public health – Urbanite Health

Health on social

April 30, 2016August 1, 2018mmarinade2

Since social media has been a big part of my internship search, I felt I really needed to start to learn who was doing it effectively. Below are some great findings.

Healthcare Influencer List

I had no idea that there were healthcare influencers! I’ve long been familiar with Johns Hopkins School of Public health, as it’s a top ranked MPH and med school. Here is there Twitter. It was actually a little different than I would think it would be. It was very informative, and personally being in the public health field I thought it was interesting. However, it was really only for public health professionals and those in the research world. It was very research heavy and even I had a hard time understanding their stand alone tweets. Its funny because this was one of the major reasons I passed on the MPH track. It’s all well and good to have interesting information, but if its not tied to strong intervention or communications, its effects are limited. However, I was really impressed with the CDC and APHA, but they have way less followers.

CDC Social media

The CDC had individual accounts for each health aliment which can be found here. I really liked the eHealth and Diabetes accounts. My favorite initiative is the “Public Health Nerd.” A great post is “ Suspect you are a public health nerd?” Very Creative! It doesn’t seem to be well maintained, and some of these posts are from 2013. When I checked Twitter for the#phnerd hashtag, there is a little activity, but very rarely is it linked back to the CDC. However, I’m glad I found it because people do seem to be really excited about public health. Using the hashtag I found some interesting public health Twitter accounts and organizations. There was one especially interesting organization called Lucky Iron Fish.

Also worth checking out is the CDC’s instagram. I was impressed to see they have 200,000 followers! However, some posts were awkward pictures of their campaigns. I was not feeling the below pictures. They are a bit cheesy and it took away from the other amazing posts. My favorite was about a local Ebola Campaign. There was entirely too much text, but I liked the overall idea. Another great example was an up close and personal shot of bacteria.

After doing all this social media research, I feel like the APHA deserves a special shout out. I can’t believe its taken me this long to blog about the organization. I went to the APHA conference in San Francisco a few years ago, and have been a huge fan ever since. Its a non profit that works to connect public health professionals in the aim of improving health outcomes all over the world. Below is their simply and awesome Mission and Vision (below).

Our Mission- Improve the health of the public and achieve equity in health status.

Our Vision- Create the healthiest nation in one generation.

There are two major features on their website that really stick out. On their homepage are a list of webinars that anyone can attend. One particularly interesting one is found here. You can even view past webinars. Here is one that addressed the Flint Water Crisis. You can find out more about the APHA here. The second feature that I thought was great was their Public Health Newswire. It collects all the latest health related news.

Zika

April 3, 2016April 30, 2016mmarinade2

This has been the most attention getting and pathos-saturated Zika piece I have seen. It is a video by AJ+ It is a simple, low budget piece with clear, reasonable low grade level language to described a really sweet, likable mother learning how to care for her child while he suffers from effects related to the virus. Her challenges of caring for new baby are the same as anyone here in the U.S. Everyone just wants to be able to take care of and raise their children.

I feel like the producers of this video do a great job. It shows the audience that this mother is doing everything she can to balance her new responsibilities with her current ones.

This is excellent storytelling and could be used a model by other nonprofits. I like the light music and featured proactive mother just trying to do her best. Although it is obvious she is in a low-income housing development, I do like that they are trying to put a positive spin on this situation. I mean who doesn’t want to just give this mother a hug? I wish I could donate directly to her!

I found an interesting site called “Healthmap.org” that tracks all outbreaks including Zika, which unfortunately shows it seems to be spreading. Since most of us in the U.S. live in highly populated cities, crisis protocols are of the utmost importance in dealing with an outbreak. Here is another excellent article on Zika and how structural issues keep families from getting the care they need. It reports how “telemedicine” and mobile treatment vehicles has been effective in helping those in need treat alignments. Below is one of the most powerful pictures I’ve seen to showcase the effects the virus has had on infants.

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 4.45.25 PM

Ad Council FTW

March 28, 2016March 28, 2016mmarinade2

My absolute favorite campaign right now is the Ad Council’s Autism Awareness ( ad featured below). Here is a great video that seems like it could be appropriate not just for families learning how to handle an autism diagnoses but also for young students. This would help children develop more empathy and understanding towards those with developmental disabilities. I have volunteered with Easter Seals and truly believe in its evidence based programs. Here is some interesting info. on services for children while attending school. My favorite part of the organization was learning how having an inclusive school environment helps those with disabilities progress faster and helps those without learn to be empathetic and sensitive at an extremely young age = win-win.

Most importantly, here is an interesting a report that says financial and economic status plays a role in increasing chances of autism, as a mother’s health can effect rates. You can find the study on autism here. Just another example of how your environment can determine your health.

NYC’s synthetic MJ public health problem

March 20, 2016March 20, 2016mmarinade2

In a class last semester, we did an observational assignment on the subway to report on rider behaviors. We then used this information to make a recommendation to a fictional client. The subway assignment showed this is a concrete way to reach people. Since people are literally stuffed to the brim on the train, people are fairly often looking around. In our assignment we were able to indemnify a particularly distinct segment. We proposed to tart middle school age children for either healthy eating or possibly anti bullying campaign. We noticed around 3 they often travel together, engaged in conversation with peers and often still have high energy compared to the other riders.

Below is a subway public advertisement that caught my eye and I thought would potentially be targeted for high school students. Most people, including myself before reading this, don’t know why synthetic marijuana is so dangerous. Here is a Forbes article explaining how it is very different than regular marijuana. I was surprised to see public health officials fear tactics, which tend to have mixed results in effectiveness, but this article states there reports of the average ages of users is 26. It goes on to explain why De Blasio has recently banned these products. The article states users assume its safe and similar enough to natural marijuana, but there have sharp spike in ER visits and 15 deaths in the first half of 2015. The severity and misconception of the drug may warrant a harsher, scare tactic if the campaign is trying to get the word out ASAP. It definately got my attention right away.

Subway Signage gets an A +

March 20, 2016April 30, 2016mmarinade2

According to the MTA, 4.5 million people use the subway every day. This is astonishing as the population of NYC is estimated to be around 9 million. This means there is high reliance on the subway, but also it serves as an excellent medium to communicate with a large number of people.

Personally I feel MTA does a great job. The figures are simple and clear. Riders aren’t distracted by the messenger as they use colorful cartoon figures. Having this an option to communicate to such a large number of people is vital to public health professionals the ability to disseminate information to people quickly.

Here are a few more examples. You can see its well designed, has simple messaging. Even though the figures can be understood to people with varying English proficiency, these signs are great because they include multiple languages when they include additional information. The hoverboard example is a personal favorite.

Weightymatters matters

March 12, 2016April 30, 2016mmarinade2

I wanted to do an individual post about the Weigthymatters blog. Here Professor and MD, Yoni Freedhoff, covers behavior change, policies and the commercial food industry.

Simply by checking out his site I was able to find other well maintained blogs.

Science Based Medicine serves a more of a watch dog on health and medical related news and events.
Fooducate also has an excellent blog that is updated daily. It even goes a step further to provide a diet tracking tool, an internal rating system for various foods and healthy eating suggestions.

Parents can sneak in good eating habits

March 12, 2016April 30, 2016mmarinade2

Another thing that surprised me about NYC was the number of young children and infants floating around the UWS. With the busy and hectic lives of NYC parents, I think that teaching strong eating behaviors is necessary. Living in a city that runs on convenience and has unhealthy food options everywhere, children need to learn how to make the right choices. This is a great NPR article on creating consistency in a young child’s diet.

A second quick and easy read can be found on Wiki. This article highlights steps parents can take with children who are a bit older.

Sleepless nights are so 2015

March 12, 2016April 30, 2016mmarinade2

When I first moved to the city, I was afraid of not being able to sleep due to the noise and just the craziness that can be NYC. However, once arriving, all the walking and monitoring my caffeine levels have really seemed to do the trick.

Here is a great resource on finding out what is keeping you from sleeping. For me, personally, it was drinking diet sodas throughout the day and into the night. Once I switched to one cup of coffee early in the morning, it seemed to really help.

On page 27 is a comprehensive list of things that prohibit restful sleep. A great suggestion which most people may not be aware of is avoiding certain OTC drugs after a specific time, or remembering to get enough sun every day. There are always articles on tips and tricks of getting enough sleep, but it’s always good to remember to go to the best sources like the CDC or NIH when looking for a definitive answer.

Check the rest out here.