these efforts. The involvement of an LPL in informing and developing these efforts will be of great benefit to Metro Health. 

Supplementing Metro Health as host of a Learning Partnership Librarian, the San Antonio Regional Campus of The University of Texas School of Public Health and the University of Texas Health Science Center Library have committed, as partners to provide resources and mentorship to the LPL.

The scope of the Learning Partnership will be determined with input from the LPL. To guide project development four broad learning partnership goals are outlined below. The final set of objectives, activities and deliverables which correspond to these goals will be developed through collaboration between the LPL and the advisory group members.

Proposed Activities:

Note: this initial list will be refined when a candidate and Metro Health are evaluating fit. The Librarian will play a leadership role in all activities outlined below. 

Workforce training and professional development, and communication enhancements are critical components of Metro Health’s strategic plan, and the long-term vision of providing a “High Performance Health System” for San Antonio. The work of the LPL in these areas will provide valuable support in helping us to achieve our organizational goals. Further, the experience of the LPL acquired in prior training as well as through the proposed learning partnership activities should support Metro Health planning in the areas of Quality Improvement, Organizational Development, and in preparations for National Accreditation of Local Public Health Organizations. The LPL will become a key player in the development of these initiatives and a central member of the Metro Health leadership team.

Further, given the academic and practice based experience of the LPL, we hope that the fellow can act as a bridge between Metro Health and its academic partners to identify areas of potential collaboration and mutual benefit. To this end, the LPL will be kept apprised of all major Metro Health initiatives through leadership team meetings, and will be invited to provide recommendations or in some cases assume direct roles in projects. Examples of potential secondary projects include review of health registry data and developing recommendations for interpretation and dissemination, planning a system for improved identification and collaboration on funding opportunities among local partners, or advising on the transition of vital records to electronic format. Assignment of any additional projects would be based on the level of interest of the LPL and the recommendations of the advisory group. 

For all primary and any secondary projects the LPL may become involved with, the LPL will work closely with a number of internal and external customers.  The LPL will collaborate especially closely with Metro Health Directors and Program Managers, City of San Antonio IT department staff, School of Public Health faculty, and UT Health Science Center Library staff.  

Ideal Candidate

A master’s in library science would be required for the Sewell Learning Partnership Librarian. The preferred candidate would have experience in a health sciences setting and some familiarity with the mission and services provided by local public health agencies. Interest in the areas of professional education, communications and media relations, social determinants of health and academic-community partnerships is desirable. Ability to develop and support web-based resources would be beneficial.

Anticipated Outcomes 

Metro Health has sought to strengthen its existing relationships with academic partners in recent years, but has focused only on specific projects or activities which have been time limited and have not had organization-wide effects. With this opportunity for hosting a LPL we hope to build a strong foundation for regular information and resource exchange between public health practice and academic settings that will advance the work of all of our programs and service areas. We expect that the resources and experience of the LPL will be a critical asset in bridging long-term and broad-based partnership between Metro Health and our academic partners, with particular benefit in improved utilization of library resources.  

Due to limitations of time, financial resources, and most notably a limited awareness of how information science can enhance our ongoing public health services, Metro Health has not made the best use of information resources. By focusing on workforce development the LPL will have an opportunity to establish a critical program for our department, but also inform how all staff think about and access information. Specifically, we anticipate that the LPL project will result in:

We anticipate that the LPL will have a major transformative effect on how all staff view librarians and information resources through both direct organizational changes as part of the LPL project and through informal exchanges between the LPL and staff. 

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