Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.” Henry Ford
My latest
project is trying to increase awareness of Fetal
Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). The
disorder relates to the risks drinking has to an unborn baby. The impact of
drinking alcohol during pregnancy can create lifelong issues that are not
curable. However FASD is completely preventable. The key message is that not drinking during
pregnancy is the safest option.
Aiming to shift cultural norms
and changes lifelong habits to improve public health is a big job, with a
relatively small team and budget allocated to get the job done. My internship involves bringing people together and equipping
them to make a change in the community.
It seems
impossible that a team of two people could make a change but internal
communications, partnerships with other health agencies and community
involvement make this possible. Some examples include:
Internal communications
- Ensuring
the message given by people in the agency is consistent: that not drinking
during pregnancy is the safest option.
- Training
doctors, nurses and those involved in pregnancy planning or testing to
talk to clients about the risks of drinking while pregnant and provide
strategies to ensure success.
- Supporting employees in having alcohol free pregnancies by providing non-alcoholic options at events and planning social group outings where alcohol is not the focus.
Partnerships with other health
agencies
- Developing
sustainable partnerships with a shared vision of reducing incidents of
FASD and using the strengths of the different agencies to promote the
message (that might be time, resources, skills and abilities).
- Recognising
different backgrounds and use this diversity to support development of
different initiatives. For example indigenous health groups can ensure
messages are culturally appropriate and help reach areas of the population
that may not be seen by traditional health care providers.
- Ensuring communication between partner agencies is effective, regular and timely so that a consistent message is presented to the community. This is especially important if new information is released or in times of crisis communication.
Community involvement
- Raising
public awareness about FASD and influencing the target audience to change
values and behaviours. Drinking can be a social norm and people have
reported feeling isolated as they are not able to be involved in social
activities if they don’t drink.
- Educating and equipping people for change through workshops, events, media releases and provision of information designed to provide options to support alcohol free pregnancies.
Through all
this consideration needs to be given to ‘best practice’ and the strong ethical
guidelines around health promotion. There are many social detriments to health
and long lasting, community wide change involves strong strategic planning and
a long term commitment by health promotion agencies to addressing the issue.
The scope
of the project may seem large but I am encouraged by reading about Canada’s
success at raising awareness, and reducing incidents of FASD. This can only be achieved
through a holistic approach and by working together.
My degree
in public relations has enabled me to be confident in engaging, working with
the media and planning events but it is just the first chapter in making a
difference in a health promotion setting.
