HER is tremendously grateful for the talented speakers, local leaders and community participants who have made each of these events a resounding success, and we look forward to our continued partnership in the coming year.
Public Dialogue
“How Healthy is Your Zip Code”
One way to find innovative solutions to enhance self-management for chronic conditions is to facilitate collaborative working relationships amongst community partners and UT researchers. In February 2015, we kicked off our series of community engagement forums with a community health dialogue titled: “How Healthy is Your Zip Code”? Dr. Stephen Pont, from the Dell Medical School, and Shannon Jones, from the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services department engaged over a hundred community members in this important conversation about crucial health problems and concerns in our area. Community leaders and participants shared information, creative ideas and solutions through an open dialogue. Participants shared how energized they felt by this inclusive, collaborative meeting, and expressed their desire to continue this conversation.
Visit the “How Healthy is Your Zip Code” page to learn more about the event.
2015 St. David’s CHPR Annual Conference
Preventing Chronic Disease Across the Lifespan
In April 2015, six speakers, renowned for their work in the areas of health promotion, health disparities and evidence-based interventions presented on the topic of “Prevention of Chronic Disease across the Lifespan.” Eduardo Sanchez, MD, MPH, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for the American Heart Association, gave an inspiring keynote presentation on “Life’s Simple 7: A Framework for Health Promotion and Prevention of Non-communicable Diseases.”
LaVerne Gallman Distinguished Lectureship in Nursing
Advancing Self-Management in an Urban Latino Community through Participatory Research and Data Science
In April 2015, Dr. Suzanne Bakken from Columbia University delivered an endowed LaVerne Gallman Distinguished Lectureship in Nursing presentation that was open to the public titled “Advancing Self-Management in an Urban Latino Community through Participatory Research and Data Science” (PDF Format). Her presentation stimulated so much interest among our faculty and participants that we invited her to come back in the summer to lead a summer workshop series. In July, Dr. Suzanne Bakken, along with esteemed colleagues, Dr. Sunmoo Yoon, Dr. Rebecca Schnall, and Dr. Adriana Arcia provided four days of engaging workshops related to using informatics and technology to enhance self-management science and participatory research. These interactive sessions included, how to evaluate informatics-based innovations, data mining of social media, mobile applications for improving health behaviors, and presenting health information for low-literacy populations.
Networking Fair
Opening our “I’s” in the Community: Initiate, Innovate, Integrate
Isolation and disconnectedness are two major concerns expressed among community organizations in the Austin area, when asked about barriers to effective community healthcare.
To address this gap, HER hosted a Community Organization Networking Event in April 2015. More than 50 community health organizations hosted a table and provided information for nearly 100 participants, including community leaders, UT faculty, researchers and students. Brief panel discussions highlighted the primary mission and needs of select organizations and informal networking provided an opportunity for organizations to identify new resources, in addition to strengthening existing partnerships. From the feedback we received, most people rated this event as helpful or extremely helpful to the work and mission of their organization and several mentioned that they would be developing a plan for future collaboration with other organizations.
Grant Writing Workshop
C’s the moment: Connect, Collaborate, Create
When we asked our community partners about additional resources or training they would like to develop, they identified fundraising and grant writing skills. In response, HER hosted a one-day Grant-Writing Workshop in October 2015. A diverse group of leaders from local community organizations participated in presentations and panel discussions that stimulated an active conversation about tips for grant writing and “lessons learned.” Participants were provided with a list of resources and helpful tools to assist them in future grant writing endeavors, in addition to networking opportunities to forge new potential partnerships. Furthermore, we awarded three community organizations with a $1,000 “best practice award” based on a submitted “Success Story” essay describing a successful collaboration with a UT academic department. These inspiring success stories were shared during the workshop and sparked new ideas for how to create productive, sustainable collaborations.
