Contact Information:

Jacquelyn Coughlan
Librarian, SUNYIT Cayan Library

e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
phone: 315-240-5966

fax: 315 792-7517

https://culturedmed.sunyit.edu

Who am I?

This web site was initiated and is updated periodically by Jacquelyn Coughlan, M.S., M.L.S., at the SUNY Institute of Technology, Cayan Library, in Utica, NY. Initial funding for a six week project was provided by a PDQWL (Professional Development and Quality of Working Life) grant from the United University Professions in May 1998 and has continued from that time forward as a labor of love. I am deeply committed to cross-cultural understanding between all people and believe this understanding is especially important in the arena of health care.

I have been a librarian for more than 22 years at the SUNY Institute of Technology and I am a recipient of the State University of New York, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Librarianship, a state-wide award. Along with faculty from SUNYIT’s School of Nursing, I co-taught 2 courses on cross-cultural nursing issues. My reference services have expanded to the international level, since I receive and answer email reference questions on cross-cultural health issues from all over the world.

In service to my community, I am currently a member of the Institutional Review Board at the regional cancer center in Utica, NY. I was one of the Founding Board members of MAMI (the Multicultural Association of Medical Interpreters), a non-profit agency in Central New York, and taught the cross-cultural segment of the 96 hour MAMI training program. I have also served as an English tutor for the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees for several years and have observed first hand the challenges that refugees often face in resettlement.

My continuing interest in refugee and immigrant health resulted in the "CulturedMed" web site in addition to a resource center of print materials that promotes culturally-competent health care for refugees and immigrants. My web site currently exceeds 10,000 citations and relevant links. CulturedMed has 57 mentions in scholarly journals, professional sources, and online documents. It is linked to by 136 other web sites. The site which is available at http://culturedmed.sunyit.edu has received over 900,000 visits in the last few years.

The materials and bibliographies housed in CulturedMed emphasize the importance of culture on health care beliefs and upon patient compliance. The website is used extensively by the academic and health care community world wide.