Welcome to My Public Health World: Navigating the Nuances Together

Life has a funny way of making us all multitaskers.  Maybe you’re a mom, wife, student, full-time employee, part-time employee, have several jobs, or are a homemaker, caregiver, and more.  Chances are, you have multiple hats to wear as you balance your day between your many spheres of influence.  I was processing my invisible hat collection, which can feel more like a Twister color wheel some days, as I looked at the different roles I have to navigate.  I’m a wife and mom of three boys, which also makes me feel like a cleaner, taxi service, referee, and chef.  I’m also an associate professor of public health, researcher, author, nonprofit CEO, and public speaker.  Then there are the hats we all have in our social circles such as being a sister, daughter, friend, neighbor, church member, life group leader, mentor, and more.  I truly love each hat I get to wear, the intertwined spheres of my life; I’m so grateful for the people around me.

As I was thinking about many of those roles, I started to identify a common theme over the last few years, which is public health information.  I get asked A LOT of public health questions all of the time!  But I don’t just get public health questions like how to interpret data and how to know what is true or not true when there’s a media twist on science, but I am often asked how to navigate those complexities with a faith lens. 

My graduate and undergraduate public health students probably ask the most bold and controversial public health questions, because I encourage them to and welcome that in the classroom.  I want them to wrestle with the grey areas of our field where solutions are not clear, and we have to look at the health of populations from a holistic, evidence-based, unbiased, and nonpartisan stance. 

My friends and family ask lots of questions about the pandemic, disease trends, the scientific interpretation of research the media puts a spin on, vaccines, health tips for personal wellness, and more.  I love that they feel comfortable talking to me about these topics, because I believe our health choices should be birthed out of education.

I run a global health nonprofit, and usually, that looks like community assessments, identifying core health needs, and then partnering with community leaders, universities, and departments of health in other countries to work on solutions together.  Throughout the pandemic, we conducted most of this work over Zoom with a focus on disease prevention and COVID education.  I often get public health questions from community leaders, partners, and departments of health.  I value the friendships we have across many countries and that they feel welcome to invite me into public health discussions.

During the pandemic, our global health nonprofit majorly shifted, as I am sure many of your jobs did as well.  All of a sudden, our teams couldn’t travel internationally (although we did have a crazy emergency 72-hour trip during lockdown to assist a health department in an African country).  But it was during that time I started to feel a deep burden in my heart for the church.  I saw churches confused, some filled with anger, others filing lawsuits against governments (health departments), and then some that just didn’t know what to do.  It was then that I realized that two core pieces of who I am, faith and public health, were actually in two separate worlds mostly opposing each other.  In my brain, the two had always been deeply integrated, even throughout my 13+ years of education and four degrees (at Christian and public universities).  I couldn’t understand how public health and the church were not on the same team and my worlds felt divided like never before.

I had empathy as churches felt targeted and didn’t understand the pandemic regulations that were released.  I also had empathy for the public health teams that had to make regulations for diverse counties with millions of people and a wide range of risk factors (with a historic lack of funding and infrastructure).  I started to pray about this disconnect with love for both perspectives, and it led me to see the strength that could come from both sides working together.  I grabbed my laptop and wrote a public health plea to the American church.  It was about the historical role of the church in healthcare and the potential I could see in the church to rise up and help those in greatest need.  In the letter, I even offered to help churches conduct community assessments and train them in building teams to help where the community was burdened by the pandemic. 

That letter made many pieces of my life, and even my family’s lives, change for the next couple of years (our boys often join us on our local and international public health adventures).  Pastors started reaching out and asking for advice on navigating the pandemic.  Churches wanted to know how the needs of their members had changed (health, financial, food insecurity, job loss, and more).  Communities of faith wanted to know why regulations were in place, how to honor them, but still have a presence in the community and be the church to those around them.  I had requests for organizational policy development and to help train emergency teams.  I also participated as a guest speaker on Zoom and in person to assist churches in dialogue about the division the pandemic caused.  I facilitated sessions, answering questions about COVID, regulations, how to help, vaccines, interpreting research, and reconciliation. I also helped churches identify specific directions and ministries that could continue serving the community around them.  My heart came alive as I watched people with various stances on the pandemic come together without judging each other on their personal vaccine stance, but looked at how they could be a light to their community in the midst of a challenging season. 

I guess that progression of looking at the many hats I wear and identifying the common theme of public health questions, particularly those within communities of faith, led me to start this blog.  Many of the questions I’m asked in the academic world, in churches, by friends, community leaders, and family actually end up being very similar.  It seems fitting to create a space where all of these spheres can ask, learn, and grow together if a public health topic is of interest. 

This virtual space will be a place where I share about public health topics, whether it’s interpreting data for real-life application or how we protect the health of populations without compromising faith.  I have many topics and questions I’ve already received, but I’m happy to review new questions and answer the ones that seem to be common themes or most helpful.

This blog is meant to be an encouragement, a place of kindness, and a space where we can grow together through the ever-changing world of public health, seeking love at our core and an outward focus on helping others. 

This is not a place to diagnose health issues for ourselves or others; public health has an emphasis on community health outcomes, not one-on-one care.  Please see your physician if you have personal health concerns.  This is also not an avenue to judge each other, and no question is a dumb question.  You may get a glimpse into a moment of my life or someone else’s, but rarely do we get to see deeply into someone’s situation to know what’s going on.  Please be kind with your words and remember that there is always more beyond the surface.  This is also not a space for anger, hate, or divisive comments (I had enough of that targeted at me and my family throughout the pandemic).  If you don’t like what you’re reading or don’t care about the topics shared, there are plenty of other blogs out there.

Cheers to learning, growing, and becoming healthier communities with love and unity at our core!