Sunday’s Have You Heard...

Welcome back!: Kick off your APHA Annual Meeting experience by attending the Opening General Session from noon to 2 p.m. in the San Diego Convention Center’s Exhibit Hall D. Hear from APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin as well as keynote speaker Michael Marmot, chair of the World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health. And if you seriously high-tail it to the PubMart exhibit at the Public Health Expo after the opening session you can catch a book signing with Marmot from 2:30 to 3 p.m.

Believe us, we know how you’re feeling: Overwhelmed as you flip through the hundreds of pages of the Annual Meeting program? Don’t fret, just stop by the APHA Member Orientation to the Annual Meeting, session 259, from 3:30–5 p.m. in Meeting Room 10 of the San Diego Convention Center and get all the basics you need for a fulfilling — and fun — meeting.

Hallelujah!: Like George Michael once sang: You’ve got to have faith. So take a bit of a break from your business meetings and note-taking to stop by the 10-year anniversary celebration of APHA’s Caucus on Public Health and the Faith Community today from 4 to 6 p.m. in Meeting Room 1B of the convention center.

I see public health workers: Visit the vision screening van, provided by the Vision & Eye Health Work Group, at the Public Health Expo, booth 2243, today through Wednesday.

Border justice

“Tijuana’s coming here since we can’t go to Tijuana,” said Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network Coordinator Garrett Brown, as a gaggle of APHA Annual Meeting attendees gathered at San Diego City College this afternoon for a presentation on labor and environmental conditions in the foreign-owned factories along the U.S./Mexico border.

About 55 of us had expected to board buses at noon and head across the border on the eve of our “Public Health Without Borders” meeting, but recent drug-related violence had the San Diego Maquiladora Solidarity Network cancel the tour for the first time. The group organizes regular tours to bring light to the often intolerable conditions in the foreign-owned factories in Tijuana known as “maquiladoras.”

“It’s not because Tijuana is any more violent than say Chicago or Los Angeles,” Brown said. “It’s that the violence has become more rampant and generalized.”

Antonia Arias, a Mexico native who has worked in several different Tijuana factories, spoke at the presentation about the conditions in far too many work environments, where workers handle toxic, carcinogenic chemicals without protective equipment and are exposed to sexual harassment, unsafe working conditions and low wages. Antonia said that after seven years of handling acetone at a factory producing glass lenses, she cannot be near the chemical without her throat and mouth burning. Other commonly used chemicals have been linked to lung disease in long-time workers.

Giving proof that community-level activism can change the world, Amelia Simpson of the local Environmental Health Coalition told how, after more than 15 years, an abandoned factory site with thousands of pounds of toxic waste was cleaned up. Lead levels at the Metales y Derivados abandoned lead smelter were up to 250 times higher than acceptable federal environmental standards. But the coalition, working with a group of local activists, convinced the government to step in and oversee the clean-up.

“This is an example of how a marginalized, very low-income community can raise their voices and get justice,” Simpson said.

Vist the blog tomorrow for a one-on-one interview with Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network Coordinator Garrett Brown.

— D.C.

Excuse me, do you know where…..

“Public Health Without Borders” is the seventh Annual Meeting for this blogger, and I have to say that San Diego is the most scenic, tranquil setting for covering public health’s pre-eminent gathering so far. Plus, it’s warm and sunny (which is probably just the Floridian in me, but I digress….)

Not only is it nice outside, it’s pretty nice inside too. To pick up your meeting tote and final program, you’ll take a walk through the convention center’s Sails Pavilion, which lives up to its marine-inspired name. Surrounded by glass and sunlight, grab a seat in the pavilion’s Mix and Mingle Lounge and take advantage of free Wi-Fi, comfy cushions and the chance to meet your fellow public health protectors from around the nation and the world. As you walk into the pavilion, on your right are a row of glass doors leading to the outdoor terrace, which is dotted with tables and chairs for your leisurely pleasure.

Also inside the Sails Pavilion is an activity posting center, where you can read up on any late-breaking activities that didn’t make it into the final program. And you’ll also find another area dotted with tables and chairs in the pavilion behind the Mix and Mingle Lounge.

If you’re looking for the Marriott Hotel and Marina (where a bunch of sessions and meetings are being held), walk out the front of the convention center and take a left — it’s just right next door. Food and eats? San Diego’s trendy Gaslamp Quarter is just a short walk away from the convention center’s front doors — walk up 5th Avenue and you’ll find yourself in the heart of this lively neighborhood.

And, it’s true, living on a restaurant-fueled diet for the next four days can put a dent in the pocketbook. But luckily, a fellow APHA blogger has scouted out a Ralph’s 24-hour grocery store less than a 10-minute walk from the convention center on G street between 1st and 2nd avenues. Muy convenient.

Where the Rubber Hits the Road: Translating Research into Practice at the Student Assembly Meeting

Attendees at today’s all-day Student Assembly meeting were treated with real-life case studies from three California practitioners, and even a plug for jobs with the state! (See the California Department of Public Health’s booth at the Public Health Expo for more information.)

Andrew McGuire, executive director of Health Care for All- California, described his group’s novel effort to gain the attention of the media and the public by staging 365 events in 365 days in 365 California cities — starting with the 365th smallest city and working their way up to a finale event that drew 4,000 people to Los Angeles’ City Hall in August 2007. Despite the governor’s two vetoes of a single-payer health plan in California, McGuire’s group raised awareness and established a network of 50,000 supporters.

“It was an audacious idea, but in the end it turned into a coalition of organizations,” he said.

In addition to expanding access to care, California’s Department of Public Health is hitting the streets to empower its citizens to be “Champions for Change” by eating healthy and exercising. Alyssa Ghirardelli, of the Network for a Healthy California program, described her efforts to motivate people to make healthy choices via media campaigns aimed at low-income mothers that stress self-efficacy, “you can do it!” techniques (Sample Slogan: My kitchen. My rules.).

California has also been ahead of the curve with other public health efforts, including smoking cessation and prevention. Colleen Stevens, with the state public health department’s Tobacco Control Media Campaign, told students that her office has been focused on changing social norms. In the past 20 years (ever since a 5 cent tax per cigarette pack was earmarked for tobacco control programs), hundreds of California cities have enacted smoking prohibitions and multiple state-wide regulations have gone into effect, including this year’s ban on smoking in a car with a child younger than 18. But it all began with educational campaigns to make people aware of the hazards of secondhand smoke.

“Everyone wants to start with the kids…but we started with adults because the only way to make lasting change with kids is to build a world where smoking is not tolerated,” Stevens said.

And California’s program is showing real results: The state has the 2nd lowest prevalence of smoking, and rates of lung cancer are declining four times as fast as the rest of the country.

– P.T.

Room with a view

I think knowing that a view like this is waiting for me outside might make it a little harder to concentrate inside. But, I'll try....

View from the San Diego Convention Center terrace

P.S. Get Personal

Upon checking in at the San Diego Convention Center, you’ll receive a handful of helpful stuff: a 136th APHA Annual Meeting tote bag, a nifty nametag and a phonebook for southern California. Oh wait....that’s not a phonebook, it’s the Annual Meeting final program!

Seriously, the phonebook comparison is a bit of an exaggeration. But just by a bit. This year’s APHA Annual Meeting spans five days, offers hundreds of scientific sessions, presents thousands of scientific papers on the latest public health research and practice, and welcomes more than 700 booths to the Public Health Expo. So, the final program is no small potato — it’s more like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

But here’s where a little public health preparedness comes in handy. If you’ve already registered for the meeting, you can go online now and access the APHA Personal Scheduler. The scheduler allows you to browse the entire program, including room numbers and locations, and prepare a personalized meeting itinerary that you can access from any computer with an Internet connection.

And you can change and update your itinerary whenever you please as well as print out a hard copy. Now, how convenient is that?

Go West!

The wind is blowing a little cooler, the trees are getting a bit barer and this blogger has already seen her first Christmas commercial. All signs point to one thing: It’s APHA Annual Meeting time!

In less than one month, sun-filled, sandy beached San Diego will welcome about 13,000 public health workers for APHA’s 136th Annual Meeting, which this year has a theme of “Public Health Without Borders.” So, pack your bags, roll up your posters, and slip a few hundred business cards into your wallet (the Annual Meeting is a social networker’s dream come true) and join the public health pilgrimage to California.

Just a few of 2008’s must-see highlights include opening session speaker Michael Marmot, chair of the World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health; a Wednesday afternoon closing session featuring three former U.S. surgeons general; a Monday afternoon town hall meeting on health system reform to which representatives from both presidential campaigns have been invited; and the Sunday night showing of Emmy Award-winning Sarah Jones’ “A Right to Care,” her one-woman performance piece.

And, of course, don’t forget to sign up for daily e-mails from APHA’s Annual Meeting Blog. We’ll be posting multiple times a day, covering scientific sessions, social gatherings and other blog-worthy, can’t-miss events. And this year, the blog will also feature a list of daily top picks posted every morning, bright and early.

For all the details, including this year’s online program, check out APHA’s Annual Meeting Web site.

See you in 22 days!

Meeting by the sea

Already getting ready for APHA’s 136th Annual Meeting in October in San Diego? So are we. And not only are we looking forward to some hot topics inside the convention center, we’re looking forward to the hot weather outside the convention center (and not lugging our big winter coats from room to room). We can already smell the salty breeze......

But before you pack your favorite beach towel, don’t forget to subscribe to the Annual Meeting daily blog so you can begin receiving updates via e-mail in the fall. Daily postings will begin shortly before the Annual Meeting starts and go throughout the meeting, covering scientific sessions, social events and much more.

And don’t forget your sunscreen!