Neighborhood House has an online library of book recordings for the families they serve to view. Our NH capstone project for SPH 491 was to record ourselves reading a book of our choice that would be appropriate for younger children. Aarthi recorded herself reading Malala’s Magic Pencil, written by Malala Yousafzai. Sophie recorded herself reading Breathing Makes it Better by Christopher Willard and Wendy O’Leary. Talia read We’re All Wonders by R. J. Palacio. For SPH 492, we put together an educational video that addresses ways to identify and cope with different emotions, communicating the importance of mental health. With the video, we also created an educational handout, providing more information and resources for families.  

Younger children often learn new things from media sources, whether that be through T.V. shows or books, for example. Not everyone has access to these resources that often provide information for children to learn important life skills, or critical health information. By recording ourselves reading books and creating an informational video on mental health, we were able to help provide additional resources to children and their families who may not have access to this information otherwise. Mental health is a complex subject when it comes to talking about it with children, and parents might not know how to address feelings like anxiety and anger. Allowing children to have examples on how to identify the feelings in a fun video as well as the accompanied handout for parents, this will create a safe space for children to talk about the things that they are feeling.  

The Neighborhood House deliverables taught us how creating equity can take many different forms. When recording our storybooks, we realized that storytelling is such a powerful tool to share information. By creating a video for our SPH 492 deliverable, we additionally learned that the ways we communicate public health information to an audience may vary. For instance, in our mental health video, we had to use simpler language that was easier to understand for preschool aged children, in comparison to our handout that was created for teachers and other adults. We also learned that what we may believe is necessary and needed for a community may not be what the community needs, so it is critical to listen to what the community needs, and ensure that our actions reflect the needs of the community. 

Link to our videos:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q8r9-qWJm_Ns346btdp1LcUNoYzPifn15cLhytRCDSM/edit?usp=sharing

By advocating for blood donations among Latinx community, we are potentially destigmatizing the action of blood donation within our community. There is constant mistrust and miscommunication among medical personnel and Latinx communities and this outreach helps bring down those barriers. This outreach will provide more diverse blood for  blood transfusions thus resulting in  less medical complications. This outreach will also lead to future donations of blood, plasma, platelets, etc., and contributes to the education of blood donation in our community.
What did you learn about public health practice from your final capstone project?

We reflected though our service learning experience and gained a deeper understanding of the structural barriers there are in marginalized communities and the role public health plays in addressing community based problems.

Megan Main, Andrew Chhor, Yeojin Yoon, Natalie Anixter, Komalpreet Brar

We worked on outreaching to Asian-Americans to encourage them to donate blood at our virtual blood drive.  We accomplished this by using a social media campaign and outreach to community organizations such as asian affinity RSOs. Our team produced a flyer for our virtual blood drive that specifically targeted Asian-Americans with multiple languages that appealed to our target demographic. 

Our project has the potential to diversify the local blood supply by encouraging Asian Americans to donate blood, in turn increasing blood transfusion success rates among minority groups. 

From our final capstone project, we learned how to effectively conduct outreach within our community, utilizing social media platforms, word-of mouth, and active outreach to encourage new donors and increase donor retention. We learned how to increase diversity in our outreach methods, using Asian-centered graphics and a story by Tony, an Asian male that has donated over 150 pints of blood over 50 years of service. Finally, we learned the significance of diverse blood donors in order to support the health and wellbeing of all people, including racial and ethnic minorities. 

 

Our team created a flyer for a virtual blood drive in hopes to reach new donors from the African American community. Our aim was to educate about blood donation among the Black community and encourage people to donate. We used graphics that represent our targeted racial group and included statistics about the importance of Black blood donors. 

 

We aimed to raise awareness of under-representation of African American donors, diversify and help increase blood donations among this group. We hope that our work will help our target community see that gap in blood donations and understand health disparities that are related to lack of diverse blood donations.

 

Trying to recruit people from a specific target population is more difficult than it seems. Especially, when it comes to donating blood. There are many beliefs and fears surrounding blood donations. Doing this virtually was also another challenge.

Reference
Spratling, R., & Lawrence, R. H. (2019). Facilitators and Barriers to Minority Blood Donations: A Systematic Review. Nursing Research, 68(3), 218–226. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNR.0000000000000355

Location: Seattle, WA

Team Members: Emily Frink, Lilas Mekinawe, Macland Nyaga, Sofia Solomon, and Giada Szanyi

What did we do?
We designed marketing materials specific to the LGBTQA+ community and conducted outreach to promote a virtual blood drive that Bloodworks NW is hosting from May 8th-June 3rd. Our outreach material was specific to the LGBTQA+ community with the goal of increasing the number of blood donors from this specific community by eliminating potential barriers and reducing the stigma faced by this population.

What is the potential public health impact of our project?
The potential public health impact of this project is addressing and beginning to correct the social injustices that have been committed against the LGBTQA+ community, especially regarding blood donations. We hope to address and begin correcting the stigma surrounding this community, specifically within the medical field, and work to dismantle it.

What did we learn about public health practice from your final capstone project?

From this project we learned the value of equity lens’ in addressing public health problems by putting equity theories into praxis. Further, we learned how to take what we learned inside the classroom and apply it in a service-based learning setting. Our work has made us learn that our work within public health practice must be inclusive, accessible, and creative in order to increase health awareness and participation among targeted and vulnerable populations.  

What is the potential public health impact of this project?
This project has a great potential public health impact, as it allowed us students to directly engage with a population that is often neglected in regards to mode of education. By talking with residents directly, we were able to answer any questions they had while also presenting important information to them that could help save them or their loved ones from complications relating to medical emergencies.

What did you learn about public health practice from your final capstone project?
I learned that public health practice is constantly in motion. With the rapidly changing environment today, this project allowed me to adapt to the changing circumstances while also providing key information that can help others in regards to public health.

Through my experience with VPSI, I have learned how challenging public health practice can be. Months of planning and training cannot always address any issues or problems that come up during a public health programs implementations. However, that is why public health actions must take a collective approach. Being able to work with peers with different perspectives and backgrounds, united under the same cause, leads to better results. I believe constant reflection and adjustments are just as important as planning :).

Media: 

In the VPSI capstone project, we carried out phone call and mail outreach to older people living in king county. We provided education about using 911 for EMS when experiencing a heart attack or stroke.

The potential impact of this project is that the community feels more comfortable and confident in using EMS, which will decrease avoidable fatalities from stroke or heart attacks.

This project gave me an introduction to public health community outreach, which is a very fundamental and established method of delivering public health information. Throughout the quarter, I also learned how public health practices through outreach can change, to become more effective and efficient at reaching the target audience.

Location: Seattle WA and surrounding cities
Team Members: Annie Rudge, Sarah Kravtsev, Bianca Bonsol, Lauren Lee, and Cammie Lam
What did you do?
Our group, in collaboration with Surge Reproductive Justice, created a 10 minute podcast to inform the public on the importance of Perinatal care, Black doulas, and the current health inequalities within reproductive healthcare. This podcast consisted of key informant interviews from two wonderful doulas, information on the history of doulas and statistics on reproductive justice, and takeaways from our podcast.
What is the potential public health impact of this project?
We hope that this informational podcast will engage others in this work and be a step towards improving birth outcomes and creating more accessible doula services for Black birthing people. Specifically, we hope that this educational podcast will motivate more inclusive and representative research of all birthing outcomes. Second, we hope that doula certification is eliminated and that health insurance companies and the federal government increase accessibility to doula services by expanding health coverage.
What did you learn about public health practice from your final capstone project?
My biggest takeaway from our capstone project is the importance of representation and advocacy work within public health practice. An element of public health is working through this social equity lense that we’ve been reflecting on all quarter, in order to best help those communities that are underrepresented and are not getting the help and resources necessary. Through working with Surge, we were able to see how reproductive justice, like most health issues, is an issue for all. In order to succeed and push those in power to better allocate resources and attend to the needs of the community, we must stand in solidarity and as advocates, because we are stronger in numbers. 

 

Location: Greater Seattle Area

  

Our class partnered with the Vulnerable Populations Strategic Initiative (VPSI),  and our project's goal was to see if education via phone calls could improve emergency medical services (EMS) usage and stroke symptom knowledge in older adults living in King County. If it turns out that our phone calls were more effective than letters at improving knowledge, this could be used as a method in the future for improving access to emergency stroke treatment for older adults in King County. 

 

Our project consisted of weekly work mailing letters and making phone calls. 

In winter quarter, we mainly focused on education. Each week, I would mail 10 letters that underscored the importance of continuing to call 911 and explained the FAST (face, arms, speech, time) acronym for detecting stroke symptoms. During the week, I would attempt to call 5 of the individuals I mailed letters to, and if they picked up (I would try at max, 3 times and leave voicemails the first 2 times), I would share more in-depth info about how 911 calls have decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, the severity of untreated stroke health impacts, and the FAST exam. 

This spring quarter, we started with outreach but eventually moved to the evaluation portion of our project. For evaluation, I've been calling 10 individuals (I would try at max, 3 times for each person) per week to survey them on their level of comfort calling 911, perception of stroke, if they recalled the FAST exam, their general perception of emergency medical services, etc. 

I have 2 main takeaways: my identity impacted how likely people were to listen and experiences of the people I called varied widely. 

First, I noticed that if I mentioned I was a UW student, the tone of call would immediately change -- many people became excited and asked about my studies or future career, told me I was doing "good work," or shared how much they liked UW. Here, my identity as a UW student helped me appear in a more positive light to the people I called. In considering general outreach work, I'd guess that regardless of how important/relevant the information is, one's ability to relate to people may be one of the most important factors for good response rates. 

Second, I found that people had diverse experiences; some would enthusiastically share their appreciation for EMS, some didn't have much to say, and some would angrily share their disappointment in the system. Most of the responses were positive or neutral, but the strong emotions in a few reminded me of the importance of listening to all experiences, not just the average or majority. 

 

Team Members: Caylynn Berosik

What did you do?: Throughout Winter and Spring quarter we conducted public health outreach to residents 65 years and older across King County regarding stroke, 911 calling, and the Emergency Medical Service system. We received a list of residents and were assigned people we were to contact throughout the quarter. We started by sending two separate letters to the residents; one as a control with all the information on a sheet of paper and one which was the focus of the study where we were to follow up later with a phone call. Phone calls were to happen three times or until the recipient picked up where further education ensued. During Spring quarter we also conducted evaluation on outreach conducted previous quarters where we asked questions about  the efficacy of the project. 

What is the potential public health impact of this project?: The focus of this outreach was to provide outreach regarding stroke and how to efficiently utilize Seattle/King County EMS to vulnerable populations. This is especially crucial information for this population to receive during a pandemic where there are some reservations about utilizing resources in fear of either coming in contact with the virus or putting a burden on the medical system.

 What did you learn about public health practice from your final capstone project?: Through this capstone project I learned that even though we cannot meet in person, outreach can still be done virtually and in an efficient manner. It is even possible to reach an even wider range of people through mailing and phone calls. I also learned valuable information about the FAST examination and how Seattle/King County EMS operates. 

Spring Quarter: I conducted another interview with a classmate, Elizabeth T. She discussed her transition to online schooling and her family’s attitudes regarding COVID-19 and how they clashed with public health background. In addition, I created 3 personal photovoices reflecting my perspective and own experiences of the pandemic as a student in public health. 

What is the potential public health impact of this project?One of the main purposes of the oral history is to provide a platform for those who traditionally would not have the ability to share their lived experiences through a major event. The pandemic has affected all spectrums of life, especially the underrepresented. Allowing for those voices to be heard not only would provide a more complete understanding of the pandemic, but also allow for opportunities for the future to learn about their experiences and learn from them.

What did you learn about public health practice from your final capstone project?
When you ask someone to tell a story about themselves, more often times than not, they will be delighted to do so. One of the core components of public health is to seek justice for those who do not have the privilege to voice themselves whenever they want to. Being able to listen to the people I have interviewed and those others by my peers, there is such a breadth of perspectives that are capable of creating many dialogues to improve health in the future, not just in a pandemic setting, but on a broader societal scale. 

Media: This is an audio snippet of my interview with my boss, Glibert, who discusses his role in the pandemic.

 Cameron McElmurry, Carolyn Duong, Kevin Tatunay, Larissa Merlo, and Shean Juta

 In constructing our podcast, we formulated questions we would use in our interviews with Surge and gather necessary information from Surge and their perspective on immigrant health in the US. After the interviews, we constructed the our podcast script while also researching more information on immigrant health to include in our podcast.

 Our group’s podcast looks to bring awareness to health barriers that immigrants may face while living in the US. The lack of resources available for them to seek healthcare is one of the many detriments that contribute to poor quality of life. Working with Surge has inspired us to research and learn about these issues and addressing them. In addition, we talk about organizations that are available for the immigrant population such as Casa de La Raza and Casa Latina. Overall, we focus on bringing awareness to these issues while highlighting resources that can help those who need them.

 One of the main takeaways we learned from capstone was the importance of Reproductive Justice, especially for women, young adults, and children. In obtaining research for this project, our group learned a lot about immigrant life in the US and the many barriers that they can face while moving and/or living in a foreign country. In facing those barriers, there are many resources and organizations that specialize in helping those within the immigrant community in the Seattle area such as Sea-Mar, a medical facility that specializes in providing healthcare to low-income and Latino families. Constructing and organizing all of this information has also allowed me to gain experience in the work that goes into building a podcast and other forms of media to help raise awareness of these issues.

Team Members: Megan Sorn, Fiona Foster and Gillian Dioguardi

What did you do?: Over the past two quarters, we heard from multiple organizations who run shelters for people experiencing homelessness. Through these conversations, we decided to explore how Seattle shelters adapted to the pandemic and whether any of said adjustments would stick around. We interviewed Lauren Fay from the Downtown Emergency Services Center (DESC) and Helene McOwen from the Elizabeth Gregory Home (EGH). Through these interviews, we learned a lot about DESC’s emergency transition to the Red Lion Hotel and the COVID-19 protocols put in place at EGH. It became clear that by giving residents of shelters more private spaces, many individuals experiencing homelessness were able to thrive, experiencing more humanity with new protocols. We learned about the impact that communities have on the experience of those experiencing homelessness and the importance of being a “good neighbor.” 

What is the Public Health impact of this project?: We hope that through this Podcast, policymakers, community members, and those involved in shelter leadership will recognize the importance of treating those experiencing homelessness with humanity. This reminder can help those experiencing homelessness to receive the support they need to exit homelessness or other conditions that they may be looking to improve. By emphasizing both mental and physical wellness in shelters, as the pandemic adjustments often did, we think an impact can be made on this population. Eventually, this could allow for the treatment of root causes of homelessness as well, rather than simply sheltering individuals. 

What did you learn about Public Health practice from the project?: We learned that lived experiences are just as important as facts and statistics. We also see how important creative solutions are when it comes to complicated problems. The creative idea to use a hotel as a shelter when social distancing protocols altered the ability for the normal space of DESC to be used helped prevent many cases of COVID and helped those experiencing homelessness to get out of “emergency survival mode” as stated by Lauren Fay. Finally, we learned how important it is for community organizations to work together, especially in a pandemic.

What is the potential public health impact of this project?
With this phone outreach, senior residents will hopefully have a better understanding of stroke and the importance of EMS. As our work targets vulnerable elderly populations, we are targeting populations that may have a hard time getting this important life-saving information.

What did you learn about public health practice from your final capstone project?
As I called a multitude of people throughout the few months that I worked with VPSI, I learned a lot about learned how to evaluate my role in within program, and especially how to assess my role when working with a community that I am not actively in. When hearing all these different stories and actively listening, I was able to learn how to better empathize and reflect on my own role and identity. I also learned how public health practice is constantly changing and how quickly it adapts to different environments.

Media:

 

Location: Seattle/King County, WA 

 

What did we do? Together, we created a podcast highlighting the influence that the foster care system has on homelessness. Specifically, it was our goal to amplify the voices of youth in the unsheltered community who have experienced life within the foster care system. With the help of the Doorway Project and UW Champions, we received the opportunity to interview youth who have aged out of the foster care system and are now facing, or once have faced housing insecurity. Their stories directly highlight important service gaps and other institutional barriers that perpetuate youth homelessness.

 

What is the potential public health impact?: Our goal was to amplify the voices of  youth within the unsheltered community in order to educate the public on the economic and social barriers influenced by the foster care system that perpetuate homelessness. We hope that highlighting disparities in the system will not only educate the public, but also help to break the stigma surrounding the unsheltered community. Our podcast aims to shed light on how homelessness is a public health issue, and garner support to influence change on a systemic level within the foster care system.  

 

 

What did you learn about public health practice from your final capstone project?: Our final capstone project taught us about the multidimensionality of public health practice. Specifically, we learned how public health work takes place on both personal and systemic scales. We learned this directly by making connections with individuals in a community through conducting interviews and community outreach, while also advocating for large scale effects, such as highlighting the need for implementing programs to influence systemic change within the foster care system. There is no aspect of public health that is more important than the other, but instead, recognizing the value that each level of public health work has will allow us to continue to foster a safe, equitable environment. 

Location: Bothell, WA & Seattle, WA

What did you do? 
In Winter Quarter, the Washington State Historical Society gave us an opportunity to conduct an oral history with a member of the community. For my oral history, I decided to do it on my closest friend to document the life of a “normal” college student living during the COVID-19 pandemic. She majored in Molecular and Cellular Developmental Biology and is a recent graduate from the University of Washington. From her oral history, I had the privilege of hearing more about how the pandemic has affected her relationships and how she yearns to get back to doing her hobbies once the pandemic is over. From her interview, she states that she wants the future generation to know there is still hope even during a pandemic and just to continue to keep being you. 

During SPH 492, I had the opportunity to conduct a second oral history, but this time it would be with a fellow classmate, Dan Nguyen. I had the opportunity to learn about the retail worker’s point of view during the pandemic and how it was not actually the “sweet life.” It was nice to have a connection with someone in the class during the pandemic, even if it was temporary. It was nice and comforting to know about how the pandemic has affected someone else other than me. Dan shared his fleeting viewpoints on the pandemic, the way country handled it, and how he has grown and changed throughout this time working retail and being away from his family. There was also another opportunity to voice our opinions on the pandemic through the photovoice projects. I felt that I had grown as a writer through this project and grown to be more accepting of my surroundings. 

The public health impact of this project is that it acts as living archive of the pandemic in Washington State. Through the oral histories, many diverse voices get to be collected and help other people understand different strategies to coping in the pandemic. All the experiences get cumulated for future generations to understand. 

I learned about how diverse everyone’s life course perspective can be. I came to understand the vast diversity our community and how important it is it might be to listen to the communities you will be working with as a public health practitioner. Because everyone is so different, learning to listen and adapting to the differences would better help in global health implementation and such. The interview process taught me a lot about having good writing skills, planning, working on a schedule, and utilizing my skills to produce quality work for a public health cause. 

A potential public health impact of this project is to identify gaps in healthcare and to better educate providers and policymakers about the issues this population faces. Another impact could be better understanding health outcomes of this community through firsthand knowledge of real experiences of community members. Speaking with individuals on diverse sides of the issues of homelessness has the potential to create real change, as they have direct insights and cultural wealth surrounding these problems. Those who are detached from these realities often mean well when aiming to solve the challenges associated with houselessness, but without the input and perspectives of the affected community members, substantial effects are unlikely to happen. 

What did you learn about public health practice from your final capstone project? 

We learned how to center communities and work alongside them as opposed to working for them. We also learned we can’t effectively practice public health without directly involving the communities we aim to impact. On top of building in our knowledge of the theories and practices that influence public health in the U.S., we gained professional development skills through this final deliverable that will aid us in our futures as public health practitioners. 

Below is an excerpt from our podcast, discussing topics of mental health for the houseless communities in Seattle and beyond.

 

detrimentally impact the safety and wellbeing of people experiencing homelessness in the Seattle area. By doing we so, we hope to reach, impact, and

motivate first time voters (or those not very politically active) to take a stance against harmful practices, and in turn, vote and advocate for policies

to protect unhoused people from legal violence.

What We Learned: 
Having the opportunity to speak with those from the unhoused community taught us the importance of engaging, communicating, and collaborating with those from the populations that we are hoping to serve. These individuals were so much more knowledgeable on the issues they face because they are members of the community. They provided insightful information on ways in which others can support and advocate for the unhoused population. As one of our interviewees (Billy) noted, they just want to be seen, heard, and involved in decisions that would impact them and the community.

What we learned:
One of the most important things we learned is how deeply rooted perinatal healthcare inequities are in our country’s history. That is why research and gathering data on these issues is so vital for public health to do especially for BIPOC communities whoes issues usually go unnoticed and unheard. We also learned that in order to do so, public health practice must work with these communities directly to learn from them about what is needed in order to create lasting impacts.

Snippet of our interview with Jackie Vaughn:

Location: Seattle, Washington (King County)

What I did: Throughout the winter and spring quarter of 2020-2021, VPSI conducted public health outreach to residents age 65 or older across King County during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a partnership with the EMS division of Seattle we were given a tracking form with names and numbers of residents where we sent out weekly letters and conducted weekly phone calls regarding stroke outreach. Each student was responsible for 10 residents to reach out to every week, 5 from a control group and 5 from an experimental group. The 5 residents from the control group we were just responsible for mailing out letters to. For the 5 residents from the experimental group, we were responsible for sending out letters and following up with phone calls hoping to further deliver our message using a phone script that was provided to us. If the call was successful and we were able to perform outreach, we would highlight the residents name with a green highlight on the tracking form. If the resident did not answer after 3 attempted phone calls or was not interested in the outreach, then the name was highlighted red to indicate that the outreach was unsuccessful. During spring quarter, we conducted an evaluation phone call where we would call back residents that were reached out too and asked them survey questions regarding EMS and stroke and whether they remembered the FAST exam, which is a way to identify a stroke. We also asked questions regarding the efficacy of the project to determine how well they were able to retain the information. 

 

What is the potential public health impact of this project? The purpose of the outreach was to provide information regarding stroke. During the pandemic, the number of 911 phone calls were decreasing while the number of stroke-related deaths in King County were increasing. We believed that this trend was occurring because of the fear of contracting the virus. So our job was to reach out to residents and reassure them that it's still safe to call 911 in cases of emergency and that there were protocols in place to help keep them and first responders safe from the coronavirus. We also wanted to educate residents regarding stroke and help them identify a stroke using the FAST exam. This way, if they ever encounter a stroke themselves or with someone who is encountering a stroke, they can quickly identify it and call 911. We informed residents that time is of essence when encountering a stroke and that an untreated stroke could lead to serious health complications. 

 

What did I learn about public health practice from the final capstone project? I learned that even though we couldn’t perform this outreach in-person, adjustments can always be made and were able to do it virtually. I was able to engage in a lot of meaningful conversations with residents during the phone outreach and many were supportive and appreciative of what we were doing. Since the elderly have a tendency to forget a lot, I think VPSI was a great opportunity to reach out to many people and offer our knowledge and resources so that they know they are being thought of by personally reaching out. I noticed as the vaccine began rolling out, many of the residents let me know that they got vaccinated which was a good sign and let me know that the fear of acquiring the virus wasn’t impacting them as much as they were better protected. 

 

Outreach letter that would be sent out. 

During the last 6 months we have been researching and gathering information on the Seattle Homeless population. Throughout this process we have collaborated with the Doorway Project and conducted interviews to learn more about the homeless population through dialoguing with a member of the homeless community and an individual working to expand and implement resources for this community. Our group used these unique perspectives and experiences to create a podcast that would allow us to spread awareness on the increasing homeless population in Seattle. Our group was able to focus on the groups that are more likely to be affected by homelessness and listen to their stories.  Through these stories we were able to capture and highlight the homeless disparity that disproportionately affects the BIPOC community and those with minority identities. Through showcasing this discrepancy, we are able to create a meaningful impact with our project and spread awareness within our community. 

We had the shared goal of centering the experiences of unhoused community members to be able to shed light on the harm that the city inflicts on them. Our podcast was intended to be heard by different stakeholders in Seattle, including City Council, and housed members of the greater Seattle community. One public health impact of our project includes education on how our law enforcement harms unhoused folks, and sharing how we have so many different oppressive systems and pipelines that lead to experiencing homelessness. Having this understanding helps to combat the stigma generally associated with unhoused folks. We also had the opportunity to speak to an unhoused youth in the University District, who shared his thoughts on resources he would like to have seen growing up to disrupt his pathway to homelessness, which is a valuable consideration. His suggestions, along with the thoughts of other folks who have experienced or are currently experiencing homelessness should be centered in public health efforts in order to truly combat that homelessness crisis. 

Public health work often involves working with multiple stakeholders and people from different communities to identify needs and come together to work towards a common goal. Working on this podcast remotely through a pandemic and with a partner organization meant we had to work on our abilities to adapt to changes. With this capstone project we learned how as future public health practitioners can use our privilege and positionality to create a platform to uplift the voices of our community members. In the public health major we are given the tools necessary to address disparities, work towards health equity, and work alongside community to make meaningful impacts. The goals public health practice work to achieve are challenging and complex but attainable when we all work together. 

Clip from our podcast:

We emailed and promoted our flyers on social media outlets such as Instagram, spreading the importance of blood donations to our friends and family. We also contacted multicultural and immigrant-focused organizations such as Casa Latina and UW MAPS and asked them to spread around our flyers.

Public Health Impact: The potential impacts of this project are increasing diversity and amount of blood in the blood supply in order to help more people within our target communities. The more blood we can gather, the more patients we can save. The more diversity in the blood supply, the more likely someone receives a blood donation that matches their blood type perfectly.
What we learned: We learnt that a lot of public health practice is crafting health messages that resonate with a specific audience and being sensitive to how certain communities perceive certain information. As a group, we improved our communication, collaboration and outreach skills by creating a visually appealing yet informative flyer and contacting various organizations to improve our cause. 

Location: Seattle, WA

What I did: I interviewed a family friend, Connie Galer, for an oral history to capture her Covid-19 experience. Connie works for the Lynnwood Police Department as a police management analyst and has been working remotely since the pandemic began. Connie shares how she transitioned to working remotely and her hopes for what a post pandemic life will look like. I also interviewed a classmate, Angel Cheung, who will be graduating this Spring. We talked about how Covid-19 has altered her senior year, mental health, and what graduating during a pandemic looks like. 

This project allows life during Covid-19 to be documented from a diverse group of voices. Oral histories are powerful tools for documenting history because they capture a broad range of experiences. This is important to public health because it captures inequities experienced during Covid-19 and lifts up the voices of marginalized groups of people. Knowing where disparities have existed from hearing people’s Covid-19 experiences could inform what public health measures need to be taken. 

I learned how to conduct an interview while fully listening and not interrupting. Oral histories are a great way to hear stories from different communities so it’s important to not interrupt with your own biases to accurately capture their story. I also gained an appreciation for community engagement and capturing the voices of people who may not feel like they have an important story to share. Every story is important and valuable in order to document the history of Covid-19.
Media:

Location: Seattle, WA

What I did: With the support of WSHS staff, Nola, Anjulie, and my peers, I had the opportunity to conduct 2 oral histories, collect artifacts, and create a photo-voice that centered the COVID-19 pandemic experience. My first oral history highlighted the positive impacts of K-12 virtual learning on mental health and well-being through an interview with Anthony, my brother, who has been completing his sophomore year of high school online. The following quarter, I partnered with fellow classmate and friend, Jakar, to discuss their challenges and accomplishments from the perspective of a frontline healthcare worker and public health student in the realms of Latinx and LGBTQIA+ community advocacy, self-preservation and capacity building, and navigating institutions as someone who holds marginalized identities. As the last part of this historical portfolio, I selected 3 photos that I felt represented my pandemic experience as a public health student and provided captions that reflected their meaning to me. With much excitement, our projects will be incorporated into an exhibit to be ready in August!

Potential Public Health impact: On an interpersonal level, these projects created a space for facilitated reflection on this trial of a pandemic as an act of introspective self-care and growth. There has been both personal and collective trauma from this experience and it’s important to actively process these events in order to heal and move forward. Within the broader context, we have produced an entire collection of feelings, thoughts, and opinions from an incredibly diverse range of people in our communities. Thus, from today and into the future, the available data on who the people of the pandemic were, what they were doing, and how they preserved through this period of time is closer to being actually representative than if this project never happened, which aids the public health field in learning from this experience in an equitable way. And that, is a significant thing. 

What I learned: Although methods of constructing (or reconstructing) history and public health work initially seemed loosely related, I’ve now discovered the connected and necessary functions that both fields offer each other. The introduction of life course perspective cemented the idea that an individual’s health is not just their condition today but is contingent on the history their body holds and the familial generations that came before them. Health is living history. In regard to conceptualizing the methods we utilized, I’ve learned that oral history is an empowering tool that can dismantle the privileged limits imposed on who and what is “deserving” of being history. In particular, narratives of those who are silenced by Eurocentric linguistic standards can be reclaimed through interviews conducted in their primary language -- equitably shifting back the legitimacy of their lived experiences that is often awarded to privileged voices.
Below is my photovoice:

 
Public Health Impact:
Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in King County; therefore, a potential public health impact is increasing awareness regarding strokes and EMS utilization. We hope our outreach encourages individuals in these vulnerable populations to recognize the symptoms of stroke, call early, and receive treatment quickly. Ultimately, VPSI may be able to help decrease the number of stroke-related deaths in King County.   

What I learned:
Working  with VPSI allowed me to learn how to provide health outreach to diverse populations. Through our phone outreach, I had the opportunity to communicate with diverse residents.  Most importantly, I was able to hone my communication skills for public health outreach and gain an understanding of the most critical skill—listening. For example, one of my residents did not speak English very well, but by changing the way I worded the script, I was able to schedule an alternate time to call with someone from her household that spoke English fluently.

Media:
evaluation survey spreadsheet

Throughout our capstone experience we have worked as a team to create a 10 minute podcast episode to be featured on Seattle Unsheltered. Our podcast episode focuses on the intersectionality between homelessness and reproductive justice among sex workers in King County, Washington. To bring our podcast to life, we researched data about sexual health, stigma, and criminalization of sex worker to better understand health disparities among this community. Our team interviewed two integral members of our community, Dr. Jen Balkus an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Washington and Tepatasi Vaina the Community Engagement Manager for UTOPIA Seattle. After conducting our interviews  we developed a podcast script and utilized Audacity, an open-source digital audio editor and recording application, to produce and edit our podcast .

Our project aims to educate stakeholders in the King County Sexual Health Clinic of the diverse reproductive healthcare priorities of homeless sex workers, who experience frequent criminalization of their work. Our podcast seeks to hold local healthcare clinics and stakeholders accountable for implementing inclusive healthcare practices that normalize seeking reproductive and family planning services. Improving the visibility of reproductive justice among sex workers that prioritizes their lived experiences and intersectionality is among our major priorities in publishing this podcast. Our action statement is to improve the accessibility of seeking reproductive services within and beyond the clinical setting by holding accountable systems of criminalization and stigmatization that hinder seeking support services. Alleviating the incidence of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) among the unhoused sex worker population is a secondary goal of this project, as communicating the importance of providing readily accessible contraception and family planning resources is critical for improving the quality of wellbeing in sex worker communities.

We learned that public health issues such as homelessness are very complex and the intersectionality's among vulnerable groups such as those who may be queer or trans, are involved in sex work , and experiencing homelessness are all identities that need to be addressed for equitable health outcomes in this community. It’s very important to recognize the intersectionality of individuals because each of their identities may be preventing them from seeking the reproductive health services they need and is putting them at greater risk of acquiring an STI. We’ve learned that stigma associated with both homelessness and sex work and the criminalization of sex work are some of the major drivers for this community not getting the care they need. Sex work is a real profession and many people are involved in it for many different reasons. Public Health practice is all about fostering partnerships and creating relationships with other individuals in public health and community organizations and we would not be able to create our final capstone without any of them. In the midst of a pandemic, we’ve seen how quickly misinformation can go around and in the age of technology, public health information and stories can be shared in various ways such as a podcast. 

A clip of our podcast:

Public Health Impact:
During the creation of our podcast, we hoped that we would not only raise awareness about the stigmas associated with QTBIPOC sex workers, but also provide introductory education on sex work and call people to understand how decriminalizing sex work ultimately benefits everyone.

What we learned:
Focusing our efforts on communities who are the most stigmatized and marginalized and centering them in creating policies is essential. We need to center those communities in the policies we create or they won’t be inclusive.

Podcast Clip:

What we learned:
We learned the importance of teamwork and delegation in the creation of a cohesive, well-researched product and we learned the importance of engaging with members of the community on which our work is focused, in order to develop a relationship and uplift their voices, stories, and experiences. We learned to gather information from the perspectives of multiple people and synthesize their information in a way that blends together to showcase all sides of the subject matter.

Location: Seattle, WA

What I did: I was able to conduct two oral histories, one in my mother tongue, and another with someone I got to know at a deeper level in exploring their identity. Through the oral history experience, I was able to sit back, listen, and document their stories. In my first Spanish interview, I listened to Tania Z. Perez De La Cruz, a mother, immigrant, and waitress who was reduced to working one day a week during the pandemic. Because of her status, she was not able to receive any government assistance but thrived on being able to take care of her family and even get married at the Mexican Consulate in Seattle, WA. This resilience was jaw-dropping and the artifact that was given was a picture of her and her partner signing their civil matrimony. In the interview with my classmate and friend, Tina Trinh (she/they) I had the honor of talking about identity and exploration during the COVID-19 as an Asian American Public Health student with regards to her advocacy work, teaching, and growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood. Being able to define yourself away from structures that place you into one thing or the other can cause harm, as Tina ventures into teaching, they hope that they can continue using the introspection of solace that COVID-19 brought to be more aligned with their needs. This oral history was powerful for me as someone who keeps being defined by outside structures and hope to continue building solidarity amongst our intersectional identities.  

Using their voices in research means integration of the bigger picture when policy strives to fill these gaps. As well as the opportunity to create generational wealth that many community members have not had access to in having their voices be part of the public record stored within Washington state records. Social Justice is the stories they tell and creates a permanent change to their records. Having no formal research experience, I believe this internship would give me the tools to learn how to capture these stories through qualitative research that can impact public health policy with my experience in epidemiology and public health research courses for public health. I will continue to hold my lived experience as valuable along with those I have interviewed, in finding the gaps within health disparities of not just COVID-19 but diseases to relieve equal treatment and right to health. 

It has opened my eyes to the importance of occupational health and worker safety needed to be accounted for in underserved populations. I also believe that my fight will do just that, fight for agency, and fight for a voice within our health care infrastructure to capture all of us. My transition as a front-line worker to a public health leader would be essential for my communities in diversifying history itself in generations of Latinx, non-binary people. My lived experience with these communities has contributed to generations of intellect.