Safe Travels

March 30, 2023

As COVID-19 restrictions have drastically relaxed since being officially declared a global pandemic three years ago, more and more Americans may decide to travel abroad.

However, if you plan to travel overseas, besides receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, your destination could require traditional immunization before your arrival. You’ll need to obtain and fill out the International Certificate of Vaccination from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis, also known as the “Yellow Card,” is designed to support infectious disease control world-wide. And with global travel expanding as some nations have eased restrictions, the health and safety of Americans is now important than ever.

Prior to booking your trip, you must visit a healthcare provider and receive required vaccinations that will vary depending on your destination. The attending doctor must list vaccinations given on the form per the instructions, then sign and date in order for the Certificate of Vaccination to be valid. Every traveler must keep the “Yellow Card” on their person while traveling as it serves as a medical passport and proof of vaccination.

Medical providers, state health agencies, travel agents, as well as churches and community services, may want to obtain these handy and universally accepted immunization forms that are needed to go outside the country.

The GPO Online Bookstore – Easy Access to Federal Publications

HOW DO I OBTAIN THIS RESOURCE?

Sign up to receive promotional bulletin emails from the US Government Online Bookstore.

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy a vast majority of eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at https://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Order by Phone or Email: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.  Email orders to ContactCenter@gpo.gov

Visit a Federal depository library: Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

Find more than a million official Federal Government publications from all three branches at www.govinfo.gov.

About the author: Blogger contributor Ed Kessler is a Promotions Specialist in GPO’s Publication and Information Sales program office.

Images and additional content provided by Government Book Talk Editor Trudy Hawkins. Trudy is the Senior Marketing & Promotions Specialist in GPO’s Publication & Information Sales Office supporting the U.S. Government Online Bookstore (https://bookstore.gpo.gov).

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Posted by Trudy Hawkins

A Federal Publication for World Immunization Week

April 24, 2020

The current COVID-19 pandemic crisis has cast a light on the importance of vaccines. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), tens of thousands of Americans get sick from diseases that could be prevented by vaccines each year. The CDC recommends vaccines for children, teens, and adults based on different factors like age, health conditions, lifestyle, jobs, and travel. The agency warns that outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases can and do still occur. For example, measles still exists in many parts of the world. In recent years, unvaccinated Americans who traveled to those parts of the world became sick and spread measles in their communities. Vaccinations protect not only you, but your family, friends, and neighbors. The more educated we are on vaccines, the more we can help ourselves and those around us stay safe and healthy. This year Word Immunization Week will be celebrated April 24–30. According to the CDC, this week is “a time dedicated to promoting the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease.” If you’re looking to learn more, read on for a helpful tool.

The information on vaccines in the Immunization Toolkit, available for purchase at the GPO Bookstore, is based on national recommendations, peer-reviewed medical literature, and clinical practice guidelines. Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, hospital residents and more in the medical field will find the Immunization Tool Kit helpful in their practices. Or, if you’re just someone interested in learning more about vaccines, you can learn a lot from this toolkit!

The kit includes a bright, color-coded childhood/adolescent immunization schedule and recommended intervals between doses, a tool that parents and teachers will find incredibly helpful to keep their kids’ vaccinations on track and their children healthy. You can even put this schedule on your fridge! For medical professionals, the toolkit also includes a table that lists all components in each vaccine as well as a description of that vaccine’s manufacturing process. The toolkit describes the most up-to-date instructions on how to administer vaccines for children of various ages and provides illustrations for where on the body each vaccine should be administered, as well as how to prepare patients for vaccines. Healthcare professionals will benefit from information in the toolkit about the screening checklist for contraindications to vaccines.

We hope you take the time this World Immunization Week to use resources available to you to learn why vaccines are so critical to keeping our communities safe and healthy.

The GPO Online Bookstore – Easy Access to Federal Publications

HOW DO I OBTAIN THIS RESOURCE?

Sign up to receive promotional bulletin emails from the US Government Online Bookstore.

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy a vast majority of eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at https://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Visit our Retail Store: To buy or order a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up(s).

Order by Phone or Email: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.  Email orders to ContactCenter@gpo.gov

Visit a Federal depository library: Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

Find more than a million official Federal Government publications from all three branches at www.govinfo.gov.

About the author: Blogger contributor Cat Goergen is the PR Specialist in GPO’s Public Relations office.

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Posted by Trudy Hawkins

Celebrate Doctors Day – March 30th with Publications for the Physician produced by the US Federal Government

March 30, 2015

doctors dayThe United States Federal Government produces a broad array of topical medical-related publications that may appeal to the physicians — primary care, chiropractors, pediatricians, surgeons, elder care physicians, gynecologists, physical and occupational therapists. This blog showcases a few publications that may appeal to these medical-focused professionals serving patients of all ages that may have a variety of ailments.

Observation-Based Posture Assessment Review of Current Practice and Recommendations for ImprovementThe chiropractor or physical/occupational therapist may be interested in the Center for Disease Control’s report: Observation-Based Posture Assessment: Review of Current Practice and Recommendations for Improvement can be used to help practitioners assess postural stress of the trunk and upper limbs in a workplace environment.

Parent’s Guide to Childhood ImmunizationsFor pediatricians advising parents of children about vaccinations and immunizations, the Parent’s Guide to Childhood Immunizations (Packages of 10) is an economical way for doctors, especially pediatricians, and pediatric specialists to provide guidance in plain language to parents and caregivers of school-aged children.

(Photo compliments of safe surrender.org from Google Images download)

(Photo compliments of safe surrender.org from Google Images download)

Pediatric Surgery and Medicine for Hostile EnvironmentsPediatric Surgery and Medicine for Hostile Environments may provide a helpful reference in a trauma crisis impacting a child that may be suitable for emergency room doctors, staff, and critical pediatric surgeons s faced with handling gun shot or bomb explosive wounds in children.

Emergency Surgery, 4th US RevisionEmergency Surgery, 4th US Revision covers trauma surgeries, including head, face, neck, and eye injuries, to difficulties with airway breathing, amputations, abdominal injuries, infections, gynecological injuries and emergency pediatric medical care that may be impacted by a war situation, terrorist attack aftermath, earthquake, or other accidental disaster.   This title is available in print and eBook formats.

Pocket Guide to Staying Healthy at 50+Primary care physicians, especially those that have senior citizens as patients, will want to make sure that they have these resources on hand: Pocket Guide to Staying Healthy at 50+ provides guidance on immunizations, living habits, and screening tests this age group should follow to stay healthy.

Long-Term Care Services in the United States 2013 OverviewLong-Term Care Services in the United States 2013 Overview provides data on services including residents of nursing homes, residential communities, patients of home health care agencies, hospices, and participants in adult day care.

All physicians will want to have these resources available in their professional library:

Health Insurance Claims Forms (SMS-1500)Health Insurance Claims Forms (SMS-1500) -2 part snap-out package – this essential form is used to bill Medicare carriers and medical equipment durable regional carriers when a provider qualifies for a waiver from the Administrative Compliance Simplification Act (ACSA)and can also be used for billing some Medicaid State agencies.

Health Care Act (Public Laws 111-152 and 111-148)Health Care Act (Public Laws 111-152 and 111-148) is the primary, full-text and authoritative source on the “ins and outs” of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act commonly referred to as “Obamacare” or “Obama Care.”

How can I get these publications?

Shop Online: You can purchase these publications from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov by clicking on the title links above in this blog post.

Order by Phone: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.

Shop our Retail Store: Buy a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up.

Visit a Federal Depository Library: Search for one of these publications in a nearby Federal depository library.

About the author: This week’s blog contributor is Maureen Whelan, Senior Marketing Team Leader for GPO’s Publication and Information Sales program office in Washington, DC. Maureen oversees print and digital content dissemination strategy and manages third party free and paid content distribution through platforms and vendors, such as Apple iBookstore, Barnes and Noble.com, Google Play eBookstore, Ebscohost databases, Overdrive, and more.

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Posted by Trudy Hawkins

Childhood Immunization: Protecting Our Children from Disease

April 29, 2014

National-Infant-Immunization-Week-2014The week of April 26-May 3 is National Infant Immunization Week and it is also the 20th anniversary of this observance. Vaccinations are becoming a more controversial topic among parents, doctors and schools. The New England Journal of Medicine suggests that the recent anti-vaccination movement is leading to an outbreak of whooping cough and the measles in some states.

A couple looks at Infant Care pamphlet at GPO Bookstore: GPO Archives.

A couple looks at Infant Care pamphlet at GPO Bookstore: GPO Archives.

Before you could Google information on vaccinations and family healthcare topics and have every answer at your fingertips, government publications were the go-to source for consumer information. This former trend is evident in the fact that a pamphlet entitled Infant Care is still to this day considered GPO’s all-time best seller. Infant Care was first published in 1914 by the Children’s Bureau and provided mothers with information in a low-cost form on how to care for their babies. (Read more about the history of the Children’s Bureau in The Children’s Bureau Legacy: Ensuring the Right to Childhood (ePub eBook) available on the U.S. Government Bookstore.) Over the course of seven decades it remained a bestseller with multiple editions published and translations in eight languages as well as Braille.

Excerpt on Vaccination from Infant Care pamphlet

100 years ago, this was the advice on vaccination of infants. Excerpt from 1914 Infant Care pamphlet.

The original Infant Care pamphlets can be seen on this archive. However, Vaccines for Children (VCF), a federally funded program handled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides no-cost vaccine services to help ensure that all children, from infancy to adolescent, have a better chance of getting their recommended vaccinations.

Image source courtesy of CDC http://www.cdc.gov/features/vfcprogram

Image source courtesy of CDC http://www.cdc.gov/features/vfcprogram

Like Infant Care, the government still has helpful publications to help parents and the public make health-related decisions. Parent’s Guide to Childhood Immunizations and Immunization Tool Kit are just two of the many government publications available on the immunization and vaccination topic.

017-022-01617-6Parent’s Guide to Childhood Immunizations is kind of like a “vaccinations for dummies.” It is a great resource that explains each disease, the vaccinations schedule, what to do before, during and after the immunization doctor visit, how vaccines work, other FAQs and additional print and electronic resources. The most helpful part of this booklet is the breakdown of each disease with information on what causes the disease, how it is spread, the signs and symptoms and complications. To brighten up what can be a scary subject, the booklet includes colorful child artwork.

immunization-tool-kitImmunization Tool Kit focuses on adult, military and childhood immunizations. This resource is made up of laminated 4X6 color coded cards held together by a ring for fast flipping making it durable and likely intended for military or health care providers, people who need a quick reference on the job. The cards are organized by immunizations for adults and the military and children with detailed information about each vaccine including a dosage, indications or who should get the vaccine, contraindications or reasons why someone should not be vaccinated and special considerations. Some of the cards have amusing caricatures of what the diseases look like. For medical personnel, there is a section on the storage and handling instructions of each vaccine. While the amount of information may seem overwhelming, the toolkit will be able to answer all or any question about vaccines.

HOW DO I OBTAIN THESE PUBLICATIONS ON VACCINATION?

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy these publications (with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide) from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore website at http://bookstore.gpo.gov:

Order by Phone: You may also Order print editions by calling our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.

Shop our Retail Store:Buy a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up.

Visit a Federal Depository Library:Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications or CGP.

About the author: Our guest blogger is Emma Wojtowicz, Public Relations Specialist in GPO’s Office of Public Affairs. 

Additional content, images and editing provided by Trudy Hawkins, a writer and marketing specialist in GPO’s Publication & Information Sales Division supporting the U.S. Government Online Bookstore (http://bookstore.gpo.gov).

Leave a Comment » | Children, Consumers, Department of Health & Human Services, Family, Government Printing Office (GPO), Health care, Parenting, U.S. History | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

Health Information the Easy Way

August 9, 2011

Guest blogger Nancy Faget lets us know about a great resource delaing with women’s health.

I’m a lazy reader.  Yes, I am primarily a scanner more than a reader.  (I hope this doesn’t put me in danger of losing my status as a librarian!) I appreciate a lot of white space and concise writing, which is exactly what the HHS Office of Women’s Health (OWH) has achieved in this new publication:  A Lifetime of Good Health:  Your Guide to Staying Healthy. 

This publication provides reminders, highlights, and checklists for any female at any stage of life (immunizations through Medicare services). The checklists beginning on page 6 are great tools to help you keep up with tests and immunizations.  Did you know, for example, that they recommend a TDP vaccine every 10 years? 

OWH has produced a slick new publication hitting all the high points.  It’s worth having  available in any family’s stash of medical reference material. You’ll find it to be a great handy reference  and an easy read – I promise!  To read (or scan!) A Lifetime of Good Health, or for more great information on any health issue, contact your local Federal depository library for assistance.

5 Comments | Office of Women's Health | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by govbooktalk

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