Eight of our MPH students attended the 2020 CityMatCH Maternal and Child Health Leadership Conference, held September 16-18, online. What follows is a post from one of these attendees.
By Colton C. Collins, BS
The year 2020 has been hard; there is no question about that. This year has shown that people fail to understand the importance of public health, they fail to understand the importance of prevention, and large numbers of people lack empathy and compassion for the people around them. It was easy to feel hopeless at any moment during these past few months. We are certainly not experiencing the best of times. However, seeing how some have reacted to the events that have unfolded gives me a reason to believe that we will see better days.
CityMatCH was my first virtual conference; though I did not know what to expect, I started to get very excited as soon as they released the schedule. People who I have heard speak before were on the lineup and on panels, together. From the decolonization of gender to racial reckoning in birth work, my expectations these met and surpassed my expectations.
Around this time every year I find myself losing touch with my love for public health and why I got into it to begin with. The everyday fight to get people to understand that we should care for each other is tiring and I find myself getting fatigued. Luckily, I find myself at conferences surrounded by people who are in the fight and their strength, compassion, and tenacity make me fall in love with public health all over again. CityMatCH helped me with that.
I want to be an attorney one day, and I constantly translate the ground rules of public health with a legal lens and keep them tucked away so that I can use them later. My favorite one is that we need to center the lived experiences of the people we are working for and not only center the lived experiences of them, but also include them at every step of the process and give them the power to be in charge. Dr. Joia Crear-Perry said something during her panel that I immediately had to write down. I should never forget this statement. Ever. Even later when I am practicing law. She said, “The people closest to the problem should be in charge.” We watch rooms full of heterosexual white men making the decisions for us, the people. It is important for us to remember that the people closest to the problem should be in charge and that sometimes it is necessary to take that power, by any means necessary.
Overall, my first virtual conference was a success. I rekindled my love for public health during a time when hopelessness seems to be running rampant. They reminded me of why I got into public health in the first place and I am thankful for that so now it is time to take some deep breaths, and continue working.
Colton C. Collins, BS, is a second-year MPH student concentrating in Maternal and Child Health. He plans to graduate in May 2021 and hopes to pursue legal studies after. His interests lie at the intersection of public health and the law, women’s health, reproductive justice, family planning, and the protection and expansion of safe, legal, and funded abortion. In his free time, you can find him reading, listening to podcasts, or studying for the LSAT.
