Today I sort of “sneaked in” to a conference. My fiance was attending a conference for public health nurses, and I kind of invited myself to watch when the speakers were so prolific in the field of public health. I sat there (and did not partake in the meals I did not pay for, if that’s of any value — but I did drink some juice) and listened to their discussion to the public health nurses association. Granted, much of the discussion was the same – what people could do in their craft to become part of good public health change, the current status of the public health space and the Universal Health Care Law, and the degree in which inspiring change has and continues to occur.
Much of it was the same discussion, with greater emphasis on addressing the socio-economic factors, essentially asking that we as health care workers “go beyond” our typical clinical practice and go towards more sustainable avenues for ensuring good overall health. It’s the same in the general field of public health where the framing of the practice spans just about everything, with social and financial realities that are necessary for the greater transformation of community health. This wasn’t news to me, but I wondered for the younger nurses, those that were fighting for greater benefits and better appreciation of their craft. It never came as a surprise to me that being a public health doctor is to become “more than a doctor” but imagine in an environment that overworks and underpays, to make you feel like just being the “best clinical nurse” won’t be enough. I feel like there’s something there to unpack, but I’ll park that discussion for now.
What I wanted to get to was me overcoming my fear of approaching the speakers and introducing myself to them, which was easy to Dr. Dayrit since he knows me from the talk we had before, but less easy to the other speakers, Dr. Cordero and Dr. Carandang, who have no idea who I was (not that they should, just that it made it extra scary to interact with such giants in the public health field). The conversation I had with Dr. Carandang would be the most interesting semi-mentorship conversation for me. She of course, recommended I undertake projects and studies in order to further my career in public health, but as sort of a breadcrumb of wisdom, she recommended to “find/identify my basket”.
She alluded to the freedom in which research and “worth” in public health was generally tied to selection paralysis – since there was an infinite amount of things to do, equally worthwhile and interesting, while at the same time just a limited amount of time and effort (without killing yourself or burning out in the process). The necessary next step, she mentioned, was to identify which “basket” to use, cementing the metaphor that gains in the field of public health are to be “harvested”, but only when you know exactly what you want to harvest out of it. Pick a lane, she said, and asked: “are you heavily clinical, do you want to influence policy, do you want to improve the community environment?” Once you pick your basket, then you know narrow it even further. In my head there was this allegory to grassroots being rootcrops, hanging vegetables as policy and your greens as your systemic problems. That had no bearing with anything, just that it looked that cool in my head.
I think in situations where discernment is necessary, the use of the basket metaphor sums up what is needed by the world, what you are interested in, and separates the possibilities into manageable “mind-chunks”. She made me think of the things I’m interested in and kind of directed me to pursue said things in line with said baskets. I know for a fact I haven’t whittled it down into one just yet, just that there are these baskets that I’m particularly keen on working on, which to an anxious brain is a lot of load off from thinking that there is this universe of possibility on the things I wanted to do. Everything in those baskets are public health coded so far, but I’ll workshop it further to jive with the different opportunities that presented themselves lately.
I just imagine myself a little less lost, not in a “I’ve found my way” kind of thing, but in a “at least I know what’s interesting to me”. Kind of like Pooh bear with his honey, wherein he may always be aloof and ambivalent, but once he smells his sweet golden nectar, then he has found his way.
truanthoughts 
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