Public Health Approaches and Practice in Complex Systems
Conference & Annual General Meeting
November 14th & 15th, 2019
The Sutton Place Hotel
Vancouver, BC
We hope you all have been enjoying your summers thus far and have been or will be taking some well-deserved time off. We don’t want to keep you long be we thought you may want to know we have opened our early bird registration and our call for abstracts for the upcoming PHABC fall conference, happening November 14th and 15th, 2019 at the Sutton Place Hotel in downtown Vancouver!
“Simplifying Complexity: Public Health Approaches & Practice in Complex Systems” will dedicate two days to exploring complex adaptive systems and complexity science through a variety of plenary panel sessions, oral presentations, workshops and poster presentations within four main sub themes: food systems & security, immunization & infectious disease control, wicked problems in health equity, and overdose response & safe supplies.
The theme and sub themes were introduced at our annual summer school, if you missed out, we have posted presentations from summer school speakers on our website; click here or follow the below link to check them out (please note not all presentations are available).
Early bird registration is now open and will be available until September 15th, 2019 at 11:59PM. Act now for significant savings on your conference registration! Click here or copy the link below to register today.
If you are part of a promising practice or have research involving complex adaptive systems, we encourage you to consider submitting your abstract for the year’s conference. Our call for abstracts is now open (as of August 1st, 2019) and will remain open until 5:00pm on Sunday September 15th, 2019. To read the full call for abstracts click here or follow the link below:
Our conference would not be possible without the generous donations from our sponsors each year. We would like to thank all our past sponsors for your support of this important public health event.
If you are interested in sponsoring this year’s conference please contact Christina Harding at coordinator@phabc.org to learn about our sponsorship tiers and incentives. All sponsors will have their logo’s printed on the conference program & other promotional material (online & in print), will receive special recognition during the conference, and will receive at least one complimentary 2-day registration.
We are always in need of volunteers for our conference to ensure the event runs smoothly. If you are interested in attending the conference but the cost of registration represents a significant deterrent, please contact Christina at coordinator@phabc.org to learn about current volunteering opportunities.
For more information on our conference as it becomes available, keep checking back on our events page by clicking here or following the link below:
PHABC, SPHA, MPHA, YPHCoP and PHAC
present
the 10th annual public health summer school
Simplifying Complexity:
Public Health Approaches & Practice in Complex Systems
July 4th & 5th, 2019
Thank you to everyone involved in our tenth annual summer school, “Simplifying Complexity: Public Health Approaches & Practice in Complex Systems” across western Canada. This year we expanded our summer school to reach a record 236 participants across five provinces and one territory thanks to our partners; Manitoba Public Health Association, Saskatchewan Public Health Association, Public Health Agency of Canada, the Yukon Public Health Community of Practice, and the videoconferencing technology provided by UBC’s Faculty of Medicine and UBC’s School of Population and Public Health.
Reaching a record number of sites would not have been possible without the tireless efforts from our Scientific Program Committee, site facilitators, volunteers and presenters. Without them we would not have been able to create such a popular and impactful program or facilitate the numerous sites that allowed so many people to participate in the school. Thank you all for dedicating your time and effort to make this year so successful.
If you attended the summer school and have not had a chance to complete the evaluation survey please follow the link below to complete it. As we look to expand the summer school and improve the summer school model, it is of vital importance that we receive as much feedback as possible. The survey will be open until 11:59pm PST on Monday July 15th, 2019. Thank you to everyone who has already completed the evaluation survey, we hope you enjoyed the summer school as much as we enjoyed planning it!
If you were unable to attend the summer school but are interested in what was discussed over the two days, we are making the presentations available on our website. To access the presentations you can follow the link below or go to the resources tab and click on presentations; the summer school presentations will be at the top of the list.
Please note that we will never post a presentation without the express permission from the author. Therefore, not all presentations are currently available online. We will update the webpage regularly as permission is granted, please keep checking back!
At the beginning of August, we will be releasing the call for abstracts and opening early bird registration for our annual fall conference; happening this year on November 14th and 15th, 2019 at the Sutton Place Hotel in downtown Vancouver. If you would like to submit an abstract for consideration please keep an eye out for that announcement.
The conference theme will expand on the theme of complex adaptive systems developed for the summer school and content will be focused on the four subtopics: immunization & infectious disease response, wicked problems in health equity, food safety & security and overdose response/safe supplies. Please note that we encourage submissions from the full spectrum of public health and endeavour to be inclusive of quality submissions even if they do not fit under our conference theme.
Thank you all again for your tireless efforts in making BC a safe, healthy and inclusive place to call home. Please enjoy the rest of your summer and we look forward to seeing many of you this November in Vancouver!
Only one week until our 10th annual public health summer school, “Simplifying Complexity: Public Health Approaches and Practice in Complex Systems,” happening July 4th an 5th, 2019 across western Canada. If you haven’t registered yet, it is not too late! Registration is open until the morning of July 4th, and all non-member registration will receive a complimentary one-year membership to PHABC. Follow the link below to register!
If you have already registered you should have received your information package via your email; it includes all main site location information, the full agenda, suggested readings, and more! If you registered and have not received your information package, please contact Christina Harding at coordinator@phabc.org.
Still deciding if summer school is for you? We have released summaries of all of our sessions to help you decide. You can follow the link below to go to the event page and read all about what we have planned for the two days.
And remember, if you are not able to make the summer school, we will be exploring these topics in greater detail during our annual fall conference, happening at the Sutton Place Hotel in downtown Vancouver on November 14th and 15th, 2019. Keep an eye on the website, later this summer we will be releasing our call for abstracts and early bird registration discounts!
We hope everyone has a safe and happy Canada Day long weekend and we can’t wait to welcome you to summer school next week!
Bring your project management skills, financial expertise and experience in workforce health to this unique leadership role
The BC Public Service Agency, Workplace Health and Safety Branch is seeking a Director of Workplace Health Planning and Programs. This position allows the successful candidate to use their skills and experience to make a difference in the lives of the BC Public Service’s 30,000+ staff.
The Workplace Health and Safety Branch leads corporate safety and health practice and performance across the BC Public Service. The Branch mandate is to build an integrated approach to Health and Safety with workplace safety practices as a foundation while building the health of the workforce to enable workforce service quality, operating efficiency, and reliability of public services.
The successful candidate has a proven ability to operate as a strategic business partner, assess risk and deliver effective, evidence informed solutions. Using strong leadership, relationship, and communication skills, the Director builds partnerships and consensus with other Ministries’ senior staff; and when required negotiates sensitive situations and relationships all with the goal of promoting the improvement of workforce health. Keys to success include strong research and writing skills along with the ability to present complex materials and influence decision makers.
The Director leads and innovates with contracted providers (e.g. employee family assistance, disability plan carriers and workplace health services providers) to deliver and support the overall workplace health strategy. As a Director in Workplace Health and Safety, the role contributes to our vison, mission and day to day operations while ensuring our clients’ needs are met and their expectations exceeded.
Qualifications for the role include:
A degree in Health Promotion, Public Health and relevant progressive experience. Or a related degree and progressive relevant experience in workforce health, health promotion or programs.
Five years’ experience leading and organizing complex projects with a demonstrated ability to effectively manage and meet timelines for concurrent projects.
Demonstrated success in planning and performance measurement, preferably within the public sector.
Experience in the management of financial resources and staff including contract procurement and contract performance management
For more information and to apply by July 10, 2019, please go to:
BC Healthy Communities (BCHC) is a province-wide not-for-profit organization that facilitates the ongoing development of healthy, thriving and resilient communities. We provide a range of services, programs, events and resources to support communities, local governments and multi-sectoral groups to collaborate around a shared vision for a common purpose.
We are seeking to hire an Research and Evaluation Specialist to join our innovative team in our Victoria office located at TheDock: Centre for Social Impact.
POSITION OVERVIEW
As the Research and Evaluation Specialist, you play an important role in analyzing and evaluating the impact BCHC’s work has across the province. You provide evaluation guidance and oversight to the BCHC staff team and are responsible for ensuring that all evaluation activities support the evaluation framework. You lead and oversee the analysis and ‘sense-making’ of our data, and you , understand and translate evaluative data into a range of useful tools to support learning, engagement, communications and overall strengthening of our healthy communities’ offerings.
This position is based in our Victoria office and your portfolio largely consists of overseeing our provincial PlanH program as well as for the organization overall. In this role you oversee data analysis: identifying patterns and themes, and translating qualitative and quantitative data into vivid stories and informative reports. We are looking for someone who has a passion for, and experience with evaluation related to healthy communities, community development, public health, and planning.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Evaluation and Reporting
Oversee the implementation of BCHC’s evaluation plan (strategies, tools, processes-e.g. integrate lessons learned from process data to improve how we work );
Participate in and lead evaluation planning sessions with BCHC team members and partner/funder related committees;
Develop and refine data collection tools and methods (e.g. develop evaluation questions, community reporting templates/surveys) disseminate data into
evaluative reports and updates (including qualitative and quantitative information) as per reporting and other requirements;
Coordinate and manage data collection and specific data intake timelines for all BC Healthy Community grant programs and other deliverables;
Analyze evaluative data, identifying patterns and emerging themes; provide overarching ‘sense-making’;
Provide guidance and work with BCHC staff to compile data, statistics and other information from a variety of sources (event evaluations, mid-term and final reports, surveys, focus groups, case studies etc.) that support programs and initiatives;
Develop presentations on evaluation outcomes to share at meetings and events; and
Provide evaluation summaries and reports for staff, funders, and other.
Communications
Work to provide key linkages between evaluation data and communications tactics for knowledge translation and broader dissemination; and
Provide strategic thinking around data such as stories, quotes, statistics that are helpful for our communications (ie quotes for social media and our website,
interesting statistics around patterns identified, etc) and for funders and other.
Research and Direct Community Support
Provide research advise and support (i.e. conducting literature reviews on content areas, analyzing survey data) to support BCHC projects as needed;
Acts as primary BCHC contact for PlanH grant recipients offering direct community support communities specific to evaluation (such as logic modelling, evaluation
planning etc) as needed/requested.
Other
Provides overall supports for BCHC program and project activities and initiatives as needed, works closely with the BCHC team to support strategic planning, and overall organizational learning and development.
PARTICIPATES AS A MEMBER OF A TEAM
Attend, participate and contribute in team meetings, strategic meetings and planning sessions;
Collaborate with staff and colleagues to achieve a coordinated approach;
Remain current with best practices, trends and opportunities to increase efficiencies;
Maintain a respectful, courteous and team spirit environment; and
Other duties as required.
REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS
Strong knowledge of, and experience with, community capacity building, community development, public health, equity, planning;
Knowledge of BC local governments, health authorities and first nations an asset;
Strong critical thinking/analytical skills;
Ability to analyze complex scenarios, troubleshoot and make recommendations in alignment with the program and organizational vision;
Self directed learner who is also a team player who works well in a collaborative team environment;
High attention to detail and accuracy;
Flexibility: able to adapt to changing timelines, deliverables, different people and work assignments;
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills;
Effective project/time management skills; and
Excellent writing skills;
REQUIRED TRAINING AND EXPERTISE
Masters level education/experience in related field (Public health, healthy communities, community development, social sciences, planning, etc);
Minimum 3 years of related experience;
Adept at evaluation and analysis (i.e. with developing and implementing various methodologies, logic model development, data analysis);
Effective project and data management experience;
Experience making evaluation practical and feasible; and
Working knowledge and experience with NVivo, Survey Gizmo, Microsoft Excel/Office and other data analysis applications.
LIFE AT BCHC
BCHC offers a progressive workplace culture that encourages leadership and learning. The benefits of working at BCHC include:
Supportive, respectful team that ‘walks-the-talk’ around personal health and sustainability;
Innovative workspace at TheDock: Centre for Social Impact in Victoria, BC;
Opportunities for professional development to improve your existing knowledge and passion for healthy communities; and
Health benefits package.
At BCHC we value diversity and we foster a workplace in which individual differences are recognized, appreciated, respected and responded to in ways that fully develop and utilize each person’s talents and strengths. We encourage applications from all qualified applicants and will take into consideration any accommodation measures required to enable candidates to be assessed in a fair and equitable manner.
Compensation within competitive range and commensurate based on experience.
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
Title the subject line of your email: Research and Evaluation Specialist <First Name Last Name>
Please include your last name in the title of your cover letter/resume- ie. <Smith Cover BCHC>
The BC Public Service Agency’s Occupational Health & Rehabilitation team is committed to restoring, maintaining, and improving the health of BC’s public service employees. Make a difference in the lives of others in this exciting nursing opportunity in beautiful British Columbia.
We are looking for passionate and creative team players to help us build on our success in providing expert consultation in medical case management, workplace health programs, and safety-related services that protect the safety and health of employees and enhance the public service.
As an Occupational Health Nurse with the BC Public Service Agency, you’ll be a member of our multidisciplinary Occupational Health & Rehabilitation team, comprised of OHNs, OHR physicians, Injury Recovery Specialists, medical case analysts, and the Early Intervention and Return to Work Specialists team. Together the OHR team supports the diverse health and wellness needs of public service employees.
In keeping with the BC Public Service Agency (BCPSA) goals and Workplace Health & Safety principles, you will provide case management services and occupational health expertise to identify opportunities for ill or injured employees to achieve early, safe and sustainable returns to work. You will identify treatment and rehabilitative options, working collaboratively with a variety of resources, to support public service managers and employees to manage their health and wellness and thereby improve workplace engagement and productivity.
The BC Public Service is committed to creating a diverse workplace to represent the population we serve and to better meet the needs of our citizens. Consider joining our team and being part of an innovative, inclusive and rewarding workplace.
Qualifications for this role include:
Must be a Registered Nurse or immediately eligible to obtain registration with the BC College of Nursing Professionals (BCCNP) as a Registered Nurse
Nursing Diploma or degree, and occupational health nursing education, or equivalent combination from an approved school of nursing.
One year of occupational health nursing experience.
Proficiency and experience in electronic case management systems.
Active membership in an occupational health nurses’ professional practice group and participation in continuing education, related to disability case management, is an asset.
Disability case management experience preferred.
Specialized training in occupational health preferred.
Certificate in occupational health nursing OHN(C) preferred.
