Cross Culture Connection - Girl Scouts, Nicaragua and North Carolina

This past June 2013 I had the opportunity to spend 8 days with a wonderful group of 15 and 16 year old young women on a service learning trip to rural Nicaragua. During our time in country we hiked in rainforests and learned about the challenges of preserving this precious ecosystem. We helped plant school gardens working side by side with parents in the community. The girls spent time with high school students practicing Spanish/English and sharing about each others' lives.  Supporting rural schools is a cornerstone program for the organization we traveled with and the girls spent time with young school children and their teachers, witnessing how people in other countries value as education as a gift and essential investment in the future. We played with children at the Los Pipitos clinic who had a range of serious physical, developmental and behavioral challenges whose mothers brought them 3 hours each way on foot to receive 2 hours of therapy a few times a year. The difference in the demand for services and availability of care was stark while the intense commitment of these parents to their children was humbling.

One of the more thought provoking visits on our journey was to the Casa Materna - a small home where women from remote areas could spend the last few weeks of their pregnancy and deliver their baby at the nearby health department. This is so important as one out of every 300 women die in childbirth in Nicaragua and their infant mortality rate is 3 times that of the US.  During the visit the girls met a 16 year old who was due in a few weeks. In contrast to our perception of teen pregnancy, this young woman had planned her pregnancy and was looking forward to the way her new role as mother would impact her status in the community. A different looking glass to consider... We also learned that most women leave the health department pretty quickly after giving birth followed by a ride home on a crowded, bumpy bus or a long walk home. Women are strong and mighty indeed.

We also saw the positive impact of micro enterprise investments in women owned initiatives...and helped support those women by purchasing their lovely products while learning about their innovative business models. We witnessed the importance of entrepreneurship - be it business, social or just thinking outside of the box (as did the fabulous Peace Corp volunteer at Casa Materna). Finally, across the board as a group we loved the neighborliness of everyone we met. People in Nicaragua make time to stop and talk with each other. They gather in squares and on front porches. Homes may be tiny but hearts are big. Life might be hard but there is time to share. 

The joys and challenges of being a Girl Scout leader is a topic for a different blog, but my decade investment in building leadership with my scouts (including my daughter) has been worth every second. I feel great hope for the future when I look at these young women and see how they embrace a world much bigger than the one they live in every day. They are smart, have cultural humility and recognize the interconnectedness of their life and those of women and girls around the world. And they aren't afraid to get messy, try new things, support each other and believe that the world is full of endless possibilities!

 

Senior Girl Scout Troop 514

 

To learn more about Sister Communities of San Ramon Nicaragua visit http://san-ramon.org/

Shinel and Renee are Making Change Happen in Durham

Renee Parks-Bryant, Health Education Specialist, Durham County Dept of Public Health

Shinel M. Stephens, MSN/FNP-C, Student Health & Counseling Services, North Carolina Central University

Tell us about your current work role.

Renee: I have been working for 19 years in the area of maternal/child health at the Durham County Health Department.  I was originally hired to start a Lamaze childbirth program for minority women.  Since then, hundreds of minority women have benefited from that program.  Over the years, many of my job duties have centered on improving birth outcomes.  In the past, I coordinated the now defunct infant mortality reduction committee.  That project was funded by Centers of Disease Control under the Perinatal Periods of Health program.  During that period, Durham County had unacceptable infant mortality rates but over the years the rates have reduced and have aligned with North Carolina’s rate. I’ve instructed parenting classes for expectant mothers in partnership Federal Correction Prison as part of its pre-release program.  In addition, I coordinated an infant car-seat program for the Health Department in my early years of employment.  I have served as a grant writer and on many different committees. My job is varied and I like it. 

Shinel:  I have been in my current position as a family nurse practitioner at North Carolina Central University for 10 years and adjunct faculty in the Department of Nursing, in the area of maternity, for 11 years.  I previously worked as a registered nurse in labor and delivery, as well as at Saint Augustine’s College Student Health.  My love for students and women's health brought me to North Carolina Central University.  I wanted the opportunity to engage young minority adults in making healthy lifestyle choices and to become role models in their families of healthy living.

In my current role as a nurse practitioner, I provide primary health care to our students; which includes a large percentage of gynecological concerns.  I wanted to expand my work beyond the examination room and look at ways that we could support our pregnant students in making healthy lifestyle choices.  One of the goals of this initiative was to retain students who may become pregnant while enrolled at the University.  In pursuit of this effort, I met with Renee, to see how we could collaborate to provide beneficial resources for our students.  We then realized that equally important are the needs of our women during the preconception period and following delivery as parents; consequently the Cradle Me 3 Project was birthed.

What are you most excited about or what is your favorite aspect of the Cradle Me 3 project?

Renee:  The most exciting part of the project has been working with students and increasing their knowledge of the life-course model and preconception health concept.  I greatly enjoy observing students accept preconception health educational tasks, then demonstrate their knowledge of the concepts and share their knowledge with fellow students thru on campus activities and efforts.

Shinel:  The Cradle Me 3 Project will afford so many opportunities for our students.  I am most excited about how it will increase our student’s awareness of the importance of reproductive life planning using a peer education model and curriculum infusion in the personal health course, a required course for all students at the University that is most often taken during the freshmen year.  In addition I look forward to the impact that the inclusion of the life course model will have in our nursing and public health education curriculums. At North Carolina Central University we continue to soar and we look forward to taking the lead in sharing best practices in a college/university setting that will have an impact in decreasing infant mortality rates.

What do you anticipate will be the biggest challenge with this project?

Renee & Shinel:  The project’s biggest challenge has been administrative demands and procedures!

Can you share any books, articles, websites (or any great resources you've found) that help with your work?

Renee:  I just recently read an article by Judith Lothian called Do Not Disturb: The Importance of Privacy in Labor (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1595201/). It reminded me about how important it is to protect mothers at this special time. My other go to book is The Labor Progress Handbook by Penny Simkin and Ruth Ancheta.

Shinel:  I really like www.EveryWomanNC.com as a reference on preconception health and resources here in North Carolina. I also really like learning about the epidemiology of preconception health and recommend this article: Xaverius, Pamela & Salas, Joanne, Surveillance of Preconception Health Indicators in Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System:  Emerging Trends in the 21^st Century Journal of Women’s Health (2013) 22: 203-209.

Leading Change In Florida - Jameela Afi-Leigh

I have been serving as Program Director in my current position for the Duval County Health Department’s Family Planning Program, for the past eight years. I was given an opportunity to come to the health department to work for a new community outreach program in Jacksonville, Florida, after working for a national Healthy Families / Healthy Start Initiative in Cleveland, Ohio. The opportunity to move to a warmer environment was also an incentive!

In my new job I am most excited about using an effective intervention model known as the Popular Opinion Leader that teaches young people, between the ages of 18-24, to engage their friends and colleagues in conversations around reproductive life planning. This enables them to build upon their conversation and communication skills in everyday settings, which also improves upon their leadership skills as they plan for their future. I am also thrilled about involving males in this process, as they are an important part of addressing this issue and play a key role in the prevention and education effort. It is exciting to take an innovative idea that we first tried within a small community setting and expand it throughout the city!

I find that one of our biggest challenges is that the population we serve does not necessarily take the time to “plan” their families. They come from communities where they face many obstacles and day-to-day challenges. Many of them reside in impoverished areas and oftentimes their decision about preconception health takes a back seat to other issues in their lives. In fact, oftentimes, the health of these communities is dependent upon many other different factors, including the quality of health care, individual behavior, education and jobs, and the environment. So, we find that we must tap into other resources with our community partners to engage them in our efforts around preconception / reproductive life planning. This is where our faith-based organizations are a plus, while at the same time, we try to get everyone focused on the goal at-hand.

Two websites that have helped me with my work are http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/pdf/fast-facts-consequences-of-unplanned-pregnancy.pdf and http://www.effectiveinterventions.org/en/HighImpactPrevention/Interventions/POL.aspx

More Wise Words from Florida's Leaders - Gloria McNair and Autumn Gaines

From Gloria McNair...

I’ve been a Community Outreach Health Educator for three years; however, I’ve been a member of the MCH Family Planning Team for six years. Prior to working at the Health Department, I was an Environmental Health Officer for the U.S. Navy where my specialty was Preventive Medicine. After retirement, I wanted to find a job that would provide the same level of satisfaction in serving the community.

In thinking about what I’m most excited about with my work, this is going to sound corny but I enjoy all aspects of the project. Our teens and young adults are the country’s future. That future can be so much brighter and filled with promise if they are allowed to make informed decisions regarding their health. Working with our Peer Health Advocates (PHA) gives me the opportunity to provide positive, factual and appropriate information to a community of at-risk young adults.

The biggest challenge ahead is that our PHAs are from the Faith-based community. Learning to speak openly about Sexual and Reproductive Health presented some challenges for the group as a whole. They have started to come out of their shells but I do know that they will need my continued mentoring.

As far as my favorite resources, honestly what has helped me the most is training from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the Diffusion of Evidence Based Interventions; especially the Popular Opinion Leader (POL)  intervention which we are now using in our project.

From Autumn Gaines...

I am a recent hire with the Florida Department of Health in Duval County under Maternal and Child Health Division as the Community Assistance Specialist for Every Woman Southeast.  In the process of completing my Bachelor of Science in Health degree I found myself in an unusual place.  I felt as if I was missing the hands-on training, the ability to put my knowledge and skills to the test.  Not long after I received a mass e-mail for a volunteer position with the former Duval County Health Department as an educator to adolescent males about sexual health, STDs, HIV/AIDS, etc. I have volunteered with the health department since December 2011.  Early May of this year, I received an e-mail for a current position as the Community Assistance Specialist. After a successful panel interview, within a week I received a phone call and later a letter in the mail congratulating me as a new member of the Florida Department of Health in Duval County team.

The most excitement I get from this job is being in the community speaking with individuals and groups on the importance of physical health, unplanned pregnancy prevention, and disease prevention.  When you are in the field trying to understand the community’s way of thinking, what provokes their actions (good or bad), you learn how to cater the message to their personal needs, which ultimately leads to one less person becoming a part of a negative health statistic. 

I believe my biggest challenge will be getting acclimated with the transition into taking a more lead role with the different churches of Every Woman Southeast Peer Education for the Soul.  Other than that, I am excited about working with the peer health advocates and influential leaders in the church.

Throughout the public health program at the University of North Florida I was exposed to many great resources. For instance, scholarly/peer-reviewed health journals (American Association for Health Education), websites (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, The National Program to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, and Healthy People), and research databases (CINAHL: Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health), which I definitely recommend to others. 

A Mother's Day Call to Action

It’s the season for soft greens, purples, blues and pink (lots of pink) balloons, cards, candy, and ribbons. Not only is it spring, but it is Mother’s Day along with Teacher Appreciation, Nurses Appreciation, Administrative Assistant Appreciation and Social Worker Appreciation. Aside from the observation that all of these traditionally female dominated, under-paid, over-worked careers are lumped together leading to a frenzy of card buying / giving by women for women … (I digress), I don’t think that the Founding Women of Mother’s Day would go for the colors.

Motherhood is a bold and fierce undertaking.  When I delivered my first baby I saw burnt orange…the power of the experience, the connection it gave me to women around the world, and my sense that I was a warrior woman was not a muted color. Nor was the feeling I had when I looked into my daughter’s eyes and my heart exploded into sparks of silver and gold. And as my heart came back together it was indigo as I knew that I would do anything for this child – offer my life to save hers in a second… without an instant’s hesitation. As I know my mother would for me.

Once my heart was split open to the universe, I began to see charcoal when I read about mothers losing children, children losing mothers, toddlers, teens and women being hurt, abused and broken. I see scarlet (almost every day of late) at the policies being perpetrated that keep women and children, particularly those who are poor and/or of color, behind, below and beyond reach of the resources and rights they need to reach their full potential for health, wealth and joy. What would Julia Ward Howe, suffragist, poet, pacifist and a Mother’s Day founder think about how we do or as more often the case do NOT use our collective voices as women to call attention to the issues that matter most?

Whether the focus is a child, a partner, a best friend or an important cause, mothering takes courage, persistence, unbending love, and the willingness to get really messy. I see flames of fushia and cerulean blue. It requires self-reflection, a sense of humor, and the energy to hold center in the middle of the storm. Motherhood calls us to practice deep compassion. Forest green…midnight blue.

There is nothing pastel about listening to the soul deep pain of someone who has been hurt, teaching someone to read and think for themselves, waking up night after night to care for a crying baby, comforting a friend or partner who has lost a job or hope, and watching someone you love learn hard lessons, grow up and move away. Anna Jarvis, an Appalachian homemaker who organized Mother’s Work Days to avert deaths from disease-bearing insects living in neighborhood polluted water, and in 1868 took the initiative to heal the bitter rifts between her Confederate and Union neighbors, could likely relate to the crimson and golden rod hue of civic engagement and just getting things done. As could her daughter who got the President to make Mother’s Day official.

Let’s take back this day and lift up our voices in a BOLD kaleidoscope of deep and strong colors. We need to raise the Mothers’ call for peace to include the many wars that are waged every day – in our homes, in our streets, in boardrooms and politician offices. As Julia Howe said, “why do not the mothers of mankind interfere in these matters to prevent the waste of that human life of which they alone bear and know the cost?”  Mothers are rising in the South in a blaze of magenta. Join us!