The Relationship Between Service Providers and the Populations They Work With

As I may have mentioned here before, I first wrote about public health around 2004 when I covered an event for an organization raising awareness about cervical cancer.

Around the same time that I covered this story, I went to a women's health clinic to get standard screenings for STD's and STI's and I also wanted a screening for HPV.

I  went into this with my new found awareness that a clear pap smear result does not always mean that there is no chance that you have HPV.* I remember a staffer saying something to me along the lines of, "we usually do a pap smear and if something shows up than we screen for HPV."

While I am aware that had I gone to a different doctor or health care provider at that same clinic I may have gotten a different answer. I also appreciate that she may have handled our interaction based on what she was trained or encouraged  to do by whomever decides what the standard of care is for basic STD, STI and any other gynecological screenings.

However, there must be women who have gone to that clinic and gotten similar information about HPV screenings and had no reason to think that they were not being given the full picture.

I remember making an attempt to get an HPV screening regardless of how the pap smear results came back. This was years ago before there was any notion of an HPV vaccine on the market and I do think that there is generally much more discussion around HPV.

What I take from that experience is the importance of educating myself about my health in order to have the best possible interaction with health care providers.

In some ways, I think of healthcare as being similar to any other service in that the best result comes out of having a trusting relationship between service providers and the populations they work with.

If you are part of a population where conversations about health are limited to yearly check ups, where can you find information to compliment those discussions?

In what settings do health care providers have opportunities to interact with the populations they work with outside of formal appointments?

While conversations about sexual and reproductive health rights are critical, it is also good to just get information and to ensure that a general awareness is supported in settings such as community centers, online communities, the social media space, colleges and universities etc...







*I am not a medical professional and this is just me recounting my own personal experience as I remember it.

Is Gun Violence a Public Health Issue?

How is public health defined, who decides what that definition is and on what information are they basing their decision? Who has a seat at the table while these topics are being discussed?

Recently, I found myself thinking; " How many people have to die before action is taken to decrease gun violence?" I suppose there is an argument for the fact that all societies are desensitized to their own failings.

Where then, must we go to gather together those that have the right thinking on the issues that hold us back from living up to the ideals of our society?

Although I don't recall the first time I thought about the idea of fostering discussion around gun violence as a public health issue, even a brief google search shows that this topic is already out there.

There's a lot to delve into here...

I do think that a civil society has an obligation to provide certain services to its citizens. Health care, being one of them. In order to move from talking about heady ideas and lofty goals to actually identifying what specific steps to take to create a better quality of life when it comes to access to health care, you have to get into economics.

An idea by itself is stagnant without the necessary resources and oversight to actually take action.

Rather than write this entire post from an editorial perspective, I think it will be more useful for me to give an overview of some of the voices that have chimed in to the discussion about whether or not gun violence is a public health issue.

No matter how you define it, public health only moves forward when facts are given pride of place over everything else.

If you google Public Health, the first entry that comes up is the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Other sources of information are the WHO (World Health Organization) and the APHA (American Public Health Association).

If you want to see a fact sheet on gun violence, the APHA has a resource titled, "Gun Violence Prevention." Forbes.com has an article that reviews several different perspectives on the topic of whether or not gun violence is a public health issue.

Diversity of thought  is necessary to yield any kind of forward thinking approach to improving our society; thus community activists, students, think tanks and colleges and universities should all have a role in shaping the discourse around gun violence and how best we can understand it and prevent it.

I spoke with Professor Jon Vernick, Co-Director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research  at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health about the idea of framing gun violence as a public health issue.

"Guns claim more than 30,000 lives in the United States alone every year and another additional 70,000 or so non-fatal violent injuries are associated with guns. By thinking of it as a public health problem we can consider all aspects of the problem, not just gun deaths by homicide which are of interest to the criminal justice world, (but) we can also  think about suicide and accidental gun deaths. We can consider upstream solutions. Whereas the criminal justice system thinks primarily, though not exclusively about punishment, public health thinks primarily about trying to keep people from getting hurt in the first place.

Public health also has a tradition of focusing on the vector of a particular cause. In this topic, the vector is the firearm. There is a history in public health about 'how we can modify the vector'; how to keep guns out of the hands of a violent person in the first place.

There is a history of success that public health has had in other areas such as motor vehicles.By thinking of guns as a public health problem maybe there is inspiration that can be drawn from other successes."

This quote brings to the surface the idea that there are multiple aspects to gun violence which, in my opinion, is an important point. In order to make progress it is necessary for the major media outlets to inform the public of the kinds of things that are taking away from our ideas and ideals as a nation. Moving forward, it is absolutely critical to have more in-depth conversations about preventative measures. These conversations, guided by a nuanced perspective of the topic(s), inform the voting public and the wheels of progress turn...or at least that's the idea.

Baltimore City Community College Refugee Youth Project

 Last week I sat down with Chelsea Coston of the Baltimore City Community College Refugee Youth Project which provides services to Refugees as well as Asylees.

Through Enactus, Chelsea enriched her college experience by working on a variety of social projects.

Her next step was BCCC RYP, the roots of which go back to 1999 when BCCC was engaging with the ESL community via library space.

The goals of RYP are to provide homework assistance, developing core academic skills, provide a safe space, provide opportunity to practice English, to prevent students from dropping out of high school and transitioning into college or career.

Promoting self expression, self esteem and identity exploration, as well as fostering community and diversity are a part of the RYP mission. RYP also plays the role of providing information to the Baltimore City area regarding refugees.

BCCC RYP is currently exhibiting an art gallery show at Clayworks in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Baltimore. The show is a retrospective of BCCC RYP community arts projects over the last several years. The exhibit will be up through October 10th, 2015. BCCC RYP items can be purchased at Clayworks.

About two years ago in 2013, BCCC RYP started selling their products which are an outgrowth of their arts enterprise initiative. The arts enterprise started as a way to foster meaningful cultural engagement between the community of students with whom they work.

Through collaboration with the Maryland Office of Refugees and Asylees and with the support of the Office of Refugee Resettlement's School Impact Grant, BCCC RYP receives program funding. BCCC RYP shares office space with the International Rescue Committee.

Another collaboration is the Community Art Collaborative Americorps Program; a program created through the efforts of BCCC RYP and the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).

Currently Ms. Coston's work as a capacity builder is supported through the Maryland-DC Campus Compact Americorps VISTA (Volunteers In Service to America) program with the goal of contributing to a program of "deeper, more thorough services," including, "financial literacy program and a targeted college readiness program through a mentoring system. We rely on all the local universities for our volunteers, so we work with Loyola, UMBC, Johns Hopkins Refugee Action Project, Towson University, Goucher and a few high schools including Notre Dame Preparatory and Catonsville High School."


"We are always looking for volunteers. Right now what we need mainly are mentors. These are students who are in college or older; professionals are really needed. They make a commitment of two hours a week to spend with a refugee in high school or middle school. It is basically an adult figure in their life that can be a resource for them. We are also looking for tutors in high school or above at our Moravia site on Wednesday afternoons and our Patterson site, which is a high school, and that is Tuesday afternoon. RYP also has opportunities for unpaid internships including project based internships that can be completed at home. Suggestions for potential partnerships are welcome.

Donated art supplies are also welcome!

BCCC RYP also welcomes one time volunteers to come an support workshops on topics such as careers or finance. You can reach out to Brittany DeNovellis at rypvolunteerspecialist@gmail.com

In addition to the tutoring mentioned above, BCCC RYP offers a summer school which is an opportunity for high school students to get paid to attend school through Youth Works.


Stay connected:

Facebook   Refugee Youth Project
Twitter      @bmoreryp
Website     refugeeyouthproject.org

Donations can be given through the support tab on refugeeyouthproject.org. BCCC RYP is funded through Baltimore City Community College Foundation so you can mark your donation Refugee Youth Project so that the funds get to BCCC RYP.

The work of BCCC RYP reaches people from 17 Coutries including the following:

 Congo   Sudan    Eritrea    Syria    Burma   Bhutan

                             www.refugeeyouthproject.org

MACDC Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations

I first learned about collaborative work spaces when I was living in Brooklyn. I vaguely remember that it was a writer's space so I did a quick google search and came to the Brooklyn Writers Space. I remember thinking about how that might be a good resource for entrepreneurs and would like to eventually create my version of a collaborative work space at some point.

   One of the United Way's partner organizations is the Boston based Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporation. Their website provides information about the Transformative Development Initiative (TDI): Co-Work, which includes grant funding for collaborative groups. 

  I found out about MACDC while attending an event back in April and had a chance to interview President Joe Kriesberg. 

   I like that MACDC's Theory of Change incorporates rural communities into it's focus. What feedback can you share regarding how the unique needs of rural communities are an important part of community development work?

   Community development in rural areas shares the same values and basic elements as community development in urban areas, but it manifest itself differently. Community engagement is harder when people are spread out, and it can be even harder to identify and engage low income people as they are more disperse.

   That said, most rural communities have a strong network of existing leaders that can be engaged and smart CDCs find creative ways to engage new leaders.

   Rural CDCs are more likely to focus on home repair and of course their housing projects are much smaller – something that can be challenging given the affordable housing system’s preference for scale.  Many rural CDCs are highly focused on economic development given the economic struggles that can be found in much of rural America.

   We see our rural members more focused on growing local businesses and supporting entrepreneurs.

   Another difference we find is that rural CDCs are often filling the void created by small local governments with little community development capacity. Rural groups often help their towns to raise and administer grants and help construct or even manage community facilities.

   With all these differences, however, the same three elements remain: community building, improving the built environment, and help people to transform their lives.

   A few years ago I attended a NYSERDAevent (link copied below) and am interested to know; is there a comparable organization or state funded initiative that services Massachusetts?

    http://www.nyserda.ny.gov/

   I don't think we have an organization like this, but we do have strong energy programs at our state energy office and Mass Development plays some of the same roles with financing projects, I think.

   There is a youth movement calledPower Shift that aims to function as a gathering place for the youth climate movement. I'm interested to know of any similar programs and/or initiatives that you may wish to draw attention to including MACDC's Green Community Development movement.

   CDCs are committed to environmental sustainability as documented in a report we released a couple of years ago.http://macdc.org/research

    MACDC’s big priorities right now are the Community Investment Tax Credit and the Mel King Institute. We may be launching an effort around community development and health later this year.

    How did the relationship with the LISC come about and what kinds of outcomes are MACDC and LISC looking to create through the classes offered at the Mel King Institute? 

      MACDC and LISC have been close partners for 20 years or more – long before I arrived so I’m not sure how it started.  The major outcomes we hope to achieve long term is (1) stronger, better trained CD staff; (2) younger more diverse workforce; (3) more and better partnerships among CDCs and between CDCs and other stakeholders; (4) better community level outcomes due to higher CDC production.

Citizens Planning and Housing Association

I was intrigued when I received an e-mail about a community garden as that is something I would like to support in any way I can. I spoke with Tammy Mayer,the Director of Community Engagement at a Baltimore non profit called the Citizens Planning and Housing Association.

I'm happy to give Fifty Co-Op readers a heads up about CPHA initiatives. CPHA, "has been around since 1941 so there is a long history of partnership in a variety of ways." If you visit the CPHA website, you can learn more about what they do including their communications support of the Baltimore Regional Housing Campaign as well as sponsorship of the Activate Your Inner Citizen Greening University.

"In addition to current collaborations Ms.Mayer would like to see community associations working, "more effectively and with greater partnerships with the City Council Members." She hopes the community associations, "take advantage of the free training resources available to them through CPHA."

Considering the needs of a diverse community is an important factor for any business or non profit. Working with people from various backgrounds requires CPHA to practice, "respect, listening, acknowledging other people's opinions as valid and trying to see things from someone else's point of view."

http://www.cphabaltimore.org/
http://www.cphabaltimore.org/about/

Dulce Bean

I had the opportunity to interview Clara Botero, founder of Dulce Bean,a MWBE bakery featured in the Miami Herald. The food heritage of Ms. Botero's business goes back to her family roots in Colombia and cooking for her family when she was younger.

Dulce Bean provides a variety of gluten free and grain free choices such as Organic Wheat and Gluten Free Apple Ginger Cakeand Organic Wheat and Gluten Free Bananas and Cream Cake. 
  
Between interviewing Clara and visiting her website I learned about some of the healthy products she uses including coconut flour, something I have not yet baked with as well as coconut oil which I previously wrote about while interviewing Pooka Pure and Simple. 
  
I have to give credit where credit is due and take a moment to mention that the food photography on her website is amazing.

In addition to selling her products she includes the article, "How to Get Started in Health," on her site that reviews healthy eating and gives a primer of sorts for those who are starting out with the process of changing their food choices.

Check out the FAQ's section to find out about shipping, pricing, billing, order status, international shipping etc...

All Dulce Bean products are offered Whole Sale and you can find out more information about this by contacting the company directly.

The Resources section on the website includes topics such as and I think is a great addition as it is a way for you to build a relationship with her brand based on the quality of her products as well as looking to Dulce Bean as a source of information.

Some of the topics include, "How to Sprout Your Own Flour","Sprouted Flours and Products," and "Great Recipes, Blogs and Sites."

National Diaper Bank Network

I think it's fairly well known that there is such a thing as a food bank/pantry etc... When it comes to locating additional resources for families and/or individuals in need there is an organization called the National Diaper Bank Network which is based in New Haven Connecticut.Executive Director and Huffington Post contributor Diane Goldblum spoke with me about her work with the NDBN.

Q

What are your thoughts on why food pantries that have clothing and various other products such as medicine and home goods may not carry much by way of baby products?

"I think there are a couple of reasons, often they're dealing with donated products and so there are a lot more clothes and home goods that people replace regularly. Baby goods are very closely monitored and changed frequently, even cribs we used when my son was a baby are no longer acceptable by modern safety standards so there a lot of legal issues."

Q
How did you come to find out about the National Diaper BankNetwork?

"I am the founder and Executive Director. About 10 years ago I started the New Haven Diaper Bank. In New Haven CT, I saw parents who had to keep their children in a diaper for more than a day.

I saw a level of poverty in my neighborhood that was really just untenable."

Q
What kinds of factors do you feel should be taken into consideration while putting together ideas about creating assistance programs that are sustainable with or without grants?

"I think that there is a great deal you can do in a community without significant financial support. There are a lot of small organizations that take in used goods and redistribute them and that can be done in your house. When you get to a certain tipping point;then you need money. It's a matter of finding in your community individuals who have some money who want to support what your doing."

Q
Any thoughts on patterns that are found in rural areas measured against urban areas?

It is, "harder for people in rural areas because transportation is such an issue; services are spread out."

Q
This may seem like an obvious question.Why don't hospitals have some kind of public health mandate to provide such an essential item?

"Hospitals sort of generally speaking don't have mandates; they come from insurance regulations or public health regulations.Diapers are not included in any insurance formula.Food stamps for example is purely a nutritional program so they don't pay for hygenie products. Insurance, when you look at the basis for what it is supposed to be, it's for emergency situations;hospitals providediapers if children are in patients."

Q
What can people do to empower those in need of these services?

"I don't consider giving people diapers a band-aid or a handout, I think that parenting is incredibly difficult, it's incredibly difficult with resources and support.Without those things we take away from the child's potential. When you reach out to a child you are reaching out to two generations.The mother child bond is increased when a mother or parent is able to have that really positive interaction with their child.

I have a social worker background. I  have always felt like there is a huge disparity in income and in what's available to people and how much that really impacts this next generation. I grew up in a very left of liberal household."

--

On the National Diaper Bank Network website they have a feature on the left hand side of the home page called Find a Diaper Bank. There are listings on the site in various locations such as Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee,Michigan, Colorado, Washington, DC, New Jersey,Arizona, Florida etc...

I am always interested in learning more about public health, and now consider this to be a public health issue. Certainly, in order to have a thoughtful conversation about issues such as quality of life for young families overall and access to diapers and other hygiene products in particular, it makes sense to cultivate an awareness of how public health is tied to other social topics such as cost of living as well as access to gainful employment as well as being able to earn a living wage. I usually keep my posts centered around facts and the direct personal experiences of those I interview. That being said I welcome comments about the issue of fair wages.

http://diaperbanknetwork.org/