Public health problem-solvers

Above, participants talk about developing new apps that connect health and place during yesterday's portion of the APHA Public Health Codeathon. Stop by the Codeathon tomorrow morning from 9-10:30 a.m. in convention center room 343 to view the creative outcomes of the two-day event and cast your vote in the Viewers' Choice Award competition.

Above photos by Michele Late, courtesy APHA Flickr
 

Hello New Orleans!

As they say in New Orleans, laissez les bons temps roulez! Consider that your first lesson in local Cajun expressions — this one means "let the good times roll!" Welcome to the 142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition!

Above photos from top to bottom: A New Orleans fire truck embellished with local flavor; the Saint Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square; a French Quarter street marker; the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, which features exhibits on bloodletting, leeches and other questionable (and kind of stomach-turning) medical practices; and local jazz musicians entertain pedestrians walking through the French Quarter.

—K.K.

 

APHA’s Dr. Benjamin: Welcome to New Orleans!

Greetings APHA members, partners and friends,

It’s my great pleasure to welcome you to the 142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition in New Orleans! After more than a decade as APHA’s executive director, welcoming thousands of dedicated public health practitioners, researchers, advocates, students and supporters to our Annual Meeting never gets old — in fact, it only gets better. Like you, I’m excited and eager to hear stories of public health success, learn about new and promising public health innovations, and discuss ways we can collaborate in support of a strong and robust public health system. For this practitioner, every Annual Meeting is a time of rejuvenation and revival. But this year is even more special.

Nearly 10 years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, shattering lives, displacing thousands, destroying the landscape and forever changing one of the nation’s most unique and celebrated cities. That same year, our Annual Meeting was scheduled to convene in New Orleans and though we very much wanted to bring the emotional, economic and on-the-ground support of thousands of public health workers to the city, it just wasn’t possible. We convened in Philadelphia instead, but we vowed to return to New Orleans. This year, we make good on that promise. And there are few better places to explore this year’s Annual Meeting theme of “Healthography: How Where You Live Affects Your Health and Well-Being” than New Orleans, a city that’s a living laboratory of the challenges that come with rebuilding after catastrophe as well as the silver-lined opportunities to rebuild in a way that’s more resilient, prosperous and healthy for all.

In addition to bringing with us the latest in public health science, we’re also excited to bring the voice of public health to New Orleans. That means we, along with many of the meeting’s presenters, plan to highlight concerns about environmental health in the aftermath of Katrina and the 2010 BP oil spill, call for tobacco reform and smoke-free workplaces, and support local advocates as they work to ensure that all residents have access to the opportunities that afford good health and well-being. And after a jam-packed day of science, advocacy and action, I hope you’ll find the time to explore and enjoy this year’s historic host city and its unique sights, sounds and flavors. 

But as we enjoy the festivities and camaraderie of this year’s Annual Meeting, I also ask that you keep in mind our public health colleagues who are tirelessly working abroad and at home to stop the spread of Ebola and care for those infected with the deadly virus. The effects of the global outbreak and the untold suffering it has inflicted on the world’s most vulnerable communities will reverberate for years to come, long after the outbreak is contained and the images of the sick and dying disappear from the evening newscast. Join me and your fellow public health colleagues in New Orleans as we call for facts over fear — for science over politics and unity over division. During the meeting, you might notice a bright, pink ribbon on my Annual Meeting badge that boldly reads #FactsOverFear — I hope you’ll pick one up for yourself at the Information Desk inside the New Orleans convention center.

This year’s APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition will surely be one to remember. I can’t wait to see you there.

Best (and healthy) wishes,
Georges Benjamin, MD
Executive Director
APHA

Public health decision 2014: We report, you decide

Sessions, sessions, sessions. There’s a lot of them taking place at this year’s 142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition in New Orleans — hundreds, in fact. So, in an attempt to help you whittle down your options, below is a list of sessions that caught this blogger’s attention and that you might want to consider for your own Annual Meeting itinerary.

• The Ebola outbreak will be the focus of discussions at “Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic in West Africa,” session 3108.1 on Monday, Nov. 17. Presenters will discuss the experience of Red Cross volunteers on the front lines in Guinea; the Ebola response in Liberia and Sierra Leone; Ebola control in Nigeria; the perspective of nurses in the United States; and the public health ethics involved in curbing the virus’ spread and protecting those at risk. 

• New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu will speak about the city’s homicide reduction strategy during “Changing the Context: Youth Violence Prevention Through Community Change,” session 3124 on Monday, Nov. 17. The session will also feature an overview of youth violence from a public health perspective, strategies to improve community safety and programs that specifically address violence reduction in cities.

• APHA Special Sessions features presentations on some of today’s most cutting-edge and emerging public health topics. For example, “Building a Social Movement to Become the Healthiest Nation in One Generation,” session 5033 on Wednesday, Nov. 19, will focus on topics such as income inequality, grassroots organizing and lessons learned from the fight for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. That same day, speakers will gather for “Separate and Unequal: The Political Geography of Reproductive Rights, Reproductive Justice and Reproductive Health,” session 5093, which will feature insights on the intersections of racism, classism and gender discrimination and their effects on reproductive health in New Orleans. Visit the APHA Special Sessions page for a full listing of events.

• Get your public health message in the news with tips from “Media Advocacy: How to Make Public Health Matter in Media,” session 3113 on Monday, Nov. 17. Among the session’s speakers will be health care writer Rebecca Catalanello, a reporter with the local Times-Picayune newspaper. Later that same day is “Mobilizing a Public Health Campaign,” session 3324, which will offer lessons on coalition building, community engagement and grassroots organizing.

• A number of this year’s sessions tie into this year’s Annual Meeting theme of “Healthography: How Where You Live Affects Your Health and Well-Being.” Here are just a few: “Healthography and the Food Environment,” session 3026 on Monday, Nov 17; “Healthography — The Impact of Place,” session 3071 on Monday, Nov. 17; “Healthography and the U.S. Gulf Region — A Transdisciplinary Public Health Systems Approach in the Aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill,” session 4208 on Tuesday, Nov. 18; and “Innovative Community-Academic Approaches to Address Healthography,” session 5036.1 on Wednesday, Nov. 19.

• Grab some popcorn and check out the 11th Annual APHA Film Festival, which is organized by the Public Health Education and Health Promotion Section's Health Communication Working Group and the International Health Section. The festival includes a number of sessions throughout the Annual Meeting and offers a variety of both domestic and international public health videos. For a list of sessions, visit the APHA Film Festival site.

• Join members of APHA’s Occupational Health and Safety Section as they celebrate the Section’s 100-year anniversary! “Occupational Health and Safety Centennial Year Celebration,” session 4101 on Tuesday, Nov. 18, will feature remarks from David Michaels, U.S. assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, as well as past APHA presidents Jay Glasser and Linda Rae Murray.

• Learn more about the latest threats from the tobacco industry at “Taking E-Cigarettes Head On — Local, State and National Regulations,” session 3321 on Monday, Nov. 17. The session will offer insights on regulating e-cigarettes, the appeal of e-cigarettes among people who don’t smoke conventional cigarettes, and concerns that e-cigarettes are undermining cultural norms that reject smoking in public places. And for more on the growing movement against tobacco use, stop by “Prescription for Health: Tobacco-Free Pharmacies,” session 4200 on Tuesday, Nov. 18, which will feature a presentation from Eileen Boone, president of the CVS Health Foundation, on CVS’ landmark decision to stop selling tobacco.

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The Annual Meeting spans the full breadth of the public health discipline and there’s something for everyone. To see for yourself, visit the Annual Meeting online program. Or download the Annual Meeting app and sync it with your personal scheduler.

— K.K.

Above, watch a video from last year's APHA Film Festival.

There’s an app for that: Download the APHA Annual Meeting mobile app today!

Download the free APHA Annual
Meeting mobile app.

This blogger loves the APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition program. That giant, freshly printed, phone book-like tome overflowing with hundreds of chances to learn about public health’s latest innovation, insight and invention. Every year, when my copy arrives in preparation to launch this very blog, I gather my trusty yellow highlighter, a stack of sticky fluorescent page markers and a cup of hot tea and immerse myself in the opportunities. What can I say — I’m a total public health nerd.

That being said, however, the Annual Meeting program can be a bit cumbersome to haul around a convention center for five days. It truly is the size of a small phone book and after a few days of pulling it in and out of my bag, all of those page markers begin to join the wayward gum wrappers and pen caps in the dark corners of my newest APHA Annual Meeting tote bag. It turns out that sticky page markers are not the most effective scheduling tools. Thankfully, APHA agrees and now, as they say, there’s an app for that. 

For the third year in a row, meeting attendees can download the APHA Annual Meeting mobile app for easy access to all the information related to the Annual Meeting, including the massive meeting program. Those of you with Apple or Android phones can download the free tool in your app store by searching for “APHA meeting,” while those with other brands of smartphones can download our mobile Web version.

The mobile app lets users search scientific sessions, abstracts, author information and session room locations; view the Public Health Expo floor plan and maps; create an event itinerary and sync it with the APHA personal scheduler or your phone’s calendar; receive meeting alerts; and access general meeting information, such as info about shuttle buses, first aid and designated breastfeeding areas. The app also lets users connect with fellow Annual Meeting attendees — you can search through a list of attendee names and send him or her a message directly (though no one’s personal information is provided through the app).

Also this year, attendees can use the mobile app to play Passport to Prizes. Just click on “scavenger hunt,” scan quick response (QR) codes at all 20 designated Expo booths and be entered into a drawing for a variety of cool prizes, such as free registration to next year’s Annual Meeting or a free, one-year APHA membership.

You’ll need an Internet connection to initially download and launch the mobile app. But after installation, no Internet connection is necessary to access its contents. Also, you’ll want to download the mobile app before you arrive in New Orleans, as the downloading process can take some time. Plus, you’ll need time to create the perfect schedule. For more information and a list of FAQs, visit our Annual Meeting mobile app page. And leave those sticky, fluorescent page markers at home.

— K.K.

Start your public health engines! Just three weeks until the APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

 
It’s countdown time, folks! In less than a month, you and thousands of your closest public health friends will descend upon New Orleans Nov. 15-19 for APHA’s 142nd Annual Meeting and Exposition and this year, there’s more in store than ever before.

I know what you’re thinking: How is it possible that the Annual Meeting can get any better? And this blogger agrees — the Annual Meeting is already a seriously awesome event. (Disclosure: Yes, I am totally biased. How can you not love the feeling of being surrounded by 12,000 people who are all driven to make the world a better place? Best. Feeling. Ever.) But this year, APHA not only has some new treats in store, we’re working to make sure the good, old standards keep you coming back for more. Let’s start with some of the new.

In addition to the usual Opening and Closing General Sessions, this year’s Annual Meeting will also offer a Monday General Session on Nov. 17 from 4:30-5:30 p.m. And this one is a serious heavy-hitter, featuring five former U.S. surgeons general as well as Acting Surgeon General Boris Lushniak. The top docs will discuss the future of health in America and how they used the Office of the Surgeon General to help push the public health movement forward.

Another new offering is the Annual Meeting Workshops, all of which will be held on Saturday, Nov. 15, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The pre-meeting workshops are organized by APHA member groups and are designed to reach local residents who can’t attend the full Annual Meeting. The five workshops include the “Global Health Diplomacy Workshop,” which will offer an overview of the core competencies in global health diplomacy; the “Pregnancy Options Workshop,” which will include discussions of the contextual factors that influence pregnancy and parenting decisions; and the “Beware of Images Workshop,” which will offer attendees tips for creating powerful media messages that promote health and well-being. Click on the Annual Meeting Workshops link at the top this paragraph to learn more about the new workshops as well as fees and registration. You don’t have to be registered for the full Annual Meeting to register for one of the workshops.

APHA TV will be another new feature at the New Orleans gathering. The daily broadcast will feature coverage of some of the latest science coming out of the Annual Meeting as well as interviews with noted public health leaders. APHA TV will be broadcast on televisions inside the convention center, on the APHA website and in certain Annual Meeting-designated hotels.

Inside the Public Health Exposition, which will open its doors immediately following the Opening General Session on Nov. 16, attendees can browse hundreds of public health booths and pick up lots of free public health goodies (so don’t forget your trick-or-treat bags). Joining the booths this year will be Art @ the Expo, where local artists will be selling their health- and medical-inspired creations, such as paintings, photography and jewelry. Holiday shopping, anyone?

Now to some of the old — well, not really old, more like newish. For the second year in a row, APHA will host the Public Health Codeathon, Nov. 14-16, where public health practitioners will work in teams with computer programmers and developers to design new apps, platforms and tools to promote health and prevent disease. Saturday night of the Codeathon, a panel of judges will present awards for the most innovative projects. Visit our Codeathon site to learn more and register for the event. And if you just want a peek, stop by Sunday morning to view some of the innovations, meet their creators and cast your vote for your favorite project. Also returning this year for its second appearance is APHA’s Social Media Lab, which is held in partnership with AIDS.gov and offers meeting attendees an opportunity to work one-on-one with a social media expert and learn how to optimize social media tools in support of public health goals. Register for the lab here.

Of course, this year’s meeting will also be home to hundreds of scientific sessions, public health celebrations, awards ceremonies, networking events, social occasions, advocacy education and action, continuing education opportunities and so much more. We can’t wait to see you in New Orleans!

P.S. This post marks the official kick-off of this year’s APHA Annual Meeting Blog! We’ll be posting every week until the meeting starts, so check back for more details and in-depth coverage.

— K.K.

Above, watch a welcome video from the Louisiana Public Health Association. 

Share your story! APHA Book Club collecting personal stories of migration for a chance to meet author Isabel Wilkerson

It’s no secret that great books often lead to great inspiration. For Kate Ellington, that inspiration also led to a great and treasured discovery.

After Ellington read the award-winning book “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration” by Isabel Wilkerson, who will give the keynote address at the Opening General Session of APHA’s 142nd Annual Meeting and Exposition in New Orleans, she set out to uncover the history of her own family’s migration from the American South.

The book, which brings to life the migration of black Americans out of the South during the early and mid 20th century, compelled Ellington to visit the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City, where she began digging into her past. She shared her discovery with the inaugural APHA Book Club, which is reading Wilkerson’s book and encouraging readers to share their own migration stories for a chance to meet Wilkerson in person. Here is Ellington’s story in her own words:

“My first read of "The Warmth of Other Suns" inspired a trip to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. In a digital database, I found 1920 and 1940 U.S. Census records about my family migration story. Among the data were the names, ages, occupations and addresses of my great-grandparents and grandparents (as well as their neighbors) in their migration from South Carolina to New York City. In searching family albums I also uncovered a snapshot of my great-grandparents under a magnolia tree in South Carolina. My uncle painted a portrait of my great-grandmother who continues to be a well-remembered midwife and so I made this keepsake collage.”

The APHA Book Club is collecting personal family migration stories through Sept. 30 and one lucky storyteller will be chosen to meet Wilkerson after the Opening General Session in New Orleans on Sunday, Nov. 16. The winning storyteller must be registered for the Annual Meeting, and the stories will be open to the public and may be shared on this blog.

“Wilkerson’s book is so compelling that it’s hard not to wonder about your own family’s story — about the movements and migrations that helped shape who you are today,” said Michele Late, one of the organizers of the APHA Book Club. “We feel excited and privileged that so many readers are sharing their unique stories with us.”

“The Warmth of Other Suns” inspired Ruth Greenslade to submit her story to the book club. Greenslade’s story is much different from the history that Wilkerson chronicles, but it illustrates the wide diversity of migration stories that have come to represent the American experience. Greenslade writes in her own words:

“My family has German and English roots, not African-American, and my ancestors migrated from Europe, not the South, but they migrated just the same. My English ancestors arrived in the 1630s in Massachusetts with the Puritans. They came to establish ‘a city upon a hill,’ an example of Christian love and unity. On the other side of my family, I am a fourth generation German-American. My mom's grandparents came to Illinois as teenagers in the early 1900s and my mom herself is of 100 percent German descent. I am proud of both stories of my heritage and the courage it took those before me to be immigrants.”

Visit the APHA Book Club to submit your family’s migration story and read conversations from the book club’s first meeting, which was held via Facebook in August. The deadline for story submissions is Sept. 30. And don’t forget to sign up to join the APHA Book Club and share photos of yourself reading Wilkerson’s book on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #APHAReads.

—K.K.

Behind the scenes of the APHA Annual Meeting program, part 2: ‘Where the story behind the research can come through’

Margaret Walkover isn’t shy about setting a high bar. As a first-time program chair with APHA’s Mental Health Section, she had no intention of leaving things to chance.

“I’m a researcher, but my background is in public policy, so that’s just the way I think,” said Walkover, who in addition to joining the ranks of APHA’s volunteer program planners is also the director of Wellness, Recovery and Resiliency Initiatives with Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services in California. “Why should we be passive about engaging public health students and professors? We want the best research in our programs, so why not ask for it.”

Walkover is talking about her Section’s call for abstracts, which is how APHA’s many member groups attract submissions for review and presentation at the APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition. Each Section, Special Primary Interest Group, Caucus, Forum and the Student Assembly crafts its own call for abstracts and engages in a variety of outreach activities. Walkover wanted her call for abstracts to reach those on the cutting edge of behavioral health services research — “we’re looking for findings that really make a difference in the field,” she said. So in a first for the Mental Health Section, Walkover reached out to the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health and through that collaboration sent the Section’s call for abstracts to every behavioral health science liaison and department chair in the country.

“I believe in public behavioral health services,” Walkover said. “I believe we deliver services that really help people move through their lives and it’s so exciting to put together a program where the story behind the research can come through.”

As this year’s Annual Meeting will gather in New Orleans, Walkover also made a special effort to reach out to public health folks working in Gulf Coast states. (And since this year’s theme is “Healthography: How Where You Live Affects Your Health and Well-Being,” reaching out to local practitioners and researchers really brings this theme to life.) For example, Walkover said the Section received a number of submissions related to the health effects of the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In all, the Mental Health Section received 323 submissions…and Walkover, with the help of 75 volunteer reviewers from the Mental Health Section, rated and reviewed every one of them. Reviewers use an APHA-provided scoring system to help decide which abstracts get officially accepted. For Walkover’s Section, 156 abstracts were accepted and placed into 19 oral scientific sessions and eight poster sessions. APHA encourages Sections to collaborate, and so the Mental Health Section is excited to co-sponsor three additional oral sessions with the Medical Care, Maternal and Child Health, and Public Health Education and Health Promotion Sections.

That’s one of the big challenges of being a volunteer APHA program planner — organizing hundreds of abstracts into a relatively small set of scientific sessions so that each session has a common narrative and adds to a central message. It’s no easy task. For example, one of the Mental Health Section’s Annual Meeting sessions will focus on mental health and young adults. The session’s researchers hail from different parts of the country — Michigan, New York, Maryland and Illinois — and their research focuses on different topics, but thanks to Walkover and her fellow Section volunteers, each adds a chapter to the larger story of youth mental health. (This particular session, #4154, will offer research on campus-based mental health services, working with youth in juvenile drug treatment courts, the role of workforce development programs in addressing mental health among youth in urban areas, and school shootings and mental illness. The session is appropriately titled “Prevalence and Causes of Mental Illness Experienced by Young Adults: On Campus and in the Community.”)

If you read the first part of this behind-the-scenes series, you’d know that the bulk of the Annual Meeting program planning is done in just half a year — it starts at the close of an Annual Meeting, which is typically in October or November, and abstracts are officially accepted on June 1. As Walkover said: “It’s a lot of work.” But she also said it’s well worth all the time and effort.

“It’s just a delight to be able to do this for my field,” she said. “I’ve always had a strong belief that it’s important that research is brought to policymakers and people in the field who are actually doing the work and that’s the opportunity APHA gives us. For people who love going deep, they’ll definitely be drawn to program planning.”

Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes experiences from APHA program planners in the coming weeks! And visit the APHA online program to see what the Mental Health Section and other APHA member groups have in store for New Orleans.

— K.K.