141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

293197
Smell-no-taste

Monday, November 4, 2013 : 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Stephen Harris, Medical student. Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York , The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 444 east 98th street, apartment #24J, New York, NY 10028, New York, NY
In January 2008 a team of physicians from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York travelled to Liberia in West Africa with a view to developing long-term support in the public health sector there. I accompanied them to document the mission. Within a few days of arriving it became apparent that the situations I was witnessing demonstrated public health care needs that were wanting on a scale unthinkable in the United States. As these public health care needs unfolded before me, I witnessed - and subsequently documented - the development of what has become the first post-civil war women's health care program in the country. From capturing the initial realization a lack of localized women's health care, to administering chemotherapy in a converted storage closet, to the establishment of a comprehensive education and training program designed to assist in perpetuating the work started in 2008, the film follows the story of what can happen when a vision is proposed and taken aboard within the local community to positive and meaningful ends. I believe that the film provides a unique perspective of the development of a successful public health care initiative from its earliest inception. Combined with technical animations demonstrating the problems the local population face, the film offers itself as an objective educational tool for those wishing to pursue similar endeavors. (The version of the film we have initially submitted sees the story ending prior to more recent events. We intend to incorporate footage of these more recent events into the version of the film we wish to show at the festival. If the festival organizers choose to consider us for inclusion, we will re-edit the film up to the current time, subtitle much of the dialogue more extensively, and close-caption the entire documentary.)

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Diversity and culture

Learning Objectives:
Demonstrate the need for more advanced women's healthcare than is currently available in Liberia, and describe a recommended course of action within said local environment.

Keywords: Access to Health Care, Community Preventive Services

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been following the course of the physicians displayed in this film since the inception of the public health project in Liberia in January 2008. As a medical student I have also spent time working in a professional capacity within the environment portrayed in the film. I believe said experience allows a more objective and qualified perspective, and thus when combined with my prior career in the entertainment business, a unique documentary experience.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.