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Watch Photo Highlights from the Conference:
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The New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids (NJPHK) co-hosted the Building a Culture of Health in New Jersey: A Systems Approach to Promoting Population Health Conference on Wednesday, November 29th at Pines Manor in Edison, NJ.
"Our
goal is to
help communities
create policy and environmental changes that address social determinants of health and improve overall health o
utcomes for New Jersey
families,
"
stated
Dr. Darrin Anderson,
State Program Director
,
N
ew Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids (NJPHK)
.
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Anderson Kicks Off Conference
NJPHK's Deputy Director Dr. Darrin Anderson
kicked off the event attended by more than 500 public health professionals, social workers,
educators, dietitians, and community leaders from across the state. This year's conference - one of the largest Public Health Conferences in New Jersey - had the largest attendance ever! Anderson lauded attendees for their partnership and commitment and advised them to "Bring home the difference you see today to motivate and inspire others to be champions for the Culture of Health."
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Christopher R.
Rinn
Underscores Criticality of Partnership
Acting Health Commissioner Christopher R.
Rinn
explained that his background in Emergency Preparedness has taught him the importance and value of collaborating with critical partners to break down barriers, address disparities, mitigate difficulties and accomplish goals. "When dealing with complex health issues, no one can go it alone,"
Rinn
stated. "
Partnering
to promote prevention, wellness and equity will give residents and visitors the opportunity to thrive. A healthier community is a more resilient community. Together, we must drive awareness at both the grassroots level and at the highest level of government."
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Paloma Asks for Commitment to Three Challenges
Marjorie Paloma, RWJF Senior Program Officer and Director
told conference attendees "We are at a pivotal moment in Building a Culture of Health. We have done a lot, learned a lot and still have a lot to do." She said it will take partnership, leadership and playing the long game. She challenged attendees to return to their communities committed to addressing three challenges: 1) get out of the comfort zone; connect with strangers and learn what drives them; 2) identify who else should be in the room to transform or elevate the work; and 3) reconnect with others in the community and engage in real conversations about issues,
problems
and solutions.
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Dr. Mike
Says
"Think Like Marketers to Sell the Culture of Health"
As
Dr. Mikhail (Mike) Varshavski
, our first featured speaker is a family medicine physician with Atlantic Health System. And as "Dr. Mike," he is
the most followed doctor on social media with a combined following of over 3.5 million. Dr. Mike had valuable and eye-opening insights to share about general health, social media and how to combine the two to deliver critical messages to audiences in a way that will entertain, impart knowledge, correct misinformation, heighten curiosity to learn more and, in time, change behavior.
"Those in public health must translate complex issues and answers into language and examples that can captivate and resonate with the people who need to hear and act on the messages," said Dr. Mike. "There are millions of people on social media and leveraging that power can greatly contribute to building a Culture of Health."
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Four-Time Olympian Joetta Clark Diggs Inspires Audience to "Get It Done"
If the 500+ attendees were a committed and focused group at the start of the day, by the end of the talk by our second featured speaker, Joetta Clark Diggs, the energy in the room was over the top. Everyone was on their feet, clapping,
smiling,
and cheering. Clark Diggs shared life lessons learned in the track and field arena and on Olympic courses where she competed in 800- and 1500-meter races. She argued that by being the best you can be, you help everyone: "Being a champion means you can make a difference in the lives of others," Clark Diggs said. Her agenda for Getting It Done (GID) is predicated on the "five Ps": Purpose, Preparation, Patience, getting Perturbed by setbacks, and always Persevering.
"People will discourage you because they look at you through their lenses," Clark Diggs cautioned. "Just because someone doesn't see your worth doesn't mean you aren't worthy." She told attendees to embrace change and always "be relevant." And, she said, "Once you get there, reach back and bring someone else along."
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Culture of Health Champions Recognized for Outstanding Efforts
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During the conference, Culture of Health awards were presented in recognition of organizations and individuals who are committed to creating changes that surround kids and families with opportunities to make healthy choices. The 2017 award recipients were:
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Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers
Valeria Galarza, Senior Project Manager, Cooper's Ferry Partnership
presented a Culture of Health Champion Award to the
Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers
. Founded
in 2003 by Dr. Jeff Brenner, the Camden Coalition has grown from a monthly breakfast group of local providers to a national movement influencing the way that care is delivered to patients with complex health and social needs.
The award acknowledges the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers for its use of "healthcare hotspotting," an approach that uses data to help drive high quality, comprehensive care, and support services to some of the city's high utilizers of healthcare. The Camden team has received national accolades for its work and in 2016 launched the National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs
which brings together a broad range of clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and consumers who are developing, testing, and scaling new models of team-based, integrated care.
Jared Susco accepted the award on behalf of the Camden Coalition of Health Care Providers.
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Dr. Mary Ann
Scheirer
Laura Leviton, a senior advisor for evaluation at RWJ Foundation
presented a Culture of Health Champion Award to the family of
Mary Ann Scheirer
. Dr.
Scheirer
was an independent consultant with more than 30 years' experience in evaluation, performance measures,
research,
and other uses of data to help ag
encies improve their outcomes.
She was instrumental in building the evaluation methodologies for the statewide program office of the New Jersey Partnership for Health Kids. This included evaluating initiatives such as the NJ Healthy Corner Store Initiative, Healthy Eating & Physical activity policies and early childcare programs to determine the overall community impact of the initiatives.
Jim Scheirer accepted the award on behalf of his late wife.
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Making an Impact: #HealthyNJ17 Gains More Than 315,000 Twitter Impressions
This year, attendees were encouraged to take selfies, tweet, and post their favorite moments and key takeaways from the conference. All of the social media activity by attendees, monitered using the #HealthyNJ17 tag, resulted in over 315,000 Twitter impressions (users interacting with and seeing posted content). Six attendees were our top tweeters for the day:
Shilja Mathur (@RDSMathur), Danielle Cooper (danielleicooper), Orville Morales (Orville_Morales), Chelsea Jackson (GreenwoodAveFM), Valerie Merahn Simon (ValerieSimon), and Chris Kirk (ChrisKirk)
Our top tweeters received a gift card and complimentary registration for next year.
Thank you again to our top tweeters and all participants for helping to spread a culture of health!
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Thanks to Our Conference Sponsors!
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With the holiday season fast approaching, it's easy to lose sight of healthy habits. Foods rich in fats, sugar, and sodium are in abundance at parties and gatherings which can make these dishes very difficult to avoid.
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