Six of our MCH students attended the 2020 annual meeting of the American Public Health Association(APHA), held October 24-28, 2020, online. What follows is a post from one of the attendees.
Fabiola Tarazona Tubens, BS
This year I had the opportunity to attend for the first time the APHA 2020 Virtual Meeting from my home in Puerto Rico. Although all conferences were being offered virtually, it was challenging, exciting, and kind of overwhelming learning how to navigate all the APHA sessions, activities, and even the virtual public health expo. At the same time, I tried to participate in virtually almost every activity, visit the virtual public health expo, and network/engage with health-related Maternal and Child Health organizations or different public health schools across the US. It was a great virtually experience to be part of Maternal and Health communities, advocating groups holding different sessions related to health equity, racism, child health services, health disparities, pregnancy outcomes and, other topics that emerged during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
I really enjoyed the session called “Maternal and Infant Outcomes Among Women in Adverse Environment Conditions: Hurricanes, Wildfires, and Maternity” mainly where Dr. Georgina- Silva Perez-Suarez speaks about the impact of Hurricane Maria on expecting mothers, especially before, during, and after the hurricane. It was astonishing to hear about this session because I was in Puerto Rico during Hurricane Maria-it was overwhelming, the power outage across the island, the lack of drinkable water, and, therefore, the disruption of care, particularly to pregnant women. She explained some of the participants’ concerns and fears and what elements should be addressed to improve disaster plans targeting pregnant mothers.
Dr. Perez-Suares spoke about the emotions, particularly fear, dual burden (as individual and for the baby), the interruption of care, coping mechanism, and the support from their family as some of the findings of the study. This session caught my eye because I want to focus on working with minority communities, especially those (pregnant individuals, mothers, children, or families) who may have limited resources or language barriers when accessing healthcare services even during natural disasters.
Fabiola Tarazona Tubens, BS, is a second-year MPH student concentrating in Maternal and Child Health. She plans to graduate in December 2021 and deciding if she stays as a public health professional or continues to pursue an MD (Pediatrician-Neonatologist) after graduation. Her interests include reproductive health and advocacy for health disparities, particularly in minority populations such as Latino/Hispanic overcoming language barriers in the healthcare system, health equity, and child health. She also loves cooking Puerto Rican food, baking pastries, photography, and dancing.
