How do we take data and use it to tackle real world problems like opioid addiction? Christa Hyson joins me in this episode of Leading with Health to tell me how she gets it done.
Christa Hyson is the Senior Manager of External Relations and Public Information Officer at The Health Collaborative in Cincinnati, Ohio. Christa’s work arms the public, community partners, and government agencies with functional health knowledge. Her blended background in both science and art serve as an innovative platform for building public health prevention programs, policies, and environments. Christa holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Xavier University, and has a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Florida.
Highlights include:
5:37 – CH: “It’s so imperative to talk to a community. Don’t come in with a solution. Work with them to create a solution together.”
13:24 – CH: “In Cincinnati in August 2016, there was an unprecedented number of overdoses. The reported number was 174 overdoses in 6 days … and nobody was talking about preventing it.”
15:20 – CH: “I took a map of recent heroin overdose location points from EMS (Emergency Medical Services) and layered it with Cincinnati public school locations and saw all these trends of overdoses around schools.”
17:18 – CH: “The Health and Opioid Prevention Education (HOPE) curriculum says here are the options. What are you going to do to create a healthy life? And who are trusted adults?”
18:21 – CH: “HOPE is now across the state of Ohio and it has been requested by 18 other states to use as curriculum.”
21:17 – CH: “We just finished a mass casualty incident exercise, which had over 30 partner agencies and over 300 volunteers and over 170 first responders.”
22:39 – CH: “We created a no-fault learning environment for EMS so they could go through the steps in a non-rushed way. That way they build muscle memory.”
Leading with Health is hosted by Jennifer Michelle. Jennifer has a Master’s in Public Health and Epidemiology and is a certified EMT. As President of Michelle Marketing Strategies, Jennifer specializes in healthcare marketing. She is on a mission to help women find their voice so they can create a stronger, more responsive healthcare system.