Friday, May 28, 2010

Fate Intervenes






This week has flown by and been so productive at work. I might venture to say that it was a blessing that the trip was delayed. A lot of people have asked why I didn’t go to Kenya as scheduled and I will comment that everything is fine – the powers that be just needed me in Chapel Hill to work this week and this has been such a great thing in preparing for our assessment. Here are some details.

My colleagues and I have spent the entire week reworking our assessment tools. We have been focusing on the 8 or so tools we are using to collect data for the Kenya health worker training assessment. There are some tools we are using this summer to collect more data on Phase I of the assessment, which happened last year. That phase looked more at service delivery. We still need to capture some data on nutritionists and community health workers but I have not been as involved in this piece of the assessment – yet. It might sound uninteresting that I have been working to put together questionnaires for students and faculty of schools but I have been doing more than that – much more! Along with the Chapel Hill team, Leigh and Cathy (they need to be introduced by now), we have been taking a hard look at what we are asking and how the data will be used in making recommendations after the assessment. The Monitoring and Evaluation team, Michael and Josh, are helping us look at how we collect the data and ensuring it can be easily evaluated. Our data will be quantitative and qualitative.

You still may find this work a bit meticulous and boring by reading this blog but I have to say I have been so stimulated and motivated by what I have been doing this week. I love the team in Chapel Hill and based on our Skype calls and great collaboration via email, I know I will love the team in Kenya. I am reminded once again how fantastic my IntraHealth colleagues are to work with on a daily basis. I really feel like part of the team and a trusted contributor to this work. My voice is being heard and I feel respected and valued. Making the great leap to doing this kind of technical work was so intimidating in the beginning and, though I know I still have so much to learn, I feel comfortable and once again at home in my public health world. I just want so badly for the work we are doing to help make sustainable improvements and I really think we will. It is more than just my learning experience on a summer assignment – so much more.

This week I have been working hard but I have been enjoying my after-five hours as well! A lot! Though I’ve spent a lot of time pondering what the end of Lost really was about (thank you Laura and Kate for the clarifying emails), I’ve been having endless fun with my mom and my friends. I didn’t know how satisfying sitting in the yard with my mom and dogs could be but I have laughed and relaxed since I “moved home” on the nights I have been in Oxford. Obviously you see the sweet doggie pictures I posted. Not quite the same as the exotic animals of Kenya but much sweeter! Anyway, I love my evenings at home with my mom and the dogs. Dare I say I miss my childhood home just a little?

I know I miss Christina. She, Greg and Lilly were wonderful hosts to me mid-week so I wouldn’t have to commute from Oxford to Chapel Hill every day. It felt like camp but only the really fun activities. Christina and I laughed endlessly and relished not having to come home and study. (You can laugh like we did if you YouTube Christopher Walkin and Lady Gaga) We also talked about “work” and how we really enjoy what we are doing this summer so far in our respective internships. It doesn’t feel like “work” yet because we are each learning so much each day. Boy my mom was right in saying that I would meet some of my closest friends in grad school and my lovely host Christina sure makes the cut! Thanks so much girl for perfect Swiss hospitality! I hope you are reading this!

This weekend I get one more treat that I wouldn’t have gotten if I had gone to Kenya as originally planned – Sex and the City 2! Mom and I are going to get Carried away on Saturday! Can’t wait!

Ta ta for now!


Saturday, May 22, 2010

A Change of Plans...

One thing you can count on in life – nothing goes according to plan. As much as I like to say I am free-spirited and spontaneous, at my core I, like my mother, like to stick to a schedule. However, the real world doesn’t work like that and I am testing my “flexibility” muscles as plans for the Kenya trip changed a little. Instead of departing on Monday, the trip has been delayed a week and I’ll now head out on June 1. The reasons are a little unclear but this is what it is and I’m going to roll with it. Admittedly, I’ve been a little bummed today but a week delay isn’t the end of the world and that gives me more time to spend with my family and friends in North Carolina – including my dog London!

On the work side of things, this delay gives me time to work with the Chapel Hill technical team to fine tune our tools for the PNA we’ll be working on in Kenya. (Bonus points to you my dear reader if you remember the acronym!) We’ve been testing them lately and the focus is lost in some of the data questions. In order to bring the tools more in-line with what we need them to really assess for us, we are restructuring them a little, which will take a bit of work. So, the Chapel Hill team is thrilled to have me working full-time on this next week. I think too I’ll feel better prepared to go out to Nairobi and use the tools by spending more time next week working and refining them (there are nearly a dozen) with the Chapel Hill team.

So let me pull back a moment for you dear friends who are reading this but have no idea what this assessment deal really is and why we are doing it. In public health, we need to do an assessment before planning and implementing any interventions or policies so that we make the right decisions to improve the health of communities. For example, if you wanted to reduce malaria in a district in a given country, you need to know the incidence of malaria and how it is or isn’t treated. You’d want to know who else was working to reduce malaria in that district and what kind of infrastructure is there to help you if you launch a program. While we are not working at reducing malaria specifically in Kenya, we are working to improve how health workers are trained. So our assessment objectives are to look at pre-service, in-service and continued professional development training systems and identify performance gaps, assess perceptions of all the key players such as faculty and students, and identify best practices as potential interventions to improve the performance of training systems throughout the country. This includes the training of clinical officers, nurses, midwives etc. We are doing this by using our “tools” to collect data from all different players involved in the training and deployment of health workers. It is a massive undertaking but think of the changes that we can make once we get a clear picture of what needs to be improved upon to even better train the country’s healthcare workers. This will only make Kenyans’ healthier and improve the job satisfaction of the country’s health work force. However, my beloved Kenya will have to wait just one more week before I physically hit the ground running!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

10 day countdown!

Time is really flying! If this is any indication, I will be back from Kenya before you know it!

So what am I doing in Kenya? I have been trying to get a handle on all the things the team has expressed interest in me helping them with and this week I really learned a lot! I have a varied SOW or scope of work as we call it but it all relates to education of health workers, either at school before they begin working or refresher training/continued professional development type training once they are in the workforce. This week I have been helping to test tools that will be used in a massive performance needs assessment. The tools are really questionnaires that interviewers will use to collect data. We want to make sure the tools are asking the right questions and are refined so we can collect the best data possible to support recommendations for strengthening and improving how Kenya trains its health workers. It is pretty neat stuff and I love that I have the opportunity to support this work. Marrying public health and education is near and dear to my heart and I really look forward to growing my skills, especially with training workforce supporting family planning (more on that later).

I have hired a temp to cover for my "regular" work while I am in Kenya and that is working out perfectly! Things are falling into place nicely and I feel I won't be leaving my team in a lurch while I am working in Kenya this summer.

I got the darn typhoid shot yesterday. It hurts just like I remember it. Ouch! Tonight I have dinner with one of my closest friends and tomorrow head to Oxford to spend the week with my mom before leaving for Kenya! Whew!!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Two More Weeks til Takeoff!

This weekend was great! I spent Saturday with dear friends and celebrated Mother's Day yesterday with only the most unique and remarkable woman on the planet - my mom Linda! Time is flying by and I only have 2 weeks from today before leaving on a jet plane for Nairobi!

In addition to the weekend, today was a fabulous day! A dear friend treated me to a much needed spa visit. It was so nice to shut off my brain for a few hours and relax! Aside from packing, making sure I have all my paperwork in order, finishing what I need to complete at work and spending evenings with family and friends, life is pretty relaxing these last few days! I am so happy and blessed with how the cookie has crumbled and can't wait for the adventures that await me in Kenya.

The next step is filling those suitcases I pulled out from storage this afternoon. I did pack one small bag this evening, which makes it feel even more official. It isn't as bad as moving a whole apartment but strategically thinking how to pack for 2 months in Africa is easier said than done. Admittedly I am a terrible packer. Who wants to wear the same clothes over and over? I remember when I backpacked thru Europe after college and I lived out of this small backpack for 6 weeks. My friend made me throw away some of my clothes toward the end of the trip because they were so gross. This is very different than a European jaunt but I still want to take only what is needed.

It's funny how my to do list has changed from writing papers and reading articles to packing my suitcase and getting my typhoid vaccination. Oh summer fun!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

PASSED

Today was a fabulous day! I passed my oral comps and I'm officially a candidate for a Masters in Public Health! I am also officially done with my first year of grad school! Thank you so much to all of my family and friends for your support!

Well, no resting on my bum. I'm off to DC tomorrow (a 7:55am flight) for two quick days of working in our office! Busy busy!

Monday, May 3, 2010

May Already!

I can't believe it's already the month of May. I am officially on the countdown!

So much has happened in the past week. I finished classes for my first year of grad school. My comprehensive exams are tomorrow and I feel prepared yet a bit anxious. For the MCH Department, the comprehensive exams, or Comps as we call them, are oral. We are given five questions and when we go in to the panel, we can choose to answer one question and then they will select one of the remaining questions. The mini "presentations" are followed with Q&A with the panel. Daunting, yes but in preparing for this final step in my first year of grad school, I have discovered that indeed I have learned a lot about domestic and global MCH in the past year! Everyone who knows me is aware I like to talk so it shouldn't be a problem to chat about issues I am passionate about, right?!

In addition to school wrapping up this past week, work has been very busy! Our annual field leaders meeting was in Chapel Hill last week and colleagues from most of our field offices were in town. I love this event because it gives me an opportunity to catch up with my colleagues and friends in Rwanda, Namibia, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya! An economist said this week that the United States is out of the recession and I feel this is because our field leaders were here shopping at SouthPoint mall and stimulating our economy!

It was such a thrill to see Pam and Kimani from the Kenya office. They delivered very good news that I would be able to charge my time to the project and receive funding. It feels like a ton of bricks have been lifted off my shoulders. Things are really falling into place just like everyone predicted.

Perhaps even better news, my scope of work for Kenya has been finalize and I am in love with the opportunities that await me in Nairobi. I will be working so hard but the objectives and technical activities on my plate will really give me an ideal technical field experience. I feel so blessed. Now, I just have to work hard to prove to the world that I possess these skills and can effectively carry forward my scope of work. Look at world!