Register online now!

Friday, May 19
1:00 p.m.
Tickets: Free

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is partnering again with the Minnesota Newspaper Association and Minnesota News Media Institute to present a webinar to help reporters get the data needed for health and environment stories.

Knowing where to look on the MDH website and other data sources can help identify the data you need to write stories about public health topics.

The webinar will also introduce you to several national and state databases where users can access data on health trends. We will explore these databases with specific focus on topics like homicide and firearm related injury, and drug related overdoses as they broadly relate to opioids, suicide and mental health. We will demonstrate how to locate new information on the MDH’s Minnesota Public Health Data Access data portal, including updated statistics on childhood blood lead exposure levels, public drinking water contaminants, radon, cancer, and oral health. The data is often available at the state, county and sometimes even at the community or zip code level.

Register online: https://mni-mdh-webinar2017.eventbrite.com

Jon Roesler, Injury Epidemiologist with MDH, will demonstrate CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and the Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). These online databases have national and state level data on reported behavioral risk factors, as well as state specific injury data, respectively. Jon will also demonstrate the Minnesota Injury Data Access System (MIDAS), where users can learn about injury and violence data for Minnesotans whether for a specific county, for a type of injury, or by gender, timeframe, or other factor.

Jean Johnson, Environmental Epidemiologist with MDH, will demonstrate what’s new in 2017 on Minnesota Public Health Data Access, an online system for public access to over 24 environmental and health topics, with links to resources throughout MDH, other state programs and at the CDC. On this site, users can explore trends, maps, facts and figures, and download the data.

Tickets for this event are free but pre-registration is required. Registration will close at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 18. Registrants will receive a confirmation email with instructions for logging into the webinar, prior to the event. Register online here: https://mni-mdh-webinar2017.eventbrite.com

Questions? Please contact MNA Program Director Sarah Jackson. Email: sarah@mna.org. Phone: 612-278-0250.