{"id":315,"date":"2021-02-08T14:40:16","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T14:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deepdive.tips\/?p=315"},"modified":"2021-02-18T17:05:52","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T17:05:52","slug":"using-covid-19-shared-experience-to-make-public-health-communication-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deepdive.tips\/index.php\/2021\/02\/08\/using-covid-19-shared-experience-to-make-public-health-communication-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Using the COVID-19 Shared Experience to Make Public Health Communication More Effective with Vanessa Lamers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Amidst the damage wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have\nbeen given a potent tool that, if properly harnessed, could help us communicate\nmore effectively about everything in public health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For effective communication, the very first thing we need to do is create a connection with our audience. For that, metaphors and shared experience are two of our most effective tools. These, however, are hard to come by and typically must be created anew for every audience. It\u2019s rare that we have a shared experience that touches everyone in a direct and visceral way. A shared experience that due to its sheer scope and severity, forces politicians, business leaders, and other key decision-makers through a crash course on public health concepts like contract tracing, mass testing, vaccine development and deployment, health access and disparities, public health data infrastructure, non-pharmaceutical interventions, and many more. For public health and emergency preparedness communicators, prior to 2020 at least, this would have been a pipe dream. Yet here we are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pandemic has taken so much away, but as with any\ncatastrophe, buried in the ashes and rubble, if you care to look for it, you\nwill find opportunity. That is what today\u2019s discussion is all about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Road to Making a Difference<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As a college student in the 2000s, Vanessa Lamers studied education\nand environmental science. Supplementing her academics, she also worked in Willamette\nUniversity\u2019s security office and helped with emergency response and\npreparedness on campus. During that time, she observed the emergency response\nefforts to major environmental catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil\nspill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, graduate studies lead her to Yale University where she continued to explore sustainability and environmental science, public health, and infectious disease. At the time, SARS and MERS provided real-world examples of the types of threats Vanessa wanted to help prepare us for. She tells us that \u201cseeing all that happen in real-time and making those ties and realizing that, hey, I want to be one of the people that’s helping prevent these disasters.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making a Connection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa\u2019s unique combination of expertise in environmental science, public health, and infectious disease led to opportunities to hone her skills in Haiti and Zimbabwe. There Vanessa learned that, even with very limited resources, you can still drive amazing health outcomes. Similar to Richard Heinzl\u2019s observations in Episode #10,<\/a> Vanessa realized that the strategic application of the tools you do have, combined with a hands-on, get out in the community approach, can be extremely effective. Vanessa tells us that they deployed community health workers<\/a> to go door-to-door, seek out the most vulnerable people in the communities and figure out how to take care of them. \u201cThere\u2019s no need to recreate the wheel\u201d, Vanessa adds, because public health efforts that lack resources often provide \u201cgreat wrap-around services, building a community around the people who need it.\u201d This approach, of course, is based on meeting people where they are, literally, and making a connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visual Acuity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another important lesson came to Vanessa while she worked at\nthe Yale University Art Gallery. There, she led educational tours of the\ngallery for everyone from 3rd<\/sup> graders in the New Haven Public School\nto Yale Medical and master\u2019s in public health (MPH) students. The goal was to\nstrengthen visual acuity, a skill that can be very useful in all forms of communication.\nVanessa describes it this way, \u201cThis skill of visual acuity. How do you look at\nsomething? What do you see? What pops out at you? What do you notice? Why are\nyou noticing that first? Why didn’t you notice this other thing and the\npainting? How do you then describe it to the other people that are in your\ngroup in terms that they’re going to understand? How do you build a shared\nexperience among a group of people when you’re looking at the same?\u201d. This\nexperience allowed Vanessa to explore and strengthen her grasp of communication\nand connections in a variety of new ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ultimate Shared Experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The varied experiences on Vanessa\u2019s journey helped her to understand\nthe importance of connection and the power of shared experience. And it was\nthis understanding that helped her see \u201cthe big idea\u201d we came together to\ndiscuss. It was another fortuitous occurrence where a lead poisoning audit in Milwaukee\n(being conducted by Vanessa and team at the Public Health Foundation<\/a>), began\nbefore the pandemic and wrapped-up when were deep in the crisis. Vanessa explains\n\u201cPre-COVID I was really struggling to find what a shared experience would be,\nwhat metaphor I could use to explain some of the challenges that we were seeing\u201d,\nbut after months of the pandemic \u201call of these officials had now, unfortunately\nfor them, had to build a full understanding of public health.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shared experience and accompanying metaphors are very\npowerful and create the opportunity to say \u201cyou know how this was difficult\nwith COVID. It’s going to be difficult with lead poisoning.\u201d And this might be\ndata collection, contacting patients for follow-up, contact tracing, or a dozen\nother complex concepts that all of us now have at least a basic understanding\nof. This helps your audience create a mental picture to work with (tie-in\nvisual acuity), and greatly increases the chance for connection, shared\nunderstanding, and progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a nuanced conversation that explores, in a variety\nof ways, how to make your public health communication more effective. It\u2019s a\nskill that we should all strive to constantly improve, and we\u2019re certain\neveryone who listens will find something of value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vanessa Lamers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Vanessa<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa Lamers is the Assistant Director of Performance\nManagement and Quality Improvement at the Public Health Foundation (PHF). She\ndevelops and leads programming to build the capacity of state, local, tribal,\nand territorial health departments and provides technical assistance and\ntraining around quality improvement, performance management, and accreditation\npreparation and maintenance. Ms. Lamers manages and supports a wide array of\npublic health projects related to infectious disease and immunization,\nenvironmental health, substance abuse and misuse, and the social determinants\nof health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to joining PHF in 2015, Ms. Lamers worked at the\nconsulting firm Fresh Advantage on issues surrounding the Affordable Care Act\nand Community Health Needs Assessment Implementation. She also served as a\nResearch Assistant with the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale and\nworked with the Clinton Health Access Initiative in Harare, Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Lamers holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of\nOregon as well as a Master of Public Health and Master of Environmental\nScience, both from Yale University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twitter: @vlamers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Email: vlamers@phf.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Public Health Foundation (PHF)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Healthy Practices. Healthy People. Healthy Places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Public Health Foundation (PHF), a private, non-profit, 501(c)3 organization based in Washington, DC, improves public health and population health practice to support healthier communities. Since 1970, PHF has developed effective resources, tools, information, and training for health agencies, organizations, and individuals to help improve performance and community health outcomes. PHF works extensively to convene stakeholders, identify unmet needs, and link academia, public health practice, and healthcare sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHF is an independent, non-membership organization, governed by an 11-member Board of Directors composed of two state health officers, two local public health officers, one local board of health member, and six individuals from academic, private sector, and other public health agency settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key Programs, Services, and Projects<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n