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The last class was extremely insightful and helped our group get a little more perspective about how to construct our project. We started off with just writing out all the information that we already had. This helped us kind of fill in the blanks of some of the areas that we could fix. Surayyah mentioned that it might make more sense if we framed our project around an event. After discussing it a little more we decided that we wanted to do a cultural event where we partner with known ethnic restaurants in the PG County area. This will provide people with a setting to bond over food and mingle while also being educated on the benefits of getting the booster vaccine. I also thought that the activity that consisted of finding pictures that represented our project was a great way of visualizing our work. It really shows the importance of using graphics in order to attract an audience therefore increasing the overall effectiveness of our presentation. The more people feel included and represented the more likely they are to listen to what you have to say which is why we want to make this project as community centered as possible.

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This week's class was really informative and allowed our group to dive deeper into how we would want our final proposal to look. We got great feedback from the guests that attended the lecture. The one that stood out to me the most was when we were discussing the fact that our project didn't really take into account the influence that people in the community have particularly in the African American communities. Individuals like religious leaders play a significant role in the way that people in the community live and what information they listen to. Therefore, recruiting these individuals would greatly increase the effectiveness of our project. The other thing that stood out to me was the constructive criticism from Mike Brown. He was discussing how we really need to hone in on a budget for our proposal to make it more feasible. One aspect that we wanted to incorporate was giving people incentives in order to promote vaccination. Creating a budget for what types of products we would want to get, the number of products we could possibly get donated, and how we could get funding for the things the remainder of the things would be easier to figure out if we have a set budget in place. Overall, I thought the discussion was very informative and allowed us to change aspects of our project for the better!

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This class was really just focused on organizing the mural presentation with the rest of our group. We did a lot of brainstorming and there was a great deal of ideas being thrown around. One common issue that we saw among all of our interviews was that the majority of the individuals we interviewed had yet to take their COVID-19 booster vaccine. The main people that we thought of when discussing these topics were the interviews we had with Gift and Fatima. There was a multitude of reasons for their lack of vaccination including work obligations, fear, and not believing that there is a need for it. We thought that this was a great topic to focus our presentation on because there is a great deal of people within the underfunded communities of Prince George's County that have the same issues. We decided that some of the topics we wanted to incorporate to increase the vaccination rates were incentives, increasing research, promotion of the benefits of the vaccine on social media sites, and partnering with employers to expand promotion. We all agree that these would definitely increase the chances of people in these communities getting the booster vaccine because most of the people in these communities hadn't gotten it due to lack of knowledge of its benefits.

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This week we were asked to plan a party with our groups and incorporate puppies into the event somehow. When we first started planning we were all a little confused about what we were doing and what the purpose of this assignment was. The more comfortable we became the easier it was to think outside the box. We ended up planning an extravagant party with a beach view and multiple performances from famous singers. There was a 12 course meal, designer clothes, and puppies as the party favor. This assignment really helped me understand the importance of communication and understanding in order to promote the most effective planning/design. Therefore, this is a tactic that I would definitely be using when creating my design at the end of the semester. This assignment definitely helped me think outside the box and understand the importance of using creative ways to promote overall health and knowledge. I also really enjoyed the fact that nobody in my group really negated anyones ideas. Instead we were all really open to listening to everyones suggestions which made the process go a lot smoother. These are all really important mechanisms to use when creating my own design.

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This is a picture from the lecture we had right before spring break. I thought that this particular lecture was very insightful because we were able to debrief on the previous week's activities. This allowed me to hear what some of my other classmates thought about interviewing people and listening to the responses they received from people. One thing that I really realized after this discussion was that there were so many people of different demographics and backgrounds that experienced the same things in terms of vaccinations and quality of life. I really understood this when we broke out into our groups and completed the mural board. We ended up writing about the woman that Praise and I interviewed, Gift. We talked about how she had yet to get the booster shot which a lot of the other individuals in our group said they found to be a trend in the individuals they interviewed as well. We also found similarities in the symptoms the individuals felt, along with the lack of access to quality foods and education. This was really astounding to me because it shows the similarities a particular community has in terms of access and quality of life. There was one thing that Professor Thomas said before we left the interview site that stood out to me. He said that we as students live in a bubble. This is definitely true because their experiences and my experiences are sadly very different.

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This is the restaurant Queensway where we interviewed our first person, a woman named Gift. She was really receptive and excited to answer our questions!

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This weeks class was very interesting because we actually got to go out into the field and interview people in the community. The area that we went to was a shopping center and it was predominately a hispanic area. There was a lot of stores that were completely shut down and the majority of the individuals working in the stores that were open only spoke Spanish which made the entire interview process a little harder. However, Praise and I were able to interview a Nigerian woman named Gift that worked in the store Queensway which served Nigerian foods. Surprisingly, all the people that we interviewed said that they took the first two doses of the COVID vaccine but they haven't taken the booster yet. When interviewing Gift, she told us her that one thing she would love to see in her community and in the Cafe would be more Nigerian food because of the great health benefits. She said that a lot of the foods that they have in America are processed and really bad for you which is why she doesn't like to eat it. We also interviewed a girl named Fatima who was 20 years old and just moved here from Ethiopia. When we asked her what food places she liked in the areas she said Mcdonald's. I thought that was so interesting because I'm also Ethiopian and that is just such a big difference from our cultural food. It just shows that people eat the foods they have access too.

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One thing that I found interesting was the creation of the Vaccine Equity Team and the Countywide Vaccine Distribution & Education Initiative implemented by the PG County Executive. I was previously aware of the disparities among demographics in COVID infections and access to both doses of the vaccine by minorities. People of a lower income tend to live in close proximity with one another therefore if one individual in the household contracts the virus there is a high chance everyone in the household will contract it as well. The report also stated that minorities had a higher rate of hospital entry following contracting the virus. However, I was never aware of the initiative that the PG representatives made to combat this issue. One thing that I learned was that most minorities had lower rates of getting the vaccine because of lack of internet access, language barriers, work schedule conflicts, etc. Therefore, these initiatives were a great first step to combat these barriers because it provided direct contact to these individuals. I think this was definitely one area that went well, but there is definitely more that can be done to combat these health disparities and increase access to all individuals. One thing that resinated with me was when Ms. Blackwell said that this is a way to connect our communities and that we should work to resolve these issues out of love. I think the more we humanize one another the more we will be able to help one another.

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This week I have been forced to stay home so I haven’t really been out and about as usual. Since I had COVID, I wasn’t able to go to the last in person class. Although I wasn’t able to attend my classmates in the class informed me that they really enjoyed getting a chance to decorate the Corsi-boxes with the young students. They said that the students were really energetic and excited about this activity. There is a great deal that these children can learn about the benefits of these boxes without them even realizing it. These machines are able to provide individuals with clean air purification for an extended period of time for half the cost. It is both an affordable and physical health necessity for people of a lower socioeconomic status. One thing that i think would be great for the future would be to include the children in the building process of these corsi-boxes which would increase their understanding of its function. It’ll also make them enjoy the decorating process more because they took part in making it. It would also be useful to maybe have us as upperclass students to make a little fun presentation about what these corsi-boxes are and how they work to grab the children’s attention.

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I included this image because I actually had the privilege of going to Towson this week to visit my very close friend for the first time in years!

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One thing that I thought was particularly valuable about last weeks lecture was the activities centered around teamwork. I've said this before, but I was actually able to learn a lot more about my classmates including simple things like just their names. By building these kind of connections it allows us to not only become better acquainted with one another, but will help us to work together in a more efficient way in the future which in the end will benefit the community. Another thing that I really enjoyed about the lecture was the fact that there was a lot of videos incorporated in order to better demonstrate the learning objectives. I am a very visual learner so being able to watch videos and discuss them among my peers defiantly helps me understand the material better. I also thought that the collaborative infographic assignment was a great way to kind of sum up what we learned about the environmental and physical benefits of corsi-boxes. The assignment wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be which I feel like can be attributed to the in-person class we had. I personally enjoyed building the cori-boxes and the information that we learned from both the professor and the speakers was immense.

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I chose this picture because it shows off my first time greeting air  purifier.

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This weeks class was very interesting and definitely took me out of my comfort zone. I thought it was a great idea for us to make a DIY version of an air purifier and it was able to help such a wide variety of people. It’s not something that i would ever have thought would be so useful. When I was listening to the speaker, one of the main things that stood out to me was that these machines would allow for COVID-19 to be retracted from the air. Therefore, these lowing income communities who have multiple people living in tight spaces won’t contract the virus at such a substantial rate. It was just really refreshing knowing that I would be giving back to the community in such a profound way without even realizing it. I also thought that the way that other middle school principles were there and so eager for their children to participate. I also thought it was nice getting other people ideas on the COVID-19 vaccine and the interesting thing was that the people my group interviewed had such different answers. For example, one student said it was because of the other dog, another said to protect her family, and the last person said that it was because it was mandated. Understanding that people have different opinions and ideas in terms of things like the vaccine is important in order to understand how to better accommodate the population.

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I included this picture of what the houses in my village in Ethiopia look like. I wanted to include this because I'll actually be traveling there soon!

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One of the things that I thought was very valuable about this lecture was that we got to be more interactive with our classmates. I loved the fact that we were able to interview one another and also get some more insight about each other especially since it is hard to make those type of connections through an online class. I also though that this exercise was important in getting a better understand of the type of questions to ask in order to better accommodate them and their needs. For example, I learned that one of the students that I interviewed is extremely busy on Mondays and has little time to do anything due to her back to back classes. Therefore, if I were looking for a way to help her I would maybe suggest some ways to maintain self-care or tips on relaxation after that long day. I felt like it really helped me make some connections on how we would be approaching the needs of the Mona Clinic. We would need to look and ask questions in order to better understand what the particular needs of that community is. Another thing that I felt like could have been approved was that I had a little trouble following the lecture speakers and understanding their points. Other than that I thought the class was very insightful.

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This is the picture I took on my first day of my senior year!

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Hello! My name is Lydia Ephrem. I am a senior Public Health Science major here at UMD. I have lived in Fort Washington, Maryland my entire life, but my family is originally from Ethiopia in East Africa. It is actually such a beautiful place to travel to and is filled with a lot of history which is why I have been there quite a few times! One of my favorite things to do is travel. I have been to Cancun, Cabo, and Tulum along with Ethiopia. I also plan to do a tour around Europe after I graduate this semester. Another one of my hobbies is watching movies. One of my favorite pass times is just sitting in bed and doing nothing all day but watch movies. I am currently trying to watch movies from each decade and right now I'm on the 80's. My favorite color is blue and black. I grew up in a five person household. I have one older sister and one younger brother making me the middle child. I also grew up with over 20 cousins which made my childhood really fun! I am very excited about being able to apply what I have learned so far in my years as a Public Health Major in this particular class.