PNR Staff Travel to APHA 2015

Posted by Emily Glenn on November 30th, 2015 Posted in: News From NNLM PNR, Public Health

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Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to attend the American Public Health Association (APHA) annual meeting in Chicago, where I got to meet the people behind some of the resources I teach about and present a poster about the Response and Recovery App in Washington (RRAIN) app and project, led by the University of Washington Health Sciences Library.

The meeting kicked off with a powerful opening general session featured several speakers, including U.S. Surgeon Dr. General Vivek Murthy, who spoke about the National Prevention Council, known as one of the crown jewels of the Affordable Care Act. Dr. Murthy’s talk set the tone for the next few days: health belongs in all policies and together, we can make a difference in the health of our communities.

Many presentations highlighted health disparities via socioeconomic and political climates and focused on uncovering data to facilitate movement toward equity. One presentation that struck me was about the use of mapping data to illustrate life expectancy among neighborhoods in small geographic areas, by ZIP code. Presenters from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, producer of the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, and Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University showed off some of the ways that life expectancy data can be organized and mapped (see VCU’s Mapping Life Expectancy pages). The team spoke about the nuts and bolts of the data, as well as the process of making maps accessible by focusing on timeliness, proximity, and human interest.  In another session about tools and resources to promote collaboration between academic and the workforce, University of North Carolina researchers showed off newly developed Collect SMART, the Survey Management and Response Tool suite of software designed to help users manage and implement data collection efforts. A third session explored barriers to care transgender and gender-variant people and included a talk about the role of public health policy in gender affirmation and health equity in the US.

Beyond lectures and roundtables, posters and films provided a chance to talk some more, rest the feet, or get even more steps logged at the large convention center. APHA’s Global Public Health Film Festival offered over 115 films to and opportunities to hear from creators and stars. One film, Blue Campaign. One Voice. One Mission. End Human Trafficking, which focused on broad awareness and intervention, was part of a group of films on human trafficking and exploitation. Of several sessions of poster presentations, three posters were especially intriguing: Local Health Departments Health Informatics and Emergency Preparedness Capacity, Tribal-State Collaboration to Build Environmental Public Health Tracking Capacity in Wisconsin, and A Local Public Health Model: Veterinary Emergency Response Plan.

The conference Expo also provided rich opportunities to connect with several organizations (including partners) and colleagues. There, I learned about USAID’s Global Health eLearning Center and their new free course on data visualization. I picked up a CultureCard from SAMHSA, a small foldable handout that provides basic information for Federal disaster responders and others who may be deployed to work with American Indian/Alaska Native communities. Sharon Susook, exhibiting on behalf of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium of Anchorage, AK (an NN/LM PNR partner organization), spoke with me about her research on the practice of care for the deceased from Koyukon Athabascans communities in a culturally relevant manner amidst Western regulations and practice. I met the people behind HealthData+, who help counties visualize, discuss, and present public health data. During my shift at the Environment Section booth, I shared news of section events, became acquainted with new colleagues, and even had a chance to suggest an educator check out Tox Town and ToxMystery resources from National Library of Medicine (NLM). Several staff NLM librarians were at the Expo, too.

The APHA meeting was the largest professional meeting I have attended to date, but was made a bit more intimate by section activities and sharing dinner with about 20 medical librarians from across the US. Nearly every imaginable public health topic was represented and I put in thousands of steps to take it all in. I plan to follow up with a few presenters to learn more about their collaborations and have some new ideas to bring back for my own teaching and outreach with the PNR office during the next year.