Special Edition - Safe States 2021 Annual Conference podcast

Host Mighty Fine features Safe States members on this special edition to share their thoughts and feelings on the upcoming Safe States Annual Conference. Statements focus on Reconnecting and Reimagining - both individually and with their injury and violence prevention peers.

Safe States members in order of "audio" appearance:

Toska Cooper, UNC Injury Prevention Research Center
Scott Proescholdbell,  North Carolina Division of Public Health
Courtney Edwards, Parkland Health & Hospital System
Siarra Scott, UNC Injury Prevention Research Center
Bina Ali, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation

Transcript

Mighty Fine  0:17  
Welcome to a special edition of IVP INdepth, a Safe State Alliance podcast. I'm your host Mighty Fine. And I'm super excited about this episode, because we're gearing up for the 2021 Annual Conference. As you may recall, in 2020, we hosted our first ever virtual conference and brought together hundreds of injury and violence prevention professionals for three days of learning and networking. Now, we're excited to bring this opportunity back again for 2021. The virtual conference will be held August 31, through September 2, and will feature both live and pre-recorded presentations. It will operate on a web based platform with presentations that will be organized into sessions, according to core competencies or injury and violence prevention topics. And the nature of the virtual conference really will provide several new opportunities for expanded engagement. We'll have the general sessions, of course, but there'll be other ways to engage through designated small group networking times, the virtual exhibit hall, private messaging, discussion boards, and just really encouraging you all to engage and learn and network in a meaningful manner. Although we won't be in our in person posture as we have been in the past - but as we saw last year, in 2020, it was very successful, we're hoping for even greater success this year. So as we're gearing up for 2021, why don't we just pose a question to our members? What are you thinking about what's on your mind in regard to the annual conference, or what you're doing professionally or personally, over these past 18 months. There's been so much happening in the world, and things that we had to shift in our personalized our professional lives. So we just wanted to hear from our members. And so I'll take a pause here. And let's take a listen in what members had to say.

Toska Cooper  2:07  
So when I think of Safe States Annual Conference, I immediately get excited, because I know that when I come to this event, it is going to be dynamic, engaging, and fun. I mean, who gets to come to an injury and violence prevention conference, and really get to enjoy themselves. When I think of our coffee chat sessions, when I think of the afternoon activities, or the evening activities that we have, it just makes me so happy to just be a part of part of the group and more importantly, just connect with people from across the country.

Scott Proescholdbell  2:44  
It's definitely going to be different. But will people see this as an opportunity or a barrier, I say injury and violence preventionists tend to be problem solvers. And we will take the lessons learned and the best practices of before during COVID and apply them now. And in the future. It's an opportunity, take advantage of it.

Courtney Edwards  3:05  
Our communities need a sense of worth all of our communities. And we can only achieve that with its people feeling that they are worthwhile. And we stand here fighting for you now, and for your prevention and well being in the future.

Siarra Scott  3:22  
So I have been fortunate, as of lately, to have several opportunities to reconnect in both my personal and professional life, which I have been especially thankful for after the past year and a half that we all have experienced, it's been really nice to be able to reconnect. And so professionally, I've had the opportunity at a recent cookout that we had for our Injury Center. And so this was especially great because I had the opportunity to meet a lot of my co workers and colleagues in person for the first time since I started my role during the pandemic. And so I've always been working remotely so far. And so some people who I have worked very closely with and have been meeting with every week or so, for the past year, I have just met them in person at that cookout. So that was especially great. Also a little strange to see people's faces outside of a computer screen. So I'm still getting a little used to that, but it was really nice. And then in my personal life, I also recently had an opportunity to reconnect with my family members who I haven't had a chance to see over in over a year or so, family members who live in different states and we haven't had a chance to really be around each other because of the pandemic but now, thanks to advances in you know, the medicine and everything and being able to get the vaccine We were all able to connect and get together. And so we rented out an Airbnb and all of my family stay together in the Airbnb. And so we worked, you know, together, those of us who are old enough and have jobs and work, we all worked, you know around the house together and got to spend time with each other. And just really enjoyed some quality time that we haven't had a chance to. And it's also strange because I feel like before all of this, we would have never imagined that we would have an opportunity to do something like that where we all could get together for that much time and still work and in each other's co workers. Kind of like we're in the office together, but still work our separate jobs and I don't think that would ever been imaginable. But fortunately, due to flexibilities now, because of the pandemic, we could do something like that. And so it was really great to be able to spend that quality time and reconnect. And I think in the future, we're going to be reimagining you know, how we do spend time together, how we are able to get together as a family. What a vacation looks like for us. And sometimes it might look like this, like just spending time together. But not necessarily going out and doing like you know, going to certain places or doing big events, but just spending quality time together in one space. So yeah.

Bina Ali  6:29  
One important lesson that I learned over the course of last year is that time is valuable. By focusing on self care and building resiliency, I have been reassessing my priorities. I have always been passionate about injury and violence prevention and mental health promotion. But now I am looking at these issues with the health equity lens. I'm also making time to pursue my other interests, like hiking and playing tennis, both professionally and personally, I am engaging in those activities and efforts that I enjoy that I'm passionate about that are meaningful to me, and that are related to my long term goals.

Mighty Fine  7:04  
Now that you've had a chance to hear from some of our members, take a minute and think about what you're looking forward to for the annual conference or other opportunities to engage with folks in injury and violence prevention. I'm certainly looking forward to reconnecting and reimagining the way that we do injury and violence prevention. So until next time, stay safe and injury free. This is your host Mighty Fine, signing out.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai