Halloween!

Hello all,

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween weekend! This has been another amazing week in Iowa City, with lots academic and social events, along with a winning Hawkeye football game during one of the most strange and fun holiday of the year.

Hansen Lecture:

The 2010 Hansen Leadership Award and Distinguished Lectureship, is an annual lectureship that was given by Ed Wagner, MD, MPH, director of the MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation at the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, WA.

Dr. Wagner delivered the Hansen Distinguished Lecture, "Primary Care and the Future of American Medicine" and opened up the statewide policy conference, "Prevention and Chronic Care Management: Community Strategies to Address Chronic Disease in Iowa". The conference was co-sponsored by the UI College of Public Health, the Iowa Prevention and Chronic Care Management Advisory Council, and the Partnership for Better Health.

I was able to attend an afternoon session that Dr. Wagner had with CPH students in a more informal setting. It was nice to have such an experience and to listen on what his opinions were on our current state of healthcare. He reminded all of us, that it has been decades since a healthcare reform bill has made it through to the American public and we should all be appreciative for the exciting situation we have in front of us. It is hard sometimes to realize what kind of opportunity we have, and to hear it from such an experienced and distinguished member of the healthcare community.

ISAHL Halloween Social:

Friday night was another great social event put on by the Iowa Student Association of Healthcare Leaders (ISAHL). Everyone was dressed up and if you didn't notice, I was Ronald McDonald! My friend Meg Duffy, also in the program and dual degree MHA/MPH Policy. She was Ronald McDonald last year and so only natural to reuse a wonderful and amazing costume. The rest of the weekend was a continuous Halloween hot mess madness and an interesting array of costumes....everything from Rachel Maddow to Snoki!

Hawkeye Football:

And...if you hadn't heard...the Hawkeye's won again Michaigan State!

Until next time...Good Morning Good Morning!

Ryan

Homecoming 2010

Hello all,

So it has once again been a very busy and fun week! All wrapped into last weekend was Homecoming, 23rd Birthday and celebrating from mid-terms!

Homecoming 2010:

So football if you haven't figured out is culture here at the University of Iowa, but even if your not a football fan (like I was before attending the UIowa) you easily transform into Hawkeye! There is a lot more than just the football game during Homecoming weekend, including the Parade, which myself and others in the CPH participated in. The College of Public Health Student Association (CPHSA) got everything arranged and we walked as a group supporting Breast Cancer Awareness. This was decided on because it was Breast Cancer Awareness week and because it was very Public Health relevant to our mission. I will be posting pictures of the event tomorrow on our Facebook page. It was a great time to see all the community pride and how many little kids want candy! It was seriously like Halloween, but in parade kid heaven fashion, with the givers of delicious treats doing the walking, while the kids held there bags wide open! Even though it was not the most public health gift, we gave the kids Smartee candies and Breast Cancer Awareness wrist bands, so they were both getting an "IQ" boost and supporting an awesome cause! ;)

Then it was on to the next day (Saturday), which was the football game! It was held in the evening with different sections of the stadium alternating colors of Black and Gold! As you can see in the picture, it was quite a sight and amazing how so many can coordinate their outfits for such a large venue and event! It is hard not to get a school spirit high when your at a game, wich everyone eating, breathing and completely consumed with Hawkeye love, while we all waved our Black and Gold pom poms the Homecoming Organizers had handed out to everyone.

Birthday (23rd):

For my birthday, I decided to gather my friends at two locations downtown: Formosa and Brothers. Both are bars and restaurants downtown and have completely different atmospheres. Formosa has Asian inspired cuisine, while Brothers is more bar food and drink specials. It was nice to get together with a lot of the people in my department since the start of school. It can be hard sometimes in the beginning of the year to get everyone to go out on the same night since people have so many varying schedules. I danced, met new people and had a great time sharing my birthday with the Homecoming crowd that had already infiltrated the Iowa City area anticipating the game the next night.

Mid-Terms:

I guess I should end on a reality note of school. Mid-Terms were last week and they are always a stressful time of the semester but also rewarding. This term, as I previously stated in my last blog is a big learning curve, because I am taking a lot of finance class for my MHA degree, which being a Biology undergraduate, had no previous finance classes other than personal finance, which just gave someone the basics of taxes, loans and credit cards. Even though I am at a learning curve, one of the 3rd years in my department of Health Management and Policy is helping tutor anyone needing help (i.e. myself) and the professors are very understanding of everyone's backgrounds. They know we are here for a reason and won't just slack on work and really respect that some of us have learning curves and are very accommodating to say the least.

I hope to post a blog "Fun Fact" everyday and possibly a picture or video to keep things more interesting and current. Hit me up a comment or link to something fun!

Have a great weekend!

Ryan

First Couple Weeks!

Hi All,

I hope you all read a little bit of my bio before reading this post, but just in case I am entering my 2nd year as a dual degree MPH in Policy and MHA candidate within the College of Public Health (CPH) at Iowa! I'm starting the third week of classes and so much has happened that I think I would need a couple book chapters just to fill you in on my life. For tidbit of my summer, I interned at TRICARE Management Activity in San Diego, CA which if you would like to know more, just write a comment on the blog and I'll make it my next entry :)

In the meantime, here are some of the highlights that have gone on:

CPH Picnic/Brothers:

This was my first year attending the picnic in which all of CPH is invited to lower city park for brats, burgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers too! It was great to see all the professors and deans in their picnic gear and to be able to meet some of their family members. Also, I always like going to these events because everyone is out of the classroom setting and everyone can kick back and have a good time. I took a lot of pics, which can been seen on our MPH Facebook Page

After the picnic, a lot of us that are in the College of Public Health Student Association (CPHSA) went downtown to a bar called "Brothers" for some drinks and to meet others who couldn't make it to the picnic. It was great to reconnect with friends that I hadn't had time to catch up with since we all got back and Brothers is probably one of my favorite bars downtown when I want to go out for the night.

Football:

So this past weekend was the first Home football game, which was against Eastern Illinois. We dominated them and I forgot how much fun a big-ten football game can feel. I celebrated with others in the program, which I am specifically from the Health Management and Policy (HMP) department within the CPH, but I found myself running into others as the game went on. I will try and post pictures up soon, but for now imagine a sea of gold t-shirts, 10's of thousands of fans all breathing and yelling for the Hawkeyes! I never was a huge football fan until I experienced the magnitude of how serious they take football here, it is definitely a culture ;)

I am looking forward to more fall like weather coming up so I can hit up the apple orchard and enjoy the season in which my birthday falls! I can't wait for this Friday, for the annual Iowa Student Association of Healthcare Leaders (ISAHL) Golf Outing at Brown Deer, which I will blog about in my next entry...until then Good Morning Good Morning, because there's always someone waking up around the world!

Ryan