from the Center for Leadership Education in Maternal and Child Public Health at the University of Minnesota
|
Take a look at this chat between Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) Executive Director Michael Fraser, AMCHP President Stephanie Birch, and Aimee Eden, PhD candidate and MCH trainee at University of South Florida. They discuss the future of Maternal and Child Health, the diverse skills valuable for work in the MCH field, and why focusing on advocacy in training is so crucial.
Credit to: Go Beyond MCH
Leadership Competencies are complicated and difficult to assess. How do you measure critical thinking? How do you know if someone has successfully reflected on personal goals, strengths or limitations? If this type of growth is ongoing and subjective, how do we know if an individual is where they should be in their development or training? The University of 
Minnesota Leadership Education in Maternal and Child Health is implementing innovative strategies to target these necessary leadership skills. Having public health graduate students attend Association of Maternal and Child Health’s (AMCHP) 2012 conference is one way we can do just that.
Check-out student’s reflections on their experience at AMCHP below and how attending benefited their professional and personal development. We have some noteworthy personal assessments going on!
Constructing a Core MCH Knowledge Base
“Over the course of the conference, I met people who were obstetricians, pediatricians, midwives, doulas and people who were epidemiologists, analysts, policy specialists and even journalists all working in the field of MCH. That’s when I realized how MCH is everything – everything affects the lives of mothers and children and how they in turn, effect everything else.” – Vidya Venkataraman, 1st year
Critical Thinking
“Every session I went to buzzed with the vocabulary and tools I have gathered in my methodology courses and scientific-based women’s health classes. As I articulated my ideas in conversation with MCH leaders from across the nation, I was reminded that our program has encouraged me to think critically and it has allotted me the growth and confidence I need to start my professional MCH career.” –Lucy Cosgrove, 2nd year
Interdisciplinary Team Building
“From developing partnerships with community stakeholders to address local public health issues to sharing best practices between state Title V agencies, collaboration emerged as an essential component of MCH work.” –Elisabeth Seburg, 2nd year
“In order to progress further in eliminating disparities and improving better access to quality health care for those without such services will require efforts and collaboration from individuals in all disciplines.” – MaiSee Moua, 2nd year
Collaboration with the Wider-Community
“One thing that I took from a session I attended at AMCHP was that public health needs to work alongside communities to promote their unique strengths. From examining these strengths, public health professionals have the opportunity to implement sustainable change within a community.” –Sarah MapelLentz, 2nd year
Building a Professional Network
“Overall, I think that it is a great opportunity for students to network with important people in MCH as well as an opportunity to see the many ways in which our course work is being applied throughout the country.” – Danielle Young, 2nd year
Passion
“It was truly inspiring to be around 700+ people who share my passion and to hear the stories of the speakers, award recipients, and of the spoken word performers. It was a great reminder as to why I’ve chosen to devote my life to this field.” – Jess Nelson, 1st year
How can conferences support other areas of development? How can we creatively address other competencies such as ethics and professionalism or advocacy?
You can evaluate your leadership development and skills through the Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s Assessment tools. Check them out and take the tests! http://leadership.mchtraining.net/?page_id=71
You can also view pictures and materials from the MCHB Joint Interdisciplinary Training Meeting that occurred during AMCHP. The Maternal and Child Health Bureau Training Program gave students, trainees and faculty the chance to discuss innovative practices in leadership training. http://www.aucd.org/template/event.cfm?event_id=2727&id=0
Elisabeth Seburg is a second year MPH student at the University of Minnesota School Of Public Health. She is in the Maternal and Child Health program as well as a fellow in the University of Minnesota Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Program. As a trainee in two MCHB funded programs, Elisabeth tells us about her unique experience at AMCHP this year.
As a MCH graduate student and a LEND trainee, attending the 2012 AMCHP Annual Conference in Washington D.C was an incredibly valuable experience. I had the opportunity to connect with MCH leaders and learn about innovative MCH programs and initiatives across the country. My main take away from the conference is the importance of collaboration in public health work. From developing partnerships with community stakeholders to address local public health issues to sharing best practices between state Title V agencies, collaboration emerged as an essential component of MCH work.
While I attended many interesting and thought-provoking sessions at AMCHP, a power workshop on disability and women’s health stands out in my mind. The workshop, “Identifying Public Health Practices to Reduce Health Disparities in Women with Disabilities,” featured 3 speakers who shared work to address health disparities among women with disabilities. In addition to providing a good overview of disability-related health disparities, the session offered examples of initiatives to decrease these disparities. One example is the Initiative for Women with Disabilities (IWD) at the Elly & Steve Hammerman Health & Wellness Center, a health center for women with physical disabilities. IWD provides accessible health services to women with disabilities. Keeping with its holistic view of health, IWD also offers accessible activities to women with physical disabilities, such as adaptive rowing and belly dancing. I was excited to see a session on disability and health because my master’s project pertains to this topic, but, more broadly, the programs described in this workshop can serve as models for the field of MCH as we work to eliminate health disparities in women with disabilities.
For more information about IWD: http://iwd.med.nyu.edu/
For more information about disability health disparities: http://content.healthaffairs.org.ezp2.lib.umn.edu/content/30/10/1947.full
Happy Valentine’s Day! Welcome to our up-coming series on the 2012 Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) Annual Conference! 
Over a dozen students here in Washington D.C. have represented Minnesota’s MCH program. If you did not have the opportunity to attend, stop on by to hear about participants’ experiences. Today is the last day of this MCH-focused meeting.
As attendees, we went to power workshops and skills-building sessions in 
between catching-up with one another. We networked, talking to influential leaders in our field and building relationships with alumni, MCH workers from Minnesota, and leaders from around the nation. Some of us are trying to get our name out there and learn of possible opportunities before us as we near graduation. Others explored national issues for the first time, focusing on how various state agencies are addressing MCH Competencies.
Come back for pictures in the coming days, as well as reflections from students who attended in the conference. We look forward to using our new knowledge to teach others and create change in the field.
In celebration of Valentines’ Day, give your heart some love today. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in all males and females. Take some time to get your blood pressure checked and urge your family, friends and co-workers to do the same.
Danielle Young tells us about her time at the 2nd annual Making Lifelong Connections meeting. Funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and sponsored by two MCH training programs across the U.S., Making Lifelong Connections is a one and a half day MCHInterdisciplinary Leadership retreat.
Sunny Walt Disney World was the perfect setting for the second annual Making Lifelong Connections Meeting. The purpose of this two-day meeting was to build connections between MCHers from across the country. I learned a lot about the many training programs that the Maternal and Child Health Bureau training grants fund. I had no idea the breadth of interdisciplinary programs and the range of students they attract. For example, I met students in social work, physical therapy, nursing, behavioral health, and the list goes on. It was a pleasant surprise to meet four other maternal and child health trainees from the University of Minnesota that I had not met before. Two were former students of the School of Public Health and the remaining two were from different disciplines.
An important theme of the meeting was leadership development. Michael Fraser, the CEO of the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) gave the keynote presentation on being a leader rather than a manager. This presentation got me thinking about ways to mentor and benefit any future team members that I may be in charge in a managerial position. He stressed focusing on the vision of your organization or project and remaining committed to that vision rather than immediate tasks. This was a great takeaway message and guided the remainder of our time in Florida.
The best part of the meeting by far, was seeing fellow classmate, Annie Fedorowicz, present research from her field experience in Mobile, Alabama this past summer. Annie provided a concise, well-thought out, and professional presentation on her research. I greatly enjoyed listening to her presentation and I learned a lot about how pregnancy and contraception are viewed in the neighborhoods where she was working.
It was rewarding to see the successes of colleagues both near and far. A series of MCH trainees presented their work to the meeting attendees. Some projects were nearing their end while some were just beginning. This was an exciting part of the meeting as it was fun to see what other MCH trainees across the country are working on.
The meeting was designed as a way for MCH trainees to network with other trainees from around the country in order to learn from each other and collaborate on projects together in the future. This was especially helpful for me as I recently moved to Chicago, Il and I was happy to meet other MCH trainees and former trainees from the Chicagoland area. This was a pleasant surprise and I’m thankful to be able to start growing my network in Chicago.
Overall, the meeting was a great experience and I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to attend.
Danielle Young is a second year MPH student in the Maternal and Child Health program at the University of Minnesota.
