2018 Year in Review

This year was our second year of running the PH SPOT platform. From the emails you have sent us, to the social media shout-outs, and the rare times I run into a PH SPOT follower, you’ve shown me the value that PH SPOT brings to the public health community.

Thank you to each and every one of you who opens our weekly newsletter, read the blog, engage with us on social media, tell your friends about us, share your career journeys, and take the time to write to us, even if it’s to say a simple thank you. You mean so much to us and and your actions give us a boost of confidence and confirmation that PH SPOT is bringing value to you.

With such a great year behind us, here is a highlight of 2018.

STORIES THAT HAVE INSPIRED

This year, we published 52 blog posts, across 13 different topic categories. These stories have inspired public health professionals to make career choices, has given them hope to keep being persistent with their career goals, and has provided tips and advice to those taking the next step in their careers.

We believe that inspiration can come in any form and at any point in one’s career. The blog is a key feature of the PH SPOT platform, and we truly pride ourselves in the ability to showcase real-life success stories and failures, along with career advice and insights from new and established professionals like yourself. I truly believe that learning from each other will make us stronger public health professionals.

DIGITALLY SOCIAL

Across all of the platforms that we share information on, we’ve got over 1,300 followers (this is probably not unique followers, since many of you follow us on multiple platforms).

We’ve tried our very best in 2018 to engage with you where you were spending the most time, whether that’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We know that we need do a better job with social media engagement, so in 2019, we are going to commit to coming up with a plan to do so.

If you have ideas, do share them with us :)

OUR FIRST COURSE

We had a first this year.

When I sit and think about what I want PH SPOT to be in the future, I know that I want it to be a go-to place for my peers in public health to have access to resources and tools that are not available anywhere else. The most important thing about these tools and resources, is that they had to be created with public health in mind.

This year, we launched our first course – Infographics 101 for public health professionals. This first course, which has now enrolled 80+ students across 6 countries (Canada, USA, UK, Japan, Trinidad & Tobago, New Zealand), was created with public health in mind.

Design is not typically taught in a public health curriculum, and neither is communication, amongst other key skills we need to learn on the job. With this course, our goal is simple. It’s to build the confidence in public health professionals to design infographics. This course is just the first step in doing this. We hope it’s not the last.

Again, if you have ideas for future courses, let us know and we will add it to our list.

OUR COMMUNITY

“Alone we can do little, together we can do so much” – Helen Keller

The PH SPOT community has grown to be over a 1,000 members, and continues to grow everyday. Since 2017, we more than doubled our community!

This number is an indication to me that our public health community is lucky to have more than a 1,000 like minded people who want to do better at their work, to push themselves to be a better version of themselves, and ultimately contribute to a healthier world.

My hope for 2019, is for us to find more people like you and me, and to bring them into our community, so that they too can benefit from the wealth of knowledge and experience you all share through the platform. And most importantly, I want us to be able to learn from them too. So, help us spread the word about PH SPOT!

THANK YOU

I am so thankful for this community and I want to thank each one of you from all around the world who visits PH SPOT….I mean, literally around the world. In just the past 3 months, individuals from 42 countries have landed on the PH SPOT site. Imagine the wealth of knowledge we have access to! You guys are awesome :)

Visitors to the PHSPOT.ca website in the past 3 months, Google Analytics 

With that…

Happy Holidays to you and your family, and here’s to a great 2019!

Image References:
Blog image by dilakuscan from the Noun Project
Community image by Aneeque Ahmed from the Noun Project
Social media icons: Vector Designed By DigitAm

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