#YearInReview... Lessons for putting on a scientific/health event...

The nature of an opportunity is defined individually as they are determined by every individual’s perspective on their life and their careers. My passion for public health practice was founded on my journey in clinical medicine. As my interests range from research appraisal, knowledge mobilization and community outreach, I found that every opportunity should be considered for its potential to showcase one’s professional skills. Recently this year, I co-lead a professional development event titled the Personal and Professional Pursuit of Excellence 2015 Symposium. At that point, a lot of individuals asked me why I wavered from my path in public health. The truth was that I never did.

In early January, I was actively seeking employment in health promotion, protection and knowledge creation. When a colleague suggested an opportunity to collaborate, I jumped on it. I was only aware of one impact at the time. That impact was the enhancement of my communications, leadership and stakeholder engagement skills. Reflecting on the planning, implementation and evaluation of this event, I had effectively developed my project management skills. Walking in to situations with a scientist’s perspective, I began to refine the lens by which I looked at community and stakeholder engagement. It had more to do with the appreciation of patience and an awareness of clear concise objectives. We often outline the scope of projects, but I began to outline what was no longer within the scope of projects as well.

This symposium showcased over 13 collaborations and our objective was to have the conversation about personal and professional development. My objective to look at the social and economic factors surrounding the professional’s health; this I observed in myself, our volunteers, our collaborators and participants as well. The event was about providing a platform for professionals in transition to engage with subject matter experts. We wanted to give everyone an opportunity to collaborate and a chance to be better informed. With 8 workshop facilitators and 3 event sponsors; the event was an opportunity for all of us to come together and contribute to the discussion about personal brands in the professional climate.

My application of these project management competencies allows me to now effectively manage future projects, especially the 2 global health ventures that I am now a part of.

My 3 lessons learned are as follows;

1) Training is required on all fronts

It doesn’t matter if you’re a volunteer, a speaker or a sponsor, one requires a clear outline of what they are expected to deliver on. These individuals will facilitate your event from start to finish, so it is vital that you instruct them on the agenda and the nature of the activities with precision detail. Moving forward with regard to knowledge mobilization events, I produce detailed manuals and documents (such as a memorandum of understanding) for all associated parties. Securing dates for rehearsals and training in advance will essentially produce fluid events.

2) Emails are often lost in translation

Forget about emailing your project stakeholders about every detail, the majority will not respond or respond competently. Keep communications simple and few in numbers; you must also remember that these are fellow professionals with work who may not have time to read through your bulky emails. Also try to hammer out your communications plan in advance and get to know your stakeholders; not everyone will prefer email.

3) Be Specific

Events require marketing plans and must be promoted on multiple means. This means that you need all the information in front of you. Plan out what you require from each involved party, this will allow you to secure your data in advance. The more specific you are the better. For example; don’t request a picture from a keynote speaker with a short bio, request a high resolution picture in formal attire with a 75 to 100 worded bio.

The moral of this blog post is that opportunities can further so many of your skill sets without you even planning on it. This opportunity now allows me to cater to highly effective productions of events. So when opportunities knock on your imaginary door, consider the outcomes and impacts it can have on your career. Don’t forget to let your imagination run wild, because I did. This blog was initially created to house a few thoughts by a few creative public health professionals. However, reviewing this year has taught me to dream BIG! So this blog will now house a number of global health professionals with diverse perspectives on health. This is an opportunity and it is most worthy of building anyone's application of global health knowledge and experience. I ask you to share your thoughts and perspectives in order to inform our approach in healthcare and health promotion activities. 

Change begins with YOU!

Building Teams from the Bottom UP!?

The role of multidisciplinary teams in healthcare  is to ensure that clients or patients receive personalized healthcare services that utilizes a holistic health lens. During my attendance at the 2015 ASAC (Administrative Sciences Association of Canada) conference, a talk regarding team work in the healthcare context was delivered. One specific image caught my attention! Although I was unable to capture the image on time, I drew up a similar cartoon (above)... 

The visual prompts the following questions...
" if they don't learn together, how can one expect them to work together..." 

The way we view multidisciplinary care is often colored by our experiences. Personally, I value the opportunities that were offered to me. Working and learning with professionals from such diverse backgrounds gave me an amazing opportunity to further mold my team competencies. 

Do you believe that learning together cultivates an environment of mutual respect and importance for each other's profession? I think so! What do you think?

Communicating human HEALTH

My experience in global healthcare and public health colors my perspective of life at times and reminds me to not take my life for granted, at times. The photograph accompanying this post was captured by Kevin Carter, a South African photojournalist. The visuals tell a tale of famine in Sudan, prior to the conflict and division of the nation. The tale is complex; poverty in a climate that is detrimental to human existence yields low survival potential. Simplistically, a child is brought to his knees by the famine within a country while a vulture waits in prey for an unfortunate circumstance. The photograph dominates the headlines and media gaining much philanthropic attention for a country in crisis. Months later, the photographer wins a Pulitzer and later takes his own life.  

Source: https://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/vulture-stalking-a-child/

How do we communicate the importance of public health and global health? One could employ sound methodologies or frameworks to ensure that the communication of health promotion or protection is evidence based. At times we utilize visuals to communicate the urgency of a health issue. Advocating for vulnerable populations and worthy causes will definitely earn you a gold star, but what will the message eventually become? Is it a story that we will never speak of because of the negative connotation associated with it? Or will it be a story of human resilience that will echo across our communities. As an advocate of health equity, I believe that it is important to convey messages and human reality as it is. However, I believe it is of utmost importance to consider your audience and what message they will receive...

When you see this picture, how do you feel? As a public health or global health professional how would you communicate this situation or crisis differently? Or would you leave such a communication as it is... Why..?

Are you on social media? Got a strategy?

The digital world is evolving, our realities often reflected in a series of webpages, tweets or posts. Almost an year to the day, I heard a talk by a medical officer of health at The Ontario Public Health Convention (TOPHC). He spoke about his digital presence on Twitter. His talk resonated with me as I envisioned myself a trailblazer in the field of Health Communications. The very same day, I became an active member of the twittersphere! Since then I have been a passionate advocate of social media platforms in order to communicate health and healthy practices. During this time I became aware of a multitude of perspectives why individuals refrain from engaging on social media platforms. Yet such perspectives could not argue the logic that the world is becoming more digital. Does it then become our responsibility as public health professionals and communicators to be more aware of this medium and its potential?

Feeling the pulse of social media, transcends just one direction in terms of communication. There is a strong engagement component aiding the individual in cultivating their own social media brand. The transparency factor will definitely be inclusive in this equation but so will information sharing and trust. The most important thing to consider prior to taking this initiative or leap of faith is...

 "Do I have a social media strategy?"

This is important as it will compliment your objectives on social media platforms, whether the platform is to be utilized for information retrieval, passive e-listening or active community engagement. What are your goals on social media and how do you hope to achieve them? These are the questions you should be asking yourself...

When producing your social media strategy I would consider the following..

1. What's your ultimate objective on Social Media? With respective to my social media strategy, I wanted to be more aware of the public health resources available to myself. This subsequently allowed me to use numerous engagement opportunities to further my personal brand on social media. 
2. How will you commit your time to your social media presence? How much time will you commit to this endeavor? One hour/day or one hour/week? Remember, your time commitment will obviously be reflected in your results! 
3. What results are you looking forward to? How will you evaluate yourself? By the number of followers you get per week? The number of retweets? Number of post views? In my opinion there's no easy answer to this question, it depends entirely on your objective. Are you looking at simply awareness? Which means you are considering the page or post views. If you are hoping to engage with people and see responses or actions, you would be looking at the attention grasped! You could go a step further and reach more people, asking them to perhaps collaborate with you on future projects. Hence the level or degree to which you hope to engage with other digital personalities will be reflected in your results. So be SMART! (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Reliable and Timely)
4. Lastly, do you want to be considered an influencer? From my perspective, this depends on your niche and what kind of a social media community you would like to foster within your digital space. It is a belief that the more followers you have, the more likely you are an influencer or thought provoker. This is definitely defined in various ways. The point I would like to make is that this must be considered in your social media strategy. If you're like me and consider multiple perspectives a resource, you would not look for a specific followers to following ratio on your platforms. 

The world of social media is changing in leaps and bounds. It becomes our responsibility to engage with this world and ensure that the digital health of our social media ecosystems are kept healthy. It is imperative that you become aware of the resource that is SOCIAL MEDIA. That being said, becoming more familiar with social media may aid you and your specialties, advance!

Take the field of humanitarian assistance as an example. Upon reading a blog post by the Canadian Red Cross, social media is utilized as a medium for communicating and coordinating emergency response in countries like Kenya. Based on a survey conducted on behalf of the Canadian Red Cross, 63% of the 1000 survey respondents felt that emergency staff should be equipped to respond to requests for help made online through social media sites.

Check out this Video on Digital Humanitarianism;

Social media will continue to evolve!

The question is, are you ready to evolve with it?

Reflections from WORLD TB DAY!

Coughing, Fever and Chills are some of many symptoms that may appear when an individual develops Tuberculosis. The invader by the name of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis continues to cause one of the world's deadliest diseases. According to the WHO or World Health Organization, the year 2013 accumulated an estimated 9 million ill and resulted in 1.5 million deaths. Co-infections with HIV enhance the invader's pathogenic effects on the body; killing 1 in 4 co-infected individuals. What's the current situation?
WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW

Multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (EDR) forms of TB continue to be of growing concern as well. This is an issue featuring multiple components, the lack of adherence to the drugs prescribed being the major factor! Considering the fact that the regimens require daily medications for at least six months and potentially up to 2 years, its no wonder adherence is an issue. Some of us may argue that individuals suffering from diabetes and other chronic diseases like hypertension (high blood pressure) are prescribed drugs much longer. This issue continues to hold strong cultural and social dimensions to drug adherence. So raising awareness of the issue is potentially instrumental in combating multidrug resistance!

A - You contract the organism

B - At some point during the disease course, you get ill with TB

C - Feeling better? Forget the medication! I feel awesome!

D - The remaining organisms in your system come back stronger than ever, resistant to the previous drug! 

The story of Tuberculosis maybe an ancient one, but the efforts to eliminate it is a passionate endeavor. The world raised their voices against the disease on March 24th 2015 resounding the efforts of World TB Day! Their mission to "Reach, Treat, Cure Everyone". It was a day for mobilizing key partners in the effort to eliminate Tuberculosis. The STOP TB PARTNERSHIP is one such campaign.

More Information?

WHO TB

PHAC TB

CDC TB

NIH TB

And the Oscar goes to.... Vaccines?

Is it just me or has the dark side of vaccines been overly exaggerated? If public health ever won an Oscar, it would be for their endeavors in vaccine preventable disease. With the eradication of small pox, the world has shifted its focus to dueling the emergence and re-emergence of brand new viral agents. As the world takes notice of the high incidence of measles and polio cases on the North American and Asian continents over the last year, could vaccines still take the Oscar this year?

As human beings, we are swayed by the power of a story. Story telling continues to be the oldest form of information dissemination. It has the ability to leave a permanent stain on our minds and our hearts. Our communities "fear" an association between vaccines and autism. They potentially fear the dark side of other vaccines as well after the distribution of a particular news article. As experts continue to dismiss these events and stories with evidence, I keep wondering "Where are our stories on vaccine victories?" There's got to be millions... Perhaps everyone vaccinated should just raise their hands, wayyyyy up in the air...

As public health professionals, we focus on prevention and preparedness... As one of my mentors once said "preparedness isn't sexy, cameras don't focus on it". Which is true, it does not carry with it the right kind of allure or media air time that captures the attention of audiences. As I watched a panel of public health experts discuss vaccine safety at the 2015 Measles Symposium, John Hopkins University, I was empowered! I was enlightened with facts and strategies on how to engage people about vaccine safety. 

Reflections on reclaiming the OSCAR!

1. Anecdotes are powerful, they allow story tellers to produce powerful stories. Check out one of my favorite TED Talks by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; "The danger of a single story" below. Although she speaks more of culture competency and communications, it provides an insight in to the power a single story may have and how it may blur the facts!

2. It is wise to consider the presence of physical and economic barriers to vaccines. Not all global communities have such access. Addressing said barriers with more awareness campaigns is imperative.

3. Incorporating vaccine messaging beyond just healthcare workers is a sustainable approach to creating more vaccine ambassadors. Their approach to debunking myths, may be quite fresh and "out of the box" effective.

4. Supplementing vaccines with other healthcare services and products to vulnerable populations has the propensity to create great social impacts. For example, certain countries in Africa where malaria remains of great concern would appreciate complementing vaccine efforts with products like bed nets.

Why are there so many myths surrounding such an impactful public health endeavor? Is it because of the fear we have failed to address? Is it a result of not sufficiently celebrating and communicating our vaccine victories? Perhaps it's time we listen a lot more...