Category: Webinar

Gun Laws, Mental Illness and Stigma

Course Objective

  • Describe the development of gun laws as they relate to individuals with mental illness
  • Recognize the relationship between mental illness and violence
  • Explain the relationship between stigma and treatment participation, and the effects gun laws can have

Date: August 2nd, 2022

Presenter:
Merrill Rotter, MD
Senior Forensic Advisor to the Commissioner, NYS OMH
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, AECOM


In this month’s Log-in2Learn, Dr. Merrill Rotter explores the connection between gun violence, gun laws, and mental health. He explains the relationship between mental health and guns, and how the stigma around mental health impacts gun legislation. He starts by reviewing a timeline of prominent gun legislation and instances of gun violence in the United States. Dr. Rotter then explains the efficacy of gun legislation as it relates to gun violence and mental illness. He concludes by discussing the impact of recent events regarding the gun debate in the United States.

Participants will be able to:

  1. Describe the development of gun laws as they relate to individuals with mental illness
  2. Recognize the relationship between mental illness and violence
  3. Explain the relationship between stigma and treatment participation, and the effects gun laws can have
New Resources and Creative Strategies for Recruiting Candidates for Health Departments

Course Objective

  • Describe the industry/sector and occupational competition for key roles in public health
  • Identify at least three strategies and tactics your agency can use to attract new hires
  • Assess feasibility of recruitment strategies for your own agency/organization

Date: June 7th 2022

Presenters: 
Heather Krasna, PhD, EdM, MS
Assistant Dean and Director, Career Services, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Laura J. Trolio
Director, New York State Public Health Corps Fellowship Program, Office of Public Health Practice

Jody Ordioni
Chief Brand Officer, Brandemix


In this month’s Log-in2Learn, Dr. Heather Krasna, Laura Trolio, and Jody Ordioni present new evidence-based resources and strategies to overcome current challenges in public health recruitment. They explain how understanding candidate motivation, creating or leveraging appealing recruitment marketing materials, leveraging the public service motivation of candidates, and highlighting the mission-driven work of public health agencies can help agencies attract the best candidates and compete with other employers. They review strategies such as branding, making a Unique Sales Proposition, and the new forthcoming public health recruitment website for standardized job posting. They also present new funding streams and the NYS Public Health Corps Fellowship Program, with its Public Health Essentials Certificate and mentoring opportunities. There is a focus, throughout, on diversity, equity and inclusion in recruitment, and they finish by answering questions from attendees.

Participants will be able to:

  1. Describe the industry/sector and occupational competition for key roles in public health
  2. Identify at least three strategies and tactics your agency can use to attract new hires
  3. Assess feasibility of recruitment strategies for your own agency/organization
Commercial Determinants of Health : A New Framework for Improving Population Health and Reducing Health Inequities

Course Objective

  • Define commercial determinants  of health and explain the historical origins of this concept
  • Identify the  potential and limitations of the commercial determinants of health framework for development of more effective strategies to improve population health and reduce health inequities
  • Discuss key current needs for research, education  and practice on commercial determinants of health

Date: May 3rd, 2022

Presenter:
Nicholas Freudenberg, DrPH
Distinguished Professor of Public Health
CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy
Senior Faculty Fellow, CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute


In this month’s Log-in2Learn, Dr. Nicholas Freudenberg presents how the commercial determinants of health framework can help reduce health inequities, guided by the belief that another world is possible. He starts by defining commercial determinants of health and reviewing the cascade of public health crises that have happened in the 21st century. He goes over a framework that attributes this cascade and increases in stratification, inequality, and inequity to changes in 6 characteristics of capitalism. He then reviews the importance of changing corporate practices and political and economic structures that harm health, and lists key ideas and strategies that can help tackle that change. He finishes by providing specific examples of how public health professionals can build more alliances and move practice beyond business as usual, and answers questions from attendees.

Participants will be able t0:

  1. Define commercial determinants of health and explain the historical origins of this concept
  2. Identify the potential and limitations of the commercial determinants of health framework for development of more effective strategies to improve population health and reduce health inequities
  3. Discuss key current needs for research, education and practice on commercial determinants of health
COVID-19: From Pandemic to Endemic

Course Objective

  • Differentiate between “Pandemic” and “Endemic,” with examples from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases
  • Describe examples from the HIV epidemic that may apply to the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Explain implications for public health practice as the field transitions from a pandemic to endemic response to COVID-19

Date: April 5th, 2022

Presenter:
Dr. Jessica Justman
 Associate Professor of Medicine in Epidemiology
Columbia University Irving Medical Center


In this month’s Log-in2Learn, Dr. Jessica Justman, Associate Professor of Medicine in Epidemiology at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, goes over epidemiology concepts and skills as illustrated by the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic. She starts by defining the terms epidemic, pandemic, and endemic as they relate to infectious diseases. She then explains how COVID-19 went from an outbreak to an epidemic, and reviews the progression and classification of epidemics. In addition to the example of COVID-19, she speaks to the toll and spread of other pandemics in history. In particular, she highlights the similarities between HIV and COVID-19 pandemics, including spread, overall burden and disparities, public health and community-driven responses, communication challenges, and issues of uncertainty and fear. Finally, she summarizes lessons learned from the progression and response to COVID-19, commenting on how we could have been better prepared.

Participants will be able to:

  1. Differentiate between “Pandemic” and “Endemic,” with examples from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases
  2. Describe examples from the HIV epidemic that may apply to the COVID-19 pandemic
  3. Explain implications for public health practice as the field transitions from a pandemic to endemic response to COVID-19
Developing and Implementing Climate and Health Adaptations: An Update from the NYSDOH BRACE Project

Course Objective

  • Describe the Building Resilience Against Climate Effects, or BRACE, framework for climate and health adaptation work.
  • Identify at least 3 resources for gaining knowledge about likely impacts of climate change on health in NYS.
  • Describe examples of climate and health adaptation-related activities that have been conducted in NYS.

Date: March 1st, 2022

Presenter:
Neil Muscatiello, MS
Director, Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology,
New York State Department of Health


In this month’s Log-in2Learn, Neil Muscatiello, director of the NYSDOH Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology reviews the importance and progress of the Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) framework for climate and health adaptation work in New York. He starts by contextualizing the human impact on climate and New York State projections, including warming trends and increased precipitations. He then explains how the BRACE model builds on evidence such as the climate impact assessments from ClimAID, which summarize observed and projected impacts across 8 sectors, and the county heat and health profile reports, which correlate temperature increases to poor health outcomes. He then traces the climate change adaptations steps, and goes over some example adaptations, such as the benefit analysis of heating and cooling assistance on hospitalizations, the Climate Smart Community certification. He ends by sharing information about regional climate and health adaptation workshops, additional resources, and answering attendees’ questions.

Participants will learn to:

  1. Describe the Building Resilience Against Climate Effects, or BRACE, framework for climate and health adaptation work
  2. Identify at least 3 resources for gaining knowledge about likely impacts of climate change on health in NYS.
  3. Describe examples of climate and health adaptation-related activities that have been conducted in NYS.
Introducing the 2021 Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals

Course Objective

  • Describe the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals.
  • Identify changes made in the 2021 version of the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals.
  • Discuss how the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals can be used to support the public health workforce.

Date: February 1st, 2022

Presenter:
Kathleen Amos, MLIS
Director, Academic/Practice Linkages
Public Health Foundation


In this month’s Log-In Learn, Kathleen Amos, Director of the Academic and Practice Linkages for the Public Health Foundation, presents the newly revised Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals. She introduces the Core Competencies as a longstanding initiative of the PHF’s Council on Linkages between academia and public health practice, in an effort to synthesize the foundational or cross cutting skills for public health professionals. She presented an overview of their usage, including Healthy People 2030, the Public Health Accreditation Board, and the TRAIN Learning Network. She explained that revision included two open comment periods, but feedback is always welcome, including after the webinar. She reviewed the main feedback received, including requests for better harmonization, expanded content on certain topic areas (especially health equity and management and finance), and increased ease of use, and explained how each of these were addressed. She concluded by sharing resources and tools, training, and assistance for implementation of the updated Core Competencies.

Participants will learn about the following:

  1. Describe the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals.
  2. Identify changes made in the 2021 version of the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals.
  3. Discuss how the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals can be used to support the public health workforce.
Connecting the Dots With Systemic Thinking for Equitable and Healthiest Communities

Course Objective

  • Define key concepts, including: systems, systemic thinking, equity, social justice, and complexity.
  • Explain how systemic thinking links to existing frameworks for equitable and healthier communities.
  • Demonstrate use of two tools for exploring deep leverage points.

Date: January 11th, 2022

Presenter:
Priti Irani, MSPH
Research Scientist

Office of Public Health Practice, New York State Department of Health


In this month’s Log-in2Learn, Priti Irani, MSPH connects system thinking to the revised 10 Essential Public Health Services, which put health equity at the center. She begins by introducing the New York State Prevention Agenda, and defining key concepts of justice, systemic thinking, and targeted universalism. She then illustrates a concrete application of systems thinking by going through the example of food insecurity in New York State as a complex problem. She demonstrates how to use the iceberg model to look for hidden structures and mental models, as well as a causal loop diagram to find deep leverage points that guide interventions for greater impact. Finally, she shares additional online resources to continue the learning and application of systems thinking, and answer questions from live webinar participants, including incorporating paradigm shifts into different jobs.

Participants will be able to:

  1. Define key concepts, including: systems, systemic thinking, equity, social justice, and complexity.
  2. Explain how systemic thinking links to existing frameworks for equitable and healthier communities.
  3. Demonstrate use of two tools for exploring deep leverage points.
School of Hard Knocks: The Impact of the Pandemic on School Children and Their Families

Course Objective

  • Identify forces currently at play which are impacting child well-being
  • Explain how workforce pressures factor into access to mental health services
  • Describe what can be done to help support schools, children, and families

Date: December 7th, 2021

Presenter:
Donna M. Bradbury & Bonnie Catlin
NYS Office of Mental Health
Office of Prevention & Health Initiatives


In this month’s Log-in2Learn webinar, Donna M. Bradbury, MA, LMHC, and Bonnie Catlin, LCSW, discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted school-aged children, their families, and how the NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH) has mounted a response. They begin by providing epidemiological context to the current mental health crisis, including risk factors and changes in prevalence, as well as the OMH’s response to address the disportionate impact on underserved populations. They summarize the strengths and limitations of OMH’s shift to telehealth, such as barriers to access, caregiver involvement, provider responsiveness, and privacy concerns. With new federal resources to expand access, they go over response efforts, such as Project Hope and a 56% increase in number of OMH clinic satellites, as well as prevention programs, such as Healthy Steps, Project TEACH, the NYS trauma-informed network, and restorative practices. They wrap up by presenting the systems of care framework and answering questions from webinar attendees.

Participants will be able to:

  1. Identify forces currently at play which are impacting child well-being
  2. Explain how workforce pressures factor into access to mental health services
  3. Describe what can be done to help support schools, children, and families
Open Season on Ticks

Course Objective

  • List different tick species and what diseases they may transmit
  • Describe methods to reduce tick bites and identify symptoms of tick-borne disease
  • Identify ways to engage partners to help raise awareness and prevent tick-borne diseases in your community

Date: November 9th 2021

Presenter:
Faith Lustik
Public Health Planner

&

Lisa Lagos
Public Health Educator

Jefferson County Public Health Service


In this month’s Log-In2Learn webinar, Lisa Lagos and Faith Lustik from the Jefferson County Public Health Service introduce the management of tick-borne disease from the perspectives of community education and planning. Lisa begins by reviewing the history of Lyme disease, the most common tick-borne disease, from its initial community identification to its known geographic and seasonal distribution today. She described tick-bite identification, Lyme disease symptoms and incubation period. She then introduces other tick-borne diseases, including anaplasmosis, Ehrlichiosis, Babesiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and Powassan virus disease. Individual techniques of protection are reviewed. Faith wraps up the presentation by focusing on stakeholder engagement. She explains how to use surveillance data to alert providers, and explains the importance of including students, outdoor workers and trail users in outreach.

Participants will be able to:

  1. List different tick species and what diseases they may transmit
  2. Describe methods to reduce tick bites and identify symptoms of tick-borne disease
  3. Identify ways to engage partners to help raise awareness and prevent tick-borne diseases in your community
Challenging Misinformation: Exploring Equity- and Community-Driven Strategies

Course Objective

  • Define terms such as “infodemic management”, and other current terminology as related to misinformation within a variety of interpersonal and media settings 
  • Discuss the link between misinformation, trust, and behavioral change, including issues surrounding the politicization of health information, historical reasons for mistrust among many groups, and the role of social media 
  • Describe promising equity-and community-driven strategies to: 
    • address misinformation 
    • build trust at the community and population levels  
    • strengthen communication systems to improve health, social, and policy outcomes 
  • Discuss relevant case studies and resource

Date: September 7th 2021

Presenter:
Renata Schiavo, PhD, MA, CCL
Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
Founder and Board President, Health Equity Initiative
Principal, Strategies for Equity and Communication Impact (SECI)


In this month’s Log-In2Learn webinar, Dr. Renata Schiavo, PhD, MA, CCL, surveys evidence-based systems strategies for health professionals to challenge misinformation. She begins by reviewing socio-ecological models from the science of trust, emphasizing the importance of social, political and environmental factors. While acknowledging the new challenges posed by social media, which does not rely on peer-review or fact-checking processes, she reminds us that misinformation is older than the information age, going over historical reasons for mistrust such as the Tuskegee syphilis study. She defines an effective infodemic response, goes over 7 types of mis/dis-information as well as healthy information behaviors. This background leads to the paradigm shift to equity- and community-driven strategies, which Dr.Schiavo breaks down by priority and explains how to incorporate into health promotion programming.

Participants will learn how to:

  1. Define terms such as “infodemic management”, and other current terminology as related to misinformation within a variety of interpersonal and media settings 
  2. Discuss the link between misinformation, trust, and behavioral change, including issues surrounding the politicization of health information, historical reasons for mistrust among many groups, and the role of social media 
  3. Describe promising equity-and community-driven strategies to: address misinformation, build trust at the community and population levels , strengthen communication systems to improve health, social, and policy outcomes 
  4. Discuss relevant case studies and resource
Region 2 Public Health Training Center