My Last First Day of School

Carrie Rheingans

Today’s my last first day of school and it’s been a great one so far! It’s sad to think that this long journey will be over in eight short months, but I know I’ll be happy to be done and start applying all the wonderful knowledge and skills I’ve learned in my two degree programs, public health and social work.

I always feel so optimistic at the beginning of a new semester – like maybe this time I can actually do all the reading! I’m very excited about my two public health classes this semester (EHS 500 – Principles of Environmental Health and HBHE 622 – Program Evaluation in Health Education). The environmental health class interests me because of the material and my background in the biological sciences, and the program evaluation class because it’s a valuable and transferable skill in the field(s) in which I’ll be working upon graduation.

I’m also excited to start teaching again. Last semester was my first being a graduate student instructor (GSI), and I really learned a lot, both about being a teacher and about being a student. I gained a lot of patience and improved my skills for speaking publicly and making sure people are following what you’re saying. I also learned how to better manage my time as a student, as well as what amount of work goes on behind the scenes in the classes I take. I also learned that while teaching is fun, grading is NOT fun. The worst part is that my midterms are at the same time as the ones I have to grade – which doesn’t make it easy to study for my own classes.

The other exciting development this semester is my field placement for social work. I’m working with the Washtenaw County Public Health Department to help develop a Latino community center for our community (Washtenaw County, the county in which the University of Michigan is located). Currently, there is no such organization that caters to people of Latino/Hispanic ethnicity or Spanish speakers.

I hope to write posts this year about my public health and social work classes, my field placement, teaching, and my passion, HIV and AIDS. Stay tuned!

Using Census Data as a Student

Carrie Rheingans

Tiffany’s recent post about the 2010 U.S. Census reminded me of some of the reasons it’s important to fill out your Census forms completely and properly. Just this year alone, I have had multiple class projects that use Census data – for project development, community profiles, and tracking health disparities. I also participated in a community education event in English and Spanish in Detroit that I wrote about last semester. I recently received my Census forms and thought I’d share them so you can see what they look like if you’re not filling them out at your household (see below). One thing I appreciate about the Census is that they are trying to make the forms accessible by those who do not speak English very well. This is very important for me as a person designing social work and public health programs, because there is such disparity in health outcomes between English-speakers and non-English-speakers.

Census Envelope (English only)

Census Form & Letter (mostly English)

Census Language Assistance Letter (multiple languages)

Unfortunately, the Census has not asked for races the same way across all times it has collected data, so it is sometimes difficult to determine trends. This year, the “Hispanic/Latino” category allows respondents to enter their ancestry, which will be very useful for my work next year in my new social work field placement (I’ll be working with local community partners to create a Latin@ community center in our county).

U-M Students Mobilizing to Help Haiti

Carrie Rheingans

On the Wednesday morning after the recent earthquake hit Haiti, students across U-M campus started mobilizing to create fundraisers and garner other donations to assist in the relief efforts in Haiti. SPH’s own Dr. Armando Matiz from the Health Behavior and Health Education Field Experience Office called a meeting of interested individuals the Thursday after the quake and things took off from there. The School of Public Health is working with others across campus to coordinate efforts. Please see the links below to learn more:

SPH News Release: http://www.sph.umich.edu/news_events/170press.html

Campus-Wide Blog:  http://umhaitirelief.wordpress.com/ (you can subscribe to email updates as news/events are posted)

Campus-Wide Twitter Account:  http://twitter.com/UMHaitiRelief

Add yourself to the U-M Email list:

1. go to http://directory.umich.edu
2. click ‘bind’ and log into the system
3. search for UMHaitiRelief2010
4. click ‘join’ on the top, left-hand corner
5. you are now subscribed to the relief update email list, which is unmoderated

World AIDS Day 2009

Carrie Rheingans

Today is World AIDS Day: a day where 5,500 people will die of AIDS and 8,200 more will become infected with HIV – 152 of them in the United States of America. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS just released a report that says that AIDS is the leading cause of death globally in women of reproductive age. We know that HIV is a worldwide crisis, already devastating countries across the globe and poised to ravage others… unless we continue to work to stop AIDS. If you’re a regular blog reader, you know I’m not a person who just spews statistics; you know I like action (see previous posts about work with youth in the USA, youth in Peru, outreach in the USA and Peru, and advocacy). So for this World AIDS Day, I want to share with you some things you can do to help stop AIDS.

1. Volunteer in your local community. The HIV/AIDS Resource Center is Ann Arbor’s local AIDS service organization and is always accepting volunteers. You can also contact the Washtenaw Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network (WIHAN) to volunteer. You can find non-governmental organizations around the world in the Global South through the International AIDS Alliance.
2. Educate yourself and spread your knowledge. Correct myths and discriminatory and stigmatizing language when  you hear it. Good resources: UNAIDS - Kaiser Family Foundation – CDC - MDCH - Avert – AIDS.gov – google.org
3. Get yourself tested for HIV. Free testing is offered all week in the local community (see complete listing here), or you can text your zip code to “KNOWIT” (566948) to find a local testing site.
   

   KNOW YOUR STATUS!

4. Support organizations serving people living with HIV by donating directly to them rather than buying some product that only contributes a minuscule portion of its profits. Your donation goes further when it goes directly to the organization.
5. Write a letter to the editor of your local media source, call into radio stations, and send emails to friends, family and colleagues with things people can do. Describe the epidemic in your local community and challenge people to act. Call on elected officials to fund important services that keep people alive.
6. Attend World AIDS Day and World AIDS Week educational  and action events near you. The Ann Arbor area has many events going on this week – see a complete listing on the World AIDS Week website.
7. Be creative and use your skills to make a difference in your community!

 

Carrie in front of the AIDS memorial in Durban, South Africa

Michigan Community Conversation for a National AIDS Strategy

Carrie Rheingans

Michigan got its chance to give feedback to the White House Office of National AIDS Policy on Wednesday, 18 November 2009. From across the state, providers, people living with HIV, and people affected by HIV came and gave their recommendations, suggestions, and demands on video tape and in writing.

I was the statewide organizer for this event as part of my social work internship at the HIV/AIDS Resource Center (HARC). This experience was the perfect combination of public health and social work that I hope to gain from my dual degree program (MPH/MSW). When the nationwide community conversations were announced, many people across Michigan wondered why we didn’t have one scheduled near us, especially considering the fact that some zip codes in Detroit have higher HIV prevalence than some countries that receive emergency money form the United States government. The Campaign to End AIDS contacted me after hearing from a few outspoken Michiganders and we did a lot of grassroots organizing in a few short weeks to pull off this successful event. See the Between the Lines article and the Michigan Messenger article for further coverage.

The conversation was only two hours long, and the majority of the time was occupied by community members speaking about what they wanted in a National AIDS Strategy. The night started with welcomes from Craig Covey, Ferndale mayor (Ferndale is the city where the event was held) and longtime staff member of the Michigan AIDS Coalition, Christine Campbell and Larry Bryant of the Campaign to End AIDS, and Charles Pugh, President-elect of the Detroit City Council. Charles also moderated the event.

Below are some of the things people told the White House:

“When is the last time we got together as a community of loving, living people when funders weren’t making us?”

“We need quality healthcare for LGBT people living with HIV and AIDS – we need to strengthen doctor-patient relationships because people are not comfortable coming out to their doctors”

“Viagra and Cialis have aided in the resurgence of sexually transmitted infections in senior housing complexes. We need more education and prevention in these locations”

“The church, rid of stigma, denial and fear, becomes a change agent”

“my barrier [to being an AIDS advocate] is childcare”

“I wanted post-exposure prophylaxis and the nurse didn’t even know what it was!”

“We need the same laws coast to coast – enough with a patchwork of different laws about HIV”

“I missed class tonight to be here on my birthday to tell you that we need rec centers for our kids to have something safe to do after school”

“Michigan prisons don’t hand out condoms or test for HIV when people are released – but we know that people are still having sex and they need to get tested because they might need to get right into care”

It was great to hear people from as far away as Kalamazoo, Flint and Lansing gathering to speak out about such an important issue.

Larry Bryant from the Campaign to End AIDS introduces the event as moderator and President-elect of the Detroit City Council Charles Pugh looks on

White House Office of National AIDS Policy Coming to Michigan!

Carrie Rheingans

The White House Office of National AIDS Policy is coming to Michigan to host a Community Conversation, in which they will receive feedback and testimonies of people affected by HIV about what should be included in a national AIDS strategy. The Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA), the Black AIDS Institute, and the National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA) are also supporting the event. I’ve worked with C2EA for the last two years, particularly with their Youth Caucus and the Youth Action Institute, and I will be the Michigan-based contact person. See my previous SPH blog posts about this year’s YAI here and here.

The event will allow people to provide 1-2 minute testimonies about their experiences with HIV (as someone living with HIV, affected by HIV, or working in the field), and what they think should be included in a national AIDS strategy. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is a program through which the US government supports work to turn the tide against the AIDS epidemics in various hard-hit countries. One requirement to receive PEPFAR money is that each country must have a national AIDS strategy – which the USA itself doesn’t even have! These community conversations, happening all over the country, will help inform the eventual national USA AIDS strategy here at home.

You can give testimony yourself at the event:

FREE ADMISSION

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Affirmations Community Center

290 West Nine Mile Road

Ferndale, MI 48220

(248) 398-7105

For more info, please contact me at crheinga@gmail.com or leave a message at 734-572-9355 x238

You can also give testimony online. Please register for the event here. Naturally, I’m very excited about this opportunity! Very rarely does such an easy opportunity for policy advocacy happen, and even more rarely can I work on it as part of my social work internship! This opportunity gives me a chance to flex both my public health and social work muscles!

Class Project for Community Organizing for Health Education

Carrie Rheingans

Last night, my group performed two skits for our Community Organizing for Health Education class (HBHE 640) with MOSES (Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength) at the Central United Methodist Church in Detroit. We had a blast and wanted to share them with you!

Now I’m a Dual Degree Student

Carrie Rheingans

I’m now officially a dual degree student in the School of Public Health (SPH) and the School of Social Work (SSW). I’m studying Health Behavior and Health Education in SPH and Community Organizing and Community & Social Systems in SSW. I started in SPH and applied to join the SSW after my first year because I wanted to learn more about community-level work. There are a few really great classes in SPH about community-level work, but I wanted more. The dual degree programs are great, because you can get both master degrees in a shorter amount of time. Some classes cancel out requirements from the other program, so it saves money and time in the long run. Since U-M has so many great graduate programs, it’s a great addition to your professional training. There are a number of dual degree programs you can do with public health.

Social work is often divided into two major fields – micro practice and macro practice. At U-M, the SSW micro field is called Interpersonal Practice and the macro field is broken up into three separate tracks: Community Organizing, Management of Human Services, and Policy & Evaluation. To do the dual MPH/MSW, you have to be in the HBHE department in SPH. Some students do the dual MPH/MSW because they feel that public health is very broad and macro-level, so they want to learn more how to work one-on-one with individuals and families. Some feel that HBHE focuses on individual behavior change and not enough on community-level change. After talking to the other nearly twenty dual degree students, we realized it is really up to your interpretation. I’m very happy I added the MSW, but I’m still very excited about my future public health courses that I have left (especially my course HBHE 640: Community Organization for Health Education!).

Each school has their own webpage explaining the dual MPH/MSW, see them here: SSW page –  SPH page