Association for Community Health Improvement National Conference 2013

I attended the ACHI National Conference in St. Louis from March 12 - 14 as an exhibitor and had the opportunity to meet many dedicated professionals who are very concerned about the health of their communities.  A special shout out to Berna Griffin and her staff for graciously answering my many questions.  Also, a big thank you to Cherlyn Marks for helping me (and all of the exhibitors) with making the exhibiting process easy.  A special note of thanks to Melissa Rehrig MPH, MCHES from the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. for being such a gracious neighbor during the conference.

One of the larger issues at the conference was how to reach those individuals in rural areas and provide them with effective interventions.  Although the use of GIS and mapping can be an effective tool, the small number problem remains.  Any use of GIS to help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Jim Wooten

I've uploaded my presentation from Wednesday September 19th 2012 at the Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development (SHSMD) Connections 2012 Conference held in Philadelphia, PA.  You can see the presentation here. 

Ronald McDonald House of Southern New Jersey

I’ve just returned from a volunteer event at the Ronald McDonald House in Camden, New Jersey.  The event was sponsored by the Healthcare Leadership Network of the Delaware Valley (HLNDV) which is a membership group of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE).  The group (pictured) cooked a breakfast of eggs, pancakes, toasted English muffins and bacon as well as juice and coffee.  I was responsible for cooking the bacon (2 lbs.)!

I was reminded once again how fortunate I am to have relatively good health.  To see the kids at the house suffering from a variety of life-threatening illnesses and still be in good spirits is humbling.  The house itself is a sanctuary for both the kids and their parents and the staff do a wonderful job of working with the families and maintaining the facility.

A special thanks to Fred for giving the group a tour of the house and patiently answering our questions.   If you want to know more about the Ronald McDonald House of Southern New Jersey, please visit:  http://www.ronaldhouse-snj.org/

GIS and Professionalism

As a healthcare consultant who uses the tools and techniques of geographic information systems (GIS), I am interested in the professionalism of the consulting industry but also the extent to which those of us who use GIS are viewed as professionals and not just analysts.  I recently completed reading two articles of interest – David DiBiase’s “Strengthening the GIS Profession” in the Summer 2012 issue of ArcNews (http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/summer12articles/strengthening-the-gis-profession.html) and Alan Butler’s article in the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) publication The GIS Professional titled “Directing URISA into the Future: A Proposal for Discussion” (http://www.urisa.org/files/julyaug2012.pdf). 

Alan’s article is written as commentary but I believe he makes several valid points as to the direction URISA must take in order to be the relevant professional organization for GIS professionals.  While I appreciate David’s comments, I don’t believe he goes far enough (which may simply reflect the amount of space available in ArcNews).  Alan goes further and does a nice job of laying out what he believes the future of URISA should look like.  However, I would encourage the board of URISA to consider going even further. 

When I mention to people that I belong to URISA (“eww Rissa”), they look at me like I have three heads!  Perhaps it’s time for a change in the organization’s name to something like GISTA (Geospatial Information Systems & Technology Association).  I believe this better reflects a more broadly defined profession for those of us who use the technology and better reflects the certifications (GIS Certification Institute) and accreditations that Alan calls for.  It’s also more consistent with the US Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA) Geospatial Technology Competency Model (GTCM) that David mentions in his article.

What do you think?