From the sticks of Cambodia!

Hello from Pursat, Cambodia!

We've it's been almost 3 weeks since flying into Phnom Penh. Now I'm in the countryside and really loving the fresh air and great hospitality! I've visited 3 health centers and one hospital so far in this province. Every road except the main interprovince road (and a few in the main town) are dirt and during the rainy season (now) they're especially bad, but not impossible! I had a real treat yesterday when I was driven to Pramoy ("elephant's trunk") to visit their health center. What a wonderful mountain village with even better fresh air and great views of their mountains! The health center has a minimum staff and very few members of the villages they serve can make the long arduous trip to receive services.

I was just visiting with Dr. Khoy Dy, the Provincial Coordinator for RACHA in Pousat, the other day and it was a treat to hear his vision for the province, … how he sees the different units of RACHA supporting each other (safe motherhood, infectious disease, malnutrition, etc…), … how his staff helped the province prepare for the dengue fever season and have seen the lowest incidence rate in the country, … how he is working to establish locally sustainable programs such as a pilot community-based health insurance program, … WONDERFUL!

Missing all of you!
Grant

Responses

I am so proud that I guessed the closest due date for the MPH baby! I am coming to Utah just to pick up my prize, congrats!
In response to questions about classes and computers: You are an idiot if you do not take grant-writing! Alright, that might be a strong statement, but I can't think of anywhere you could end up where it would not be useful. I think taking it second yeaer wasa good choice. And I think that taking one elective per semester is just about perfect. I did not feel that a laptop was at all necessary, you'll only end up surfing the web and not paying attention.

I love public health!

drugs or grants?

It's me again! I am trying to put my schedule together and wanted to ask how the electives work. Basically does it turn out to be one elective per semester? How come the electives are on Tues/Thurs? That kind of messes up my plans (ha ha). I am interested in the grant writing class. Is is a lot of work? Would I be better off taking substance abuse first semester and saving grant writing until second year? I don't want to kill myself off right out of the gate. Words of wisdom second years?

Thanks,
Kristin Brown

Mac or PC?

Hey all,

As an incoming student I was curious how many of you brought laptops to class for notetaking, internet stuff, etc. I know there are carols with computers that are assigned to us, but I wondered how useful a laptop might be----(imperative? helpful? a luxury?) Anyone with advise?

Kristin

Who guessed Baby Schiffman's B-Day & Weight

The Doctor guessed Ammon's birthday (Schiffman says that he doesn't count though) -- 6/6/07

Emily M., Megan D. & Meredith B. were the real winners since they all guessed 6/5/07

Becky & Whitney came the closest to guessing his weight -- 8lbs. 2 oz. (compare to actual below)

Prizes will be given out once school starts!

New Arrival!!!

Well, luckily the human gestation process does not last approximately a year as was suggested by one first year MPHer (and Aaron's wild guess for the birthday). I don't remember what people guessed for the date and weight, but our MPH baby has arrived! I'm sure someone guessed the right day and perhaps even the weight. (It wasn't I! I was hoping for a May delivery!).

Birth Date: June 6, 2007, 10:56 pm

Length: 20 inches

Weight: 8 lbs 4 oz

Mom and baby are both doing fine! The baby is a night owl, so I have been trying to adjust to my new schedule. My husband blames me for staying up late to finish my homework. But I never stayed up as late as this child does! He is a sweetheart and laughs in his sleep. He looks mostly like his father. He had Jaundice the first week after he was born and had to sleep under the Billy lights for a few days. So if he looks like he has a dark tan, that is really the Jaundice. He is doing fine now.

It has been fun to follow peoples' postings though I haven't been on the internet for a couple of weeks. I'm glad that everyone is having an adventurous summer!

BYU professor creates Spanish anti-smoking ads for Utah Hispanics

Again, not a MPH faculty member or student, but still related.

BYU News Release.

Videos of the series of 4 ads.

New job!

Hi people -

You are reading a post from Utah County United Way's newest employee!

I had the 3rd interview today, and must have really done a good BSing job, because they just love me and think I'm fabulous and offered me a FT position starting June 18th! The title is "Resource Developer." The office is less than 2 miles from our house, so that's a big plus.

So - if you end up employeed out in the big, bad corporate world.... remember - become a United Way sponsor!

Oh - Brian and I just returned from an awesome week vacation in Denmark. Had a blast. Little upset that they didn't have free water fountains or bathrooms though.....

PAHO: This just in....finally

Dear Everyone!!!!

I have been meaning to do this weeks ago. I am so excited about our MPH blog and say hats off to Grant for using his mad-technical skills to improve our lives, our program, and bring us all together during our summer adventures away. I echo Emily, that I miss you all. We really do have an amazing cohort and I miss seeing you every week, day, almost every night. I look forward to more good times in the Fall, but for now am so excited that we get to all have the time our lives in different corners of the world.

So Washington, DC and PAHO. Fantastic. I'll post pictures of the crazy PAHO building on 23rd street. Definitely wins the award for the most unique building design of the area. I think the UN or WHO have a special knack for that. Anyway, I work on the 8th floor with Chris and a bunch of other people. It is a place I affectionately call, "DC's little Latin world" because the people who work there all speak spanish (and working english), come from Latin American countries, and can spend their lives living and working in DC without having to speak much english. My cubicle is 827E, in case you want to come visit. Oh, and don't forget to check in with the security guard/reception table by the front door before getting on the elevator as I did my first day. They get all excited. ;-)

I spend my days doing research, particularly on Peru. I'm putting together a health profile of Peru, but which is more like a background-of-partnering groups for the LDS/PAHO Partnership which is coming underway. They plan to begin implementation of some IMCI projects starting in the Fall. I'm learning TONS and reading a lot in spanish, including the webpage for the Ministry of Health there in Peru. Sadly, I don't think I'll be flying there this summer for any related project, however, there still remains hope for possibilities during the school year. We shall see...

There are several other interns...mostly M.D.'s: 2 from Haiti and 1 from Nicaragua, and a medical student from Arizona in her 3rd year. Also, there is Andrea, another 1st year MPHer just like me, from Vancouver, BC. Actually, she is from Austria, but studied in Norway and Canada, and is hoping to get accepted to a medical school in the US. She's a lot of fun. Tonight we are going to a ballet together at the Kennedy Center, which is just a short walk down from PAHO after work. I'm excited!!!

Sight-seeing opportunities have been enjoyable. On Memorial day I went to Arlington Cemetery and heard the President speak. I went to a Poetry reading at the National Library of Congress. We've been to the DC temple!!! A group of ward friends went to Mount Vernon for an afternoon. I've toured the National Masonic Temple in Alexandria. Right behind my apartment building (and across the freeways) is the Pentagon and the new Air Force Memorial which we call "homebase." I've enjoyed a National's baseball game, and lunch at the World Bank. My roommates are really great. One works for Senator Harry Reed as a scheduler, one is from Ukraine, and one is trying to get into the Peace Corp or work for a non-profit organization. They're all amazing.Marin and I are in the same ward!! So that makes us very happy! I ran into Erin's brother on the Metro one Sunday after church! Crazy. And then Dr. Mirta Roses was at Tobacco Free World Day in Conference room A, which is when I got to take a picture with her. A day before there was a random firedrill and we all cleared the building and I saw her on the sidewalk talking to a man next to us. Random. She's pretty busy and travels a lot, so she's not always here at PAHO.

Well, there is so much to say but not enough time! I hope this gives you a glimpse into my PAHO internship! I'll post more later. Love you guys!

Christine

Thanks for posting and reading! Keep it up!

If case you wondered who all checks the blog, I have a report for you. People from all over the world (but mostly Provo/Orem) are reading this blog -- WAY TO GO! And we're just getting started. =DClick on the images to see the details.

This data was collected between May 20th and June 4th, so those who visited between April 27 (when I started the blog) and May 20th are not represented on the map.

Hello All

This is Kristin Brown, a "newbie" next fall. I am really excited to get to know you all and learn from you all the tricks of the trade. I hope you will pass on your nuggets of wisdom to us so our path might be a bit smoother. I am also excited about this blog! Thanks, Grant, for setting it up! I have little to offer at this time, but have and will continue to enjoy reading what you all post. Have a great summer.

Kristin Brown

Lesson learned: Stay on your toes!

Hello fellow MPHers,

Amanda and I are pleased to report happy news -- we are back on track to Cambodia! The key phrase that seemed to keep rising to the surface is "Know your stakeholders!" After becoming more familiar with the policies of the Fultons and our college, department, and program, we teamed up with Prof. Don Holsinger and a group of BYU-Hawaii students for our trip to Cambodia! We will be sharing housing while we are there, which sounds like a wonderful situation and should greatly enrich our experience. We even have our plane tickets now! Our date of departure is the 24th of June.

In the meantime, we are finishing the preliminary paperwork, I am wrapping up my internship with the Center for Multicultural Health and the Utah County Health Department, and I get to take a break by doing a little bit of sprinkler system work on the side!

Thanks everyone for keeping me up-to-date on the blog! Thanks for all your support!

PEPFAR retreat to Bagaanara

We were able to be Part of a PEPFAR retreat to Bagaanara!! We went with the leaders from USAID, UNAID, CDC, Peace Corps and the Ministry of Health. There was also the Washington DC based part of the PEPFAR Guyana team. They were putting together the plan for 2008. It was amazing to see them work, discuss programs and understand how PEPFAR unites all of these groups. It was also a beautiful resort on the Esiquibo river. We took a 2 hour bus ride and then a 1 hour boat ride to get to the resort. We were there for 2 days! We were invited by the USAID director Julia Reihwinkle-Roberts. She has been very kind to us. The picture is Annah and Asmita in the speed boat.

This is Annah doing Karaoke with two girls from the Washington DC PEPFAR Core team-Guyana. She tore it up for a song, but got self conscious. The other two girls sang it up for about half an hour. I played Ping pong with the Program directors daughter-Ashley. It was fun! We had a first big rain storm and it left many of our neighbors flooded with about a foot of water. It was crazy. Hope everyone is doing well! Rock on everyone!

Peace from Guyana

Lori and Annah

Assorted Tidbits

I am heading to Palo Alto later this week to get to this new job o'mine. For anyone who does not yet know, I accepted a position at Stanford at the Asian Liver Center as a Global Projects Coordinator. I am way excited, but finding housing has been frustrating. But I think I am almost there.

And Chels, I think it would be okay to pass on the sacred dart gun, but only if the new Second Years realize the incredible honor and trust that is being given to them!

I am loving reading what everyone has written, keep it up!

fuming but good

Hey guys!

I am so glad to hear about everyone's adventures. So glad to be out of school too. I still can't believe that we actually made it through our first year. We are pretty amazing!

As for me, I have been washing windows quite steadily for the past few weeks to earn some extra cash. Seeing that Grant and I did not recieve any money from the Fulton grant, I will have to wash a lot of windows to pay my way. I am still pretty upset as the reasons why we were not funded, but just don't get me started. Grant keeps me level headed about the whole thing, so I am glad he is around for that.

Nothing much else to report. If you we wondering, I have no boyfriend nor prospects at this time. That boy who will remain nameless that came to biostats that one time is no longer in the picture.

Well, wish Grant and I luck as we try to find some funding to go. Grant is unsure that he will go if he does not have funding. I don't really want to go by myself, but I will if I have to. Take care, and I will keep you all posted!

Amanda