Shopping in the Quarter

Monday began boringly, as I tried desperately to concentrate on studying for Epidemiology. While I do like the class, I don't find the material all too gripping. So, instead, Holly and I went to pick up materials for a class we're taking in the spring intercession: Training Methodologies for Health Professionals in Developing Counties. It should be a very interesting course. Then, we headed to Mississippi!

Holly's friend is stationed there for a bit doing training, so we went to visit. And went gambling! For the first time ever! It was so much fun! However, Tuesday I began studying for Epidemiology. Then I went shopping!

Christmas shopping in the Quarter with Alana lead to some shopping and lots of eating beignets and drinking hot chocolate. How to explain how delightful beignets are? Well, start with the physical description: fried dough balls smothered in powdered sugar. While you can't laugh, talk or breath with one close to your mouth, they're warm and delightfully sugary and overall will make your day. After loading up on sugar, Alana and I headed out on Decatur to peruse the tourist shops for Nawlins things. I ended up with several types of masks, beignet mix, and a picture of the St. Charles streetcar. Although we ended up getting soaked in the rain, it was well worth the trek into the French Quarter just for the beignets. :)

Wednesday - Epidemiology final :( Watching Chicago with Alana :)

Thursday began early as I started surveying for a local clinic. The clinic, which serves mainly uninsured people, is monitoring and evaluating it mammography referral system. Throughout the semester, I've been pulling charts in my clinic and in the mammography clinic (which is free of charge) and talking with various people all in preparation for a phone survey to determine the barriers to getting a mammogram. With any luck, it will go well and we'll be able to determine why there is such a low rate of mammograms. Although phone surveying is no fun, I think the information I'm gathering will help the clinic and the people it tries to serve.

Thursday - more surveying....

Then, fun times tree trimming. Chris, my roommate, had a party to decorate his Christmas tree with eggnog and cookies. Chelsea and Laura came. Great fun :)

Friday, after my tedious surveying, I headed back to the Quarter to do more shopping with Chelsea and Laura. I didn't buy much but it was fun to look at the art on Royal Street and the kitchy tourist items on Decatur. Then I headed back to pack and babysit for Booboo (aka Malachi Gerard Sheahan IV). Slept over at Mal and Claudie's so I could get a ride to the airport but, alas, Delta changed my flights (something about my plane being stuck in St. Louis). Ended up going through Cincinnati instead of Atlanta, but luckily, despite the dire nor'easter warnings, I had no weather trouble. And I learned a fun fact! The Cincinnati airport, despite what you might think, is not in Ohio. It's in KENTUCKY! So, I got a new state on my map of those visited. Now, I'm back home, looking forward to some rest, good food, and fun times.

Celebration in the Oaks

This weekend was so much fun! After the crazy studying for Complex Emergencies and Biostats, it was a relief to be able to relax, sleep and have fun.

Friday, after Biostats, I took a long, luxurious nap... I didn't even set an alarm! It was delightful. Then, I headed to Frenchman Street for some live jazz with Megan and Alana. Have I told you how much I enjoy live jazz? It's incredible and so different from recorded jazz (which sounds like elevator music to me). But live jazz has energy and life and humor, wrapped up in good music. This weekend, I went to Snug Harbor and heard Ellis Marsalis. With a piano, drums, bass, trombone, and - get this - a xylophone! Who'd have though you could play jazz xylophone? Nevertheless, the concert was great.

Saturday, I moped around the morning, then went to a late lunch with Chelsea to get a po boy. So, this whole time I thought a po boy was more exotic than it actually is - I imagined some kind of weird meat (alligator, for example), in some kind of weird dressing/sauce with some unknown other meat. That's been my past experience with New Orleans food and I expected a po boy to be no different. I was sadly disappointed when a po boy turns out to be a type of hoaggie/sub. Yes, slightly different bread but, in essence, it's a fancy term for a hoaggie. Not that it wasn't good - it was very good - and now I can wow my Northern friends with my experiences with a po boy!

Continuing on - After the po boy experience, Chelsea and I headed toward City Park for their Celebration in the Oaks. We ran in the 2mile Run/Walk to get access to the park first! Along with Blessing, Jen, Emily and Brian, we made it through to end with hot chocolate, cookies, and iced tea. Then the lights - walking through Storyland, the Botanical Gardens and the park... everything was covered in lights and fun. There was even a Cajun Night Before Christmas! Here are some pics...

Then, I raced back to the house to go out with Mal, Claudie and Uncle Mal. We went to a wonderful steak house that I've walked past almost every day (it's at the corner of Josephine and St. Charles). Then we went to the Column's Hotel (also along St. Charles, also very fancy!).

Sunday was a relaxing day of rest and some studying!

Back in the Northeast

I'd forgotten how much I love fall! Not just the months between September and December... but the colors, smells, feeling of fall.

Over Thanksgiving (and a little before and after), I went back to the Northeast - NYC, Newark, Audubon, PA, to be exact. On Friday, I flew to Newark, NJ. When I left my house at 4am, the temperature was around 65 degrees. When I left the Newark airport at 11:30am, the temperature was around 40 degrees. Talk about a shock! When I finally got to NYC (Penn Station, to be exact) it was flurrying! Once I got over the initial shock of freezing, I remembered how much I love fall. As I walked around Fordham's campus, visiting my sister, I couldn't help but breathe deeply, walk in crunchy leaves, and shiver. When I got home on Tuesday, the realization hit me further. I took Ceili for a walk around 1am and the cold crisp smell - the pinpoint clear stars - the smell of rotting leaves - the sounds of fall - overwhelmed me. I didn't realize how much I'd missed the northeast.

(That's Ceili, in her new sweater!)

But, past the reminiscing... on Saturday, Eileen and I went to the Fordham v. Bucknell football game, the (last) home game of the season. I froze and the team lost. :( After sitting under several blankets and drinking hot chocolate, I was ready to head back out. Taking Metro North into Manhattan, we met up with Colette to try Burgers and Cupcakes, a restaurant Eileen wanted to try out... because who can resist burgers and cupcakes. The burgers were great, the cupcakes not so much. Next, we headed to Bryant Park to go ICE-SKATING!!! Again, I forgot how much fun ice-skating is. After wearing ourselves out, we headed back to Aunt Kate's for some warmth and movies.

Sunday we met up with Chrissy and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and took the Staten Island Ferry - four boroughs in one day (stupid Queens). It was great to catch up with Chrissy! After a long (and cold, wet day), Eileen and I finally headed back to Fordham with a taxi driver who didn't know where to go! We got there safely though.

Monday - colder and rainier. We planned on going to the Bronx Zoo but my lack of warm clothes (and thicker blood) prevented it.

Tuesday - I putzed around while Eileen went to class then met up with Dad to go visit Aunt Peggy. She faithfully sat through my pictures of New Orleans (only someone who truly loves me could do that) and then we went out to dinner with Eileen on Arthur Avenue. Finally, we headed back to good ol' PA.

Wednesday - hmm... what did I do? Much of nothing.

Thursday - Thanksgiving... headed BACK to NYC for a Sheahan family gathering... all 24 of us! (Mom, Dad, Eileen, Katie, Aunt Kate, Michael, Maria, Santiago, Megan, Jim, Tommy, Dennis, Jenn, Kyle, Patrick, Brendan, Uncle Mal, Aunt Danielle, BreeAyn, Scott, Connor, Mal, Claudie, M4) A true nut house!

Friday - stupid NY parking laws! I had to get up early to go sit in the car until the street cleaner came by, drive around the block, and sit in the car again. Then we headed home. That night, I met up with Jess and we talked :)

Saturday - hung out with Smelli Muscelli! I went over to her house and we talked for a while then went to a furniture show at Chelsea Smith's house. I haven't seen her since graduation. It was a little weird but nice to hear how she was doing. Then, that night, we went to Applebee's and met up with Liz, Andy, Govind, Kyle, Jon, Andrew, Melissa, and some other people. It was REALLY weird seeing people from high school but also a lot of fun. Then we went midnight bowling. Fun day!

Sunday - oh the day of craziness! Started uneventfully with the Thomas's coming over to say hi. Molly and Kate are so big now and adorable. Riley, AJ, and Reagan are also growing... it makes me feel old 'cause Reagan's almost in middle school! I was her first babysitter! Anyway, shortly after, my dad was outside, slipped down the hill and broke his ankle (although we didn't know it at the time). Rising to the occasion by bringing out some true McCarthy stubbornness (of which every McCarthy, myself included, has varying degrees of), he decided it wasn't broken and that he could take the Thomas's family picture while kneeling! When he finally got inside and I pointed out the swelling that was occurring despite the super-tight socks he wears, he finally decided it might be a good idea to stop walking on it and go to the hospital to get it checked out.

Poor Eileen was left to leave without saying a real goodbye and I was left home alone on the last night I'd be there. Luckily, Nicole came by to keep me company and we mercilessly made fun of and gossiped about almost everyone in our high school yearbook.

Monday I flew back to Nola. Miserable flights, but I finally made it back, only 2 hours or so late. Since then, I've been doing work and being boring.

Pictures to come!

A Tale of Two Cities

I'm sure you've all heard about the Chocolate City speech. The now famous (or infamous) mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, spoke on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day about how he wants New Orleans to be chocolate at the end of the day, and he didn't care what those people in Uptown thoughts. While I don't necessarily agree with what Mayor Nagin said, he did get one thing right - New Orleans is two separate cities. There's the tree-lined, Katrina-undamaged, posh, wedding-cake house Uptown area and there's the rest of the city. And while the Garden District and the Uptown area is beautiful, it doesn't represent all of New Orleans. There's the 9th ward, the Hoffman triangle, Center City, downtown, Canal Street, New Orleans east - interesting places, but still in need of some determined help.

Last night, in celebration of finished a horrible biostats test, I went with some friends to the NOLA Healthcare Townhall Meeting - a "candid discussion with industry leaders." The meeting, taking place in one of Tulane's uptown campus buildings, was composed of about 10 healthcare professionals, all with beautiful letters after their names, as if trying to outdo each other. MB.BS, MSW, MD, M.P.A., Ph.D.,... so many letters. There wasn't one RN, community member, or volunteer. The first speaker, who will remain nameless, said that New Orleans healthcare did not suffer from a lack of money but from a lack of resources. He argued for an improvement of the current facilities, making them cutting edge, rather than focusing on primary healthcare. Has the man seen the people who need healthcare?!

While Nola does need to develop its tertiary healthcare system, it needs to start with the basics. How can a truly equal system be constructed without starting from the bottom, building a firm foundation of primary care? Charity Hospital, now closed, provided care to those with no insurance but how many of those problems could have been minimized with primary care months earlier. Many people without health insurance wait until a problem is severe enough to interfere with daily life to do something about it. They have little or no prior relationship with a healthcare worker and often lack the basic foundation of information necessary to make an educated decision. Now, you might be thinking that my comments are derisive and demeaning - that only uneducated people lack health insurance. However, that's not the case. In many places, the majority of uninsured or underinsured are people in their 20s - those who could afford insurance but don't see the necessity of it. In this case, Nola's healthcare problem is not a lack of money. But in many cases, it is. People lack the monetary flexibility to take a day off from work to wait in line at a free clinic to hopefully get an appointment. If they can get an appointment, they can't always make time to fulfill the referrals or they can't afford the recommended treatment. So even while charity clinics are becoming all the rage, they aren't the solution - they're a poor band aid that you hope stops the bleeding.

With 47% of the New Orleans population living under 200% of the poverty line, money is a problem. So how do you change this? Several solutions were proposed. While these solutions are time and money consuming, they may be the only way to help Nola healthcare.

• improve access to TIMELY, QUALITY, AFFORDABLE care;
• increase prevention and wellness events/activities/education - it costs 4-5 times more to cure problems than to prevent them;
• create a safe environment with access to healthy lifestyle choices - when it's cheaper to buy high calorie, low nutrient fast food, it's hard to make healthy lifestyle choices;
• improve and maintain continuity of care - Katrina messed up a lot of people's lives - continuity is critical.
• create a holistic health care system.

New Orleans should not be two cities - one chocolate, one vanilla. Let's go for the happy, soft-serve swirl.

St. Charles Streetcar :) and 9th Ward :(

There is always so much going on in New Orleans. It's such a diverse, crazy, wonderful, busy, quiet, slow, quick city. I know that makes little sense, but that's how it is.

This weekend was no exception. Saturday I walked to the end of the French Quarter with Holly to go to the Frenchman Street Bookfair. While the bookfair was not exactly my type of bookfair (many anarchist and liberation books, mixed with some book about an alien abduction with a few New Orleans books and recipe books and many hurricane books), we passed a church yard sale on our way there. On the way back, feeling extremely disappointed by the lack of books we wanted to buy, we stopped at the yard sale. That's when the fun began - a huge tent full of books - 5 softcover for a dollar and 1 hardcover for a dollar. Just in case you don't know me well enough... I bought 8 books! I couldn't fit any more in my bag!

We stopped back at the house to grab some lunch, then took the bus down St. Charles to Napoleon to go to the .... St. Charles Streetcar party!!! The streetcars, many having been destroyed in Katrina and the lines being messed up, have not run up St. Charles since before Katrina. While one ran from Canal to Lee Circle, this pathetic attempt was only used by tourists because it only really ran about 5 blocks. However, on Saturday, they opened it from Canal to Napoleon!!! You probably are questioning my excitement over the opening of a form of transportation that I can out walk, however, this is really one case where you have to be here. When so much else seems to be floundering, opening the streetcar is a symbol of the city. Now, if they could only make many of the destroyed neighborhoods a symbol of the city too...

A few weekends ago, I went with my friend Alana and her Dutch friend to the much publicized 9th ward. The most shocking thing about the whole experience was how unfazed I was. Yes, there was debris everywhere and many abandoned houses, but it's almost what I've seen many other places. In comparison to the Hoffman Triangle area, it's somewhat nicer. That's not saying a whole lot though. There are few schools open and even fewer shops. Below are some of the pictures I took.

Halloween in Nola and Surveying in Hoffman Triangle 11/7/07

So New Orleans during Halloween... I still can't figure out exactly how to explain it. The costumes are OUTRAGEOUS and so creative! For most people, it seems to be the test run for Mardi Gras - if the costume can last the night walking and drinking during Halloween with few troubles, it's good for Mardi Gras. On Halloween, I went down to Bourbon St, which surprisingly, was not that crazy (however, my definitions of crazy have changed slightly since living here). But, I walked farther into the Quarter to Frenchman St, which was NUTS. All of the people there were natives (or at least not tourists) and they had the best costumes, mostly self-created or very elaborate. Basically, the entire street was a block party! It was great :)
This past weekend, I helped do a household survey of this area called the Hoffman Triangle. It's in Center City (so was badly flooded) and this particular area has not recovered well. So, basically, my job was to go house to house and survey people to get demographic info and do a basic needs assessment. It was really sad b/c there were so few houses that were actually occupied. But, it was REALLY exciting when we found someone to survey and (almost) all the people I talked with were extremely friendly. I can't imagine living there and can definitely understand why people decided not to move back. Except for a few well-populated streets (and they were usually isolated from other well-populated blocks and still had vacant houses), the area was very sparse. Moving back, gutting your house, trying to get your kids in school and have friends, getting groceries, etc, would all be huge challenges and there's little incentive to face them. I was glad to be able to walk around that area though and get to know the city a little better. This week, I'm busy entering the data into spreadsheets to analyze it. Should be interesting what we find out!

That's pretty much all that's going on right now. I'm looking forward to going home over Thanksgiving (I'm taking a week and visiting my sister and my aunt in NYC then going home for 2 days). My sister and I have been counting down the days :)

On the Other Hand 10/24/07

New Orleans is a great city. It's so different than other cities I've been to. This month, there is a jazz concert every Wednesday in Lafayette Square (close to my school). The concert is full of all different types of people - I think that might be what I like most. There are young children, elderly people, whites, blacks, families, students, business people... It's really nice going b/c you hear great music and it's great for people watching. While there is still a lot of work left to do in the city, there is also a lot of progress. There is pretty much construction everywhere!

While the city is a little more difficult to get around b/c you can't/shouldn't walk everywhere, unlike in Williamsburg, the public transportation is ALWAYS an adventure. I take the bus most days to school and navigating the system has been a bit of a challenge. But, I think I have the hang of it now. The city is also working on improving the system - one of the highlights of my week last week was seeing a streetcar go down St. Charles. I live about a block off of St. Charles in the lower Garden District. When Katrina hit, the entire streetcar system was wiped out. While it's running a little now (about 4 blocks - mainly tourists take it), it should be running about half way up St. Charles by November. It was very exciting to see it go past my block. Last week was a bit of a crazy week. Some of my classes are only half a semester (so the profs can do research out of the country) so I had several final exams and projects due. However, they went really well, and I miss not having those classes because they were so interesting. But, I did pick up another class, Public Nutrition and Health in Complex Emergencies. So far, it's very interesting and I think I might want to work in complex emergencies in the future. I'm also starting to look at classes for next semester - my only problem is that I want to take so many!

This week has been a very weather-full week (yes, I made up that word, but it's very applicable). On Saturday, it was beautiful weather - perfect outdoor, sunshine, nice comfortable temp. Sunday, the weather was hot and humid. Monday, we had torrential rain and flash flooding. Tuesday, more dark gloominess turning to windy and cold. Today, a little warmer (not much). The rest of the week is supposed to be nice, luckily!


On Saturday, I went costume shopping. New Orleanians love dressing up for any occasion, and Halloween is no exception. Apparently, things get crazy! So, I went to this store called "On the Other Hand." The woman who owns the store is amazing! She smokes like a chimney, is incredibly cheerful, and definitely from New Orleans. The store is a consignment store and she has the most amazing clothing from 20s dresses to Indian wedding outfits. When we came in, she told us everything was half off, the pink tagged items were 90% off, and everything was negotiable! I got a fully-sequined dress for $3, my friend got a bridesmaid dress for $25 and my other friend got a fully-beaded long dress for $20! It was great! Then, the lady asked if we could take pictures for her to see us in our lovely costumes :)

Boring Finals/Exam Week 10/20/07

I've been up to lots of boring stuff... I had several finals this week (3 of my classes are only half a semester - it's weird) so I did a whole lot of studying and nothing else. But, on Friday I went to the "grad school networking event" - which was not really a networking event so much as a huge free party where drinks were only a dollar and there was free food and music. It was also right on the river and in one of the tallest buildings in the city, so there were amazing views! This weekend I'm going to a blues/jazz festival. I really love how there is so much free music in this city! I'm also going to go salsa dancing again (not free but worth the money cause live music and fun dancing!). Anyway, that's my life right now. I'm excited though cause I just booked plane tickets home for Thanksgiving. I'm going to get a whole week of vacation (I'm skipping some classes) but I'll get to see my sister (she just started school at Fordham in NYC) and my whole family. So, I'm really excited!

Corruption, Salsa Dancing, and the Superdome 10/2/07

The city has kept growing on me. There's just so much to do and so many things to see and hear and taste. New Orleans is definitely a 5 sense city! While school work keeps me pretty busy during the week, I've been trying to do something fun on the weekends. I've been to Bourbon St (I would recommend it once, just to see, and then to get away as soon as possible!), jazz clubs (jazz is my new favorite music), salsa dancing, and the Superdome (Tulane vs. LSU - Tulane lost, but not as badly as expected). Have you ever been to New Orleans? If not, I would highly recommend it. I know it's known for it's, umm, interesting places, but it's also a city full of churches and people who really care - about each other and about their city.

My program is also going really well - there is someone here from almost every country, including Iraq and Afghanistan. People from other countries bring such interesting views to our discussions. The more people I meet from other countries, the more I want to travel to all of the countries. I have a friend who's from Guinea and he's already invited me to come stay with his family once I'm done with school. It's wonderful!

Louisiana has some corruption in the government but I'm still not sure of the extent or what they actually do that makes them corrupt, but many of the people running for office now talk about ending corruption and bringing morality back to the government. It's odd b/c the politicians also accuse each other endlessly of being corrupt!

This weekend I went salsa dancing! It was awesome! There's a street in the Quarter called Frenchmans - it's basically like Bourbon St, but without all the tourists and there are not as many crazy people. So, they had salsa dancing and while there were actually an equal number of men and women, there were only about 10 men dancing, while the others stood around looking stupid. However, those 10 men definitely got around - but they were all old men! It was still a lot of fun to actually dance - not just weird American dancing.

On Saturday, I went to the Tulane vs. LSU (Louisiana State University) football game in the Superdome. It was definitely worth while b/c I think it will be the only time I can afford to get into the Superdome. It's all fixed up now, but it was weird going there knowing what happened there when Katrina hit. But the game was great (although Tulane lost 37-9, ouch). :)

Safety and Politics in New Orleans 9/26/07

I feel safe in New Orleans most of the time. You shouldn't really walk around by yourself at night which kinda stinks, but the bus stops right outside my house, so it's not too much of a problem if I need to get back late. New Orleans is a weird city because there aren't specific neighborhoods where you shouldn't go (well, there are some) but more certain streets you shouldn't walk down. St. Charles, which is a main road, is really safe and so's Jackson (where I live) right off of St. Charles. But 4 blocks away from St. Charles on Jackson is not good. It's sporadic where safe areas and dangerous areas are. The general idea though is not to walk down streets that have "abandoned" houses. As for the news about NOLA, there was a ton of national news about it on the 2 year anniversary of Katrina but it died down really quickly after that. I think many people think the city is progressing too slowly, but forget that the entire infrastructure of the city was destroyed. Mail, garbage, jobs, transportation, everything. The progress that they've made could probably be faster, but it is the South and it's New Orleans... things go slower here anyway. And, yeah, Bush... grrr. He came here around the 2nd anniversary and said how he was going to support the city's rebuilding but he hasn't. GRR! The political news is really interesting... the national elections are still a while away so there's not too much going on there, but Louisiana is having a huge election year coming up. The state is really well known for its corruption (and NOLA for its... interesting mayor) so many of the candidates are talking about beating corruption. It's weird, though, because the state is super conservative so you'd think they'd reject corruption. But no.

Impressions of New Orleans 9/21/07

New Orleans is a great city. There is still A LOT of work to be done though. I live in the lower Garden District and pretty much on the border between what was flooded and what wasn't. Most of the tourist sites (French Quarter, Garden District) were not flooded, but there was still damage to electricity and some houses had wind damage. Once you get past that area, though, the repair is sporadic. Some areas are great - there are only a few still damaged houses and it looks pretty normal. Other areas are not so great - many houses are still "abandoned" (that doesn't mean that no one lives in them though, which makes those areas in particular pretty dangerous). On my walk to school (on Canal St.) there is a ton of construction going on and many buildings have been completely renovated. Lots of stores are open (although at strange times, but I'm not sure if that's just New Orleans or if that's from Katrina). Despite everything that's gone on in NOLA, the people are still wonderful - I've been taking the public bus to school sometimes and people just talk to you about their experiences. It's amazing. People are still VERY frustrated with the lack of funding, FEMA, and the levies, but they're trying their best to make due.

Classes are good too. They're all really interesting and I like that there is a very international aspect to the whole school - not just the classes. There are people studying here that have been all over the world. I'm living in a house with three other housemates - which is really interesting. There is another female public health student and 2 male part-time students. One is a bartender! Hehe, it's actually really nice living w/ people who aren't in public health and who know the city really well (one of my housemates has lived here for 7 years).

Classes I'm Taking - Fall 2007

To keep my classes straight, here's a boring list of the classes I'm taking this semester, with the course description and professors.

BIOS 603 Introductory Biostatitics - Dr. Yau
Introduction to statistical methodology in the health field. Topics covered include presentation of data (graphs and tables), descriptive statistics, concepts of probability, estimation of parameters, hypothesis testing, simple linear regression, correlation, and the analysis of attribute data. The course is recommended for students needing a firm foundation in statistical methods either for their careers or for preparation for further quantitative courses.

EPID 603 EPIDEMIOLOGIC METHODS - Dr. Theall
The purpose of this course is to prepare students to function effectively as mid-level epidemiologists in public health agencies or other settings. The knowledge base and skills that are the focus of this course are fundamental to the scope of work expected of master's degree graduates in epidemiology. The course focuses on epidemiologic approaches to activities that are a routine part of public health practice.

INHL 604 HEALTH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - Dr. Khan
This course provides an introduction to social and economic development issues. The political and economic characteristics of developing countries; the process of and obstacles to economic growth are also explored. The relationships among health, nutrition and development are analyzed to illustrate the need for an intersectoral approach in development and health planning. Other important development issues including population problems, health care financing, food production and distribution, and international flow of capital are also discussed.

INHL 605 PRINCIPLES FOR POLICIES AND PROGRAMS IN POPULATION, HEALTH, AND NUTRITION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES - Dr. Mason and Dr. Eisele
This course provides an integrated introduction to the principles of designing large-scale programs in the fields of population, health, and nutrition in developing countries. The problems to be solved are first outlined, with the changing context of international collaboration. Then nine sessions, three each for nutrition, health, and population, systematically address problems, causes, strategies, and policy debates; program components in different contexts; and assessment, analysis, and design of actions in specific circumstances. Finally, common factors, contrasts, and synergies in programs in population, health, and nutrition are discussed. Case studies are used and discussed throughout to illustrate these points. The course aims to give an introduction useful for more detailed study of one or more of the health, population, and nutrition fields in other courses, as well as enough familiarity with basic ideas and language to allow effective interaction with those working in the other related fields.

INHL 615 PUBLIC NUTRITION AND HEALTH IN COMPLEX EMERGENCIES - Dr. Fink
Complex emergencies involving conflict, destitution, and often environmental crises, leading to large-scale population movements, are causing widespread malnutrition, disease, and high mortality among millions of people, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia. Some of this suffering can be prevented through more effective programs when the refugee and displaced populations become accessible to outside help. This course is designed to familiarize students with methods and approaches for coping with public nutrition and health problems in complex emergencies. It addresses the control of malnutrition (general and micronutrient) through general ration distribution and selective feeding programs, emergency public health measures, and key policy issues. Outside speakers with recent experience in this field contribute to specific topics and with illustrative case studies.

INHL 624 MONITORING AND EVALUATION IN INTERNATIONAL HEALTH - Dr. Keating
This course provides the student with the basic concepts and methodologies needed to undertake evaluation research. Major applications of evaluation research are covered: program planning, monitoring, impact and efficiency assessment. The focus of the course is on the practical issues in undertaking evaluation in developing country settings.

15 credits total!

Trying out a blog

In an attempt to keep my experiences organized and remember the things I do in New Orleans, I'm going to try to keep a blog of my time in New Orleans. Who knows how long this will last... 2 months, 18 months, 4 years (if I decide to attend medical school here!)...

This weekend was relaxing - I've tried to do something "New Orleans" every weekend I've been here. But this weekend was relaxing, eating, organizing and hanging out with some new friends. On Friday, I went to babysit for Malachi the Fourth, Boo boo, as he calls himself. He's adorable! He wanted to show me all his toys, especially his vacuum cleaner! So, I babysat for a bit then hung out watching TV and relaxing (after Mal went to bed). I spent the night, returning to my house around 7am (urgh) and promptly went back to bed. When I woke up the second time, Holly and I decided to go to Target and the La-Z-Boy store! They're both in Metarie, so we took I-10, the most annoying highway - the road is under construction and I feel like it will continue to be under construction FOREVER. But, we got to Metarie in one piece and found the much talked about, but never seen IHOP. It's amazing how such little things can make your day. After shopping unsuccessfully for hooks to hang my curtains and forgetting the items I needed to return (the primary reason for the trip), it was wonderful to go to IHOP and eat some pancakes :)

Tonight, I went over to the Patten brothers' house. They live off of Claiborne - so very far uptown. One day I will describe the basic geography of New Orleans and how people tell you directions. However, for now, they live very uptown, whereas I live at the bottom of uptown in the Lower Garden District. So, I took the St. Charles bus to their house and had a wonderful dinner! MMM, and I found out I like shrimp and mushrooms (but only with lots of garlic and onion). Came back home and worked and am now working on this.

Tomorrow promises to be a busy day - group project meeting at 12:30 till it's done and church at 6 then work all night. Finals and such are coming up and I have a lot of work to do!

Goodnight!