We had a busy fall giving three workshops in September and October. First Community Health Maps traveled to Spokane Washington to conduct a half day technical workshop at the National Tribal Forum for Excellence in Community Health Practice.
This event was organized by the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. We weren't certain who or how many would attend, and I expect attendees weren't entirely sure what Community Health Mapping was all about either. However, it turned out to be a very engaged group representing tribes from many regions of the country. Within a few hours everyone was able to:
- Create a field data collection form in Fulcrum
- Collect some data around the conference center on their smartphones/tablets
- Make a map of their data in Carto
- Learn how to bring the data into QGIS
This was a typical CHM workshop with most never having done any mapping work before. As such it was a very empowering experience for the participants to learn how to use this technology to map their community in just a few short hours.From there we traveled to Honolulu, Hawai'i to give a workshop organized by Papa Ola Lokahi. There were two hurricanes (Lester and Madeline) heading towards the islands. Fortunately they both veered off and didn't cause any damage or disruptions! The attendees came with a plethora of ideas on how mapping could fit into their work including:A) tracking scholarship recipients of the Native Hawaiian Health Scholarships program,B) supporting the Native Hawaiian Cancer Network,C) mapping Dr. Ben Young’s research on historical tracking of Native Hawaiian Health professionals,D) mapping Native Hawaiian Homelands to provide resource data to providers and community members, andE) use the CHM "train the trainer" model to increase ongoing trainings for service providers including community health outreach workers and patient community navigators in Hawai'i.
After a brief break we headed to Seattle, Washington, again there were two separate storms including, the remnants of Typhoon Songda, bearing down on the region threatening to disrupt power and services! Again fortunately the storms didn't make a direct hit on the area and the workshop proceeded on schedule.We went to train students in the capstone course of the Community Oriented Public Health Practice Program at the University of Washington. This is our second year supporting this program. The first year was a huge success with two students attending the APTR Conference and presenting their work.Like last year we had a full house with students eager to learn about community mapping. Both first year and second year students were in attendance. Several second year students will submit proposals for consideration, to receive a stipend and support for using Community Health Maps in their capstone projects. Jamie Smeland is the first of the group to be awarded the stipend for her capstone project entitled, "Honoring the Collective Wisdom: Documenting a Cross-Racial and Intergenerational Movement to Shift Power to Youth and Parent Leaders to Improve Educational and Health Outcomes for Students of Color in South Seattle & South King County." We look forward to working with these students in the coming months.
In the near future we will be offering an updated set of Community Health Mapping labs and a platform for CHM webinars. Stay tuned! In the meantime if you are interested in Community Health Maps and/or receiving CHM training contact John Scott (jcscott at cpsc.com) for more details.