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Polk County Contact Tracing & COVID-19 Hotline
Get PDFThe Western Oregon University Community Health + Polk County COVID-19 Project is a partnership between WOU and Polk County Public Health Services that seeks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and engage in outreach efforts in Polk County Oregon. The project offered contact tracing services until January of 2022 when a shift in pandemic management occurred. During this time, students in our project shifted to the COVID Hotline, an open resource for all members of Polk County to ask questions regarding guidelines, testing, vaccines, and other community resources. Throughout the contact tracing process, we monitored 6,757 total individuals, and since the hotline\u27s creation, we have received 112 phone calls from residents in need of COVID-19 resources. Currently, four students are working on the hotline. This presentation will review the project\u27s transition from contract tracing to the hotline, comparing and contrasting what these services provided to residents and our hope for the future regarding the pandemic and our collaboration with community partners
Fear and Frustration: A Qualitative Analysis of the Social and Political Impacts of COVID-19 on U.S. Older Adults
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic had dramatic impacts on the physical, social, and emotional health of individuals. Older adults, in particular, have experienced the highest mortality rates and the greatest concerns ranging from physical safety to economic stress to social isolation. This paper presents findings drawn from the COVID-19 Coping Study, a national longitudinal study of the social, behavioral, health, and economic pandemic impacts on older adults (aged 55+) in the U.S. The authors qualitatively analyzed attitudes, behaviors, fears, and frustrations expressed by the study participants in an open-ended survey question during the monthly follow-up survey in Fall 2020. The results revealed four major ways that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected older adults with regard to their sources of community: missing interactions with people; concern for safety from the virus; collective frustrations with the pandemic; and frustrations creating divisions within communities. This study sheds light on the struggles of older adults during a pandemic and may help inform future research on coping strategies and ways to better prepare for potential pandemics in the future
Ensuring Latinx Mothers Feel Valued in Schools to Promote Student Success
Get PDFLatinx mothers feeling valued in their children’s schools is a crucial component of their child’s success and wellbeing. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 4 mothers, whose educational experiences varied. The questions focused on the mothers’ experiences within the education system regarding themselves and their children. Analysis of the interviews revealed three emergent themes - parents as first teachers, generational education experiences as motivation, and advocacy. For mothers to feel valued in their children’s schools, their role as the first-teacher in their children\u27s lives must be respected. They also must have a safe space to advocate for their child. The mothers also utilize their own educational experiences as motivation to best support their children. Listening to the voices of Latinx mothers and learning from these themes casts an important asset oriented light on their intentions and the support strategies that work for them
David Doellinger Interview 2022
Get PDFIn this interview, David Doellinger describes the WOU Fallout Shelter (which was dismantled in 2022) and discusses the importance of the history of the Cold War.
A physical exhibit detailing the history of WOU\u27s Fallout Shelter was created by History 404l students during Fall 2022 and captured in a PowerPoint presentation. The presentation is also included on this page
“I Don’t Do Mental Health:” Exploring Barriers to Mental Health Interpreting
Get PDFLanguage concordant mental health care is the gold standard in supporting deaf people, however, there are not enough mental health providers who use American Sign Language (ASL). Use of interpreters remains necessary for provision of services. There is a chronic shortage of interpreters and even smaller numbers qualified for work in mental health settings. Many professional ASL/English interpreters choose not to work in mental health. Through qualitative interviews, this study explored reasons why. Participants shared their mental health interpreting experiences and reasons for no longer working in the setting. Data showed that a variety of demands related to the work of interpreting in mental health created substantial barriers for them. For one, they did not have any specialized training. There is only one comprehensive mental health interpreter training in the U.S. Participants experienced lack of preparedness, difficulty understanding language impacted by mental health symptoms, challenging intrapersonal responses, and limited access to structured professional support. This study examined barriers to the work of mental health interpreting, explored recommendations, and is a step in the direction toward identifying facilitators to mental health interpreting
I Need Help! The Journey of a Novice Interpreter with Their Mentor and Coach
Get PDFMy coach always made sure that center of our sessions was to achieve long-term excellent performance. I would present a problem area in my work that I wanted to improve, and my coach would focus our meetings on how we can better this problem, but also ensure that this issue would longer linger in my work. That approach was successful, as that problem area was improved, and it no longer remains in my work. Therefore, one of the end products from my coaching was long-term excellent performance
