what is Total care?
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Who: PSU Capstone student, Krista Escobar, for the Wallace Medical Concern.
What: "Total Care" event focusing on providing haircuts, showers, basic medical services, lunch, and community resources for those suffering from houselessness and/or extreme poverty in the Gresham area. When: Wednesday, February 28, 2018 Where: St Henry Catholic Church, Gresham, Oregon Why: "One must."[See David Miliband's 2017 TED Talk here.] How: Grant funding and gumption. |
Click here to read The Gresham Outlook announcement from Feb. 22, 2018.
Responsibilities |
Project goals |
Of the several projects I worked on as an intern and capstone student at The Wallace Medical Concern, the Total Care project was the most complex... as well as my favorite. My primary responsibility was to take a basic framework from a similar event held in 2016, update it, and implement it in 2018. Duties included identifying, then communicating with community partners, designing the event flyer, marketing, maintaining a working budget, and collecting/analysing event data.
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Total Care event picture gallery
Success can be difficult to define, especially when the priority population is often impossible to follow-up with. Public health students such as myself, hear the terms “qualitative” and “quantitative” as ways to define data continually. They are ingrained into the way we both take in, and present, information. I didn’t realize how much that had become part of my thought process until after the Total Care event was over. Classmates asked me if the event was successful and I wasn’t sure how to reply. I would tell them how many folks came through the door and then was at a loss for what else to add. I felt as if I needed more data and wasn’t sure how to gauge “success”.
What has helped me to see the event as successful, was talking with my supervisor as well as leading the recap meeting. Remembering the smiling faces, and stories of “thank yous” received have reminded me that there are other ways to gauge success other than just numbers. Everyone who came through the door got something they needed. For some it was a sandwich and a haircut. Others received information about available social services. And then there were some attendees who needed a safe place to nap for a little while. For them, Total Care meant they felt safe enough in that environment to let down their guard and rest. To me, that is true success.
What has helped me to see the event as successful, was talking with my supervisor as well as leading the recap meeting. Remembering the smiling faces, and stories of “thank yous” received have reminded me that there are other ways to gauge success other than just numbers. Everyone who came through the door got something they needed. For some it was a sandwich and a haircut. Others received information about available social services. And then there were some attendees who needed a safe place to nap for a little while. For them, Total Care meant they felt safe enough in that environment to let down their guard and rest. To me, that is true success.
Community Partners
The Total Care event would not have been possible without community partners donating goods, tabling with information, and providing services for attendees. Thank You!