Community Meeting at Rio Florido

español: Comentario sobre la reunión comunitaria con Rio Florido el 30 de junio de 2018

La reunión se llevó a cabo en un "centro comunitario" en un formato que parecía normal. Había 28 personas presentes, como cuentan en la asistencia principio. El presidente de Río Florido dio palabras de introducción y luego Dr. Ariane y Ana Laura anunció el plan para la reunión.

La presentación fue sin problemas. Las hijas de Dr. Ariane y Ana Laura eran jóvenes y enérgicas, lo cual es saludable, y esto no interrumpió la presentación, que se centró en las actualizaciones del Proyecto Zancudo Estéril.

Hacia el final, tal vez 20 minutos después, hubo tiempo para preguntas, comentarios y preocupaciones de la comunidad. Esta parte de la reunión fue interesante porque escuchamos cómo se siente la comunidad, lo cual es importante porque la gente de la comunidad son esencialmente nuestros jefes, ya que nuestro equipo trabaja para la gente de Río Florido y Ejido Hidalgo (además del público en general, que tiene un interés en controlar estos mosquitos vectores).

Una preocupación recibió más atención de lo que esperaba: ¿cuándo es apropiado enviar a alguien con sospecha de fiebre de dengue al hospital? Creo que este es un área lista para una "intervención," como la creación de un folleto promocional para regalar a las personas que deja en claro cuándo llevar a alguien al hospital. tal vez esto ya se haya hecho. Si no, quizás es algo en lo que puedo trabajar para crear.

En general, la reunión fue exitosa y eficiente en la comunicación de información importante. Si pudiera cambiar una cosa, agregaría algún tipo de componente interactivo durante la mitad de la reunión, para probar la comprensión y obtener ideas de la comunidad sobre cómo hacer que el proyecto sea aún mejor.

íngles: Commentary on the Community Meeting with Río Florido on June 30, 2018

The meeting took place in a "community center" in a regular format (it seemed like they held similar meetings frequently). There were 28 people present, as counted at the beginning attendance. The president of Río Florido gave introductory remarks and then Dr. Ariane and Ana Laura announced the plan for the meeting.

The presentation went smoothly The daughters of Dr. Ariane and Ana Laura were young and healthy, which is healthy, and this did not interrupt the presentation, which was focused on the updates of the Sterile Mosquito Project.

Toward the end, maybe 20 minutes later, there was time for questions, comments & concerns from community. This part of the meeting was interesting because we listened to how the community feels, which is important because the people of the community are essentially our bosses, since our team works for the people of Río Florido and Ejido Hidalgo (as well as the general public, who have an interest in controlling these vector mosquitos).

One concern received more attention than I had anticipated: When is it appropriate to sent someone with suspected Dengue Fever to the hospital? I think this is an area that is ripe for intervention, such as creating a promotional brochure to give to people that makes it clear when to take someone to the hospital. Maybe this has already been done. If not, maybe it's something I can work on to create.

In general, the meeting was successful and efficient in the communication of important information. If I could change one thing, I would add some kind of interactive component during the middle of the meeting, to test for understanding and get ideas from the community about how to make the project even better.

a public health challenge

Today I woke up having slept perfectly for about 7 hours. This is no cupcake given the constantly humid 80-degree air (in fahrenheit... equal to 26.7 celsius). Although I lucked out by arriving in Tapachula a little bit late -- late for the hottest weather of the year in April/May -- I unfortunately also arrived late for a golden opportunity in community engagement at the schools of Rio Florido and Ejida Hidalgo. Kat & Peter were lucky enough to participate in the Puppet Show Patas Rayadas Enamorados and explain through puppet-acting to the children in these communities how mosquito lifecycles work and how they (right now... as kids of the community) can help reduce the incidence of mosquito-born illnesses like Dengue Fever, Chikungunya, and Zika Virus. That said, I take solace in having slept soundly through the night without being drenched in sweat. This is in part thanks to the heavy rain of yesterday afternoon, captured below:

~4:30pm on 27 Jun 2018 at Hospital General de Tapachula 

But I am left with a predicament. ECOSUR's Equipo de Zancudo Transgénica (Dra. Ariane Dor, Ana Laura Pacheco y César) have concluded their Puppet Shows, because the schools are no longer in session due to summer break. There are a couple of community meetings planned, but I am here to work "full time" as a public health professional; this means I must find ways to gain experiences in Public Health outside of the pre-arranged means. Thanksfully, I am connected with Dr. Rogelio Danis at INSP/CRISP. This opens the door for other opportunities in public health experiences.

Every afternoon I can work with Dra. Daenna Romero in Hospital General de Tapachula. As an epidemiologist in México, Dra. Romero is both a physician and a public health professional. Each day we collect information on patients' progress, particularly those with Dengue Fever (which is currently experiencing a large outbreak in this region). Although the incidence of dengue in México may appear unimpressive at first glance, and it's true that the incidence has gone down considerably since 2015, this year it is highly concentrated in the state of Chiapas:

From Panorama Epidemiológico de Dengue 2018 - Semana Epidemiológica 25

And that is why making information accessible to the people in the affected communities is so crucial, and I'm so sad that I don't get to make a fool of myself puppet-acting in Spanish at the schools in Chiapas. But maybe there will be other opportunities for health promotion activities soon. Right now we're waiting for the election (this Saturday) before doing more outreach. In the meantime, enjoy this PSA:

Campaña de Prevención del #Zika, #Chikungunya y #Dengue 2017

Beginning words

Writing from my apartment in Tapachula, a bustling city near the very southwest tip of Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico. I have spent the past week here, and it is with much excitement that I still have another 5 weeks of living and working here, as part of my Public Health Field Study.

There are a number of established sites around the world where public health students at my school may go, but I have wanted to come to Chiapas ever since reading my step-grandmother June Nash's essay in Cultural Anthropology. So I am the first student from TU to complete an MPH Field Study in Chiapas. That said, about a year ago, Martha Benitez (an OG) did a Global Health rotation here as part of the College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM). The difference between that and what I'm doing is the intended nature of the work. For a medical rotation, the goal is to see healthcare in action internationally, to gain clinical experiences. In a public health field study, the work is generally anything but clinical. For me, I'm helping build a community engagement project to use the Sterile Insect Technique and help reduce the population of Aedes egypti mosquitos, the vector for Dengue Fever, Chikungunya, and Zika Virus.

This is actually my second time in Chiapas. After planning this trip, my partner Diana and I visited this past January for a few days in San Cristóbal and an excursion to Hospital San Carlos in Altamirano. I would say it is half coincidence, half intention. It's nice to be back and It's a lot easier having some experience of the way things move here.

On my arrival this time, there were two other students here from Touro already: Peter & Kat. They started an awesome blog for the COM Global Health program during their month here. Below is a multidisciplinary team photo after breakfast with some folks at ECOSUR, some folks at INSP/CRISP, and us medical students from TU.

Upper Left: Peter & Kat. Upper Right: Erica and myself

Bottom Left: César and Ariane. Bottom Right: Ana Laura and Iliana.

So this morning: I woke up, cleaned up, created this blog... all before 8:45am !!! And now it's time to start the day.... more on what that entails to come!