Nikita Gandhi

PUBH-699 Practicum: Team Prepare

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This week with Team Prepare

We have been doing great work these last few weeks. Visiting first responder stations have been going very well. We can't wait to analyze the results we have gathered.

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We have gotten permission from the local fire chiefs, we made phone calls to all the local fire stations and police stations to set up dates and times, and now we get to administer our surveys at all of these places!! Everything is falling into place!

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Fla. fire chief dies by suicide after PTSD Facebook post

The chief wrote a post about PTSD before telling dispatchers where they could find his body

Being a part of Team Prepare has helped me better understand the importance of PTSD and the importance of mental health services for our first responders. I am hoping that with our upcoming survey’s for first responders in Harnett County that we will be able to help prevent events such as this within our community. 

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During my fall break I went to NJ to visit family, but during my trip I got to visit the Freedom Tower in NYC. We went to the top of the WTC and from above you could see the memorial for the Twin Towers. I was reminded of how caring our first responders are and how much we rely on them. I am grateful to be working with a team that will be focusing on helping our first responders seek mental health care when needed. Because a job such as theirs can not be easy and I want to be able to do everything I can to help them through it!

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#HopeForHaitiHumpDay fundraiser next week. Everybody X $10 = FeedTheKids

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Please come out and donate. 

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These were just a few of the images of some of the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew that I was able to witness. I did not take this photos personally. I am very fortunate to not have been put in a harmful situation during the hurricane but I cannot say the same for many people in North Carolina. I was in the Buies Creek area during the storm and the worst outcome for my self was being without power for over 24 hours. As a part of Team Prepare I was given all the information that was needed to be able to stay safe through and after a storm such as this one. I only hope that we were able to keep other families safe after speaking with them throughout the community about how to prepare for a natural disaster. 

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Denim Days 2016 in Erwin, NC was a success to say the least! We got to talk to a lot of Harnett County residence about disaster preparedness!

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As midterms come around, being a student can be very stressful. We talk about not letting ourselves get burnt-out from our everyday lives but it is defiantly easier said than done. Fortunately I have an incredible practicum team who takes a lot of my stress away. Working with Team Prepare has been a blessing in disguise. Everyone within this group pulls their own weight as well as never complains or makes excuses that would hinder the groups overall success. We are constantly moving forward in accomplishing our goals and I have no doubt we will continue doing so throughout the rest of the semester!

This week we met once to go over everything we have for our first event this weekend, Denim Days, as well as do a run through of what we will be doing with our stage time that day. We will be meeting again tomorrow to another run through to hash out all of the kinks. The festival has requested that we take up at most 15 minutes on stage. It took us a couple of weeks to officially decide what we wanted to do with our stage time. At first we came up with ideas such as a demonstration of bystander CPR, proper child car seats positioning, and the importance of family emergency plans. After discussing all of our options as a team we later decided that our time would be better spent discussing disaster preparedness while interacting with the audience. We will be hosting a competitive game how entitled “Will You Survive?”. We will invite two groups of two onto the stage and then ask them a series of questions involving disaster preparedness. The team with the most points will win food vouchers donated by Bojangles. At Denim Days we will also be manning a booth at the festival where will discuss disaster preparedness with the people who walk by. To grab more people attention we will also have a small game at our booth where you will spin a wheel of colors and whichever color you land on is a specific topic to disaster preparedness, if you get the question right you get a prize. We want to get a lot of interaction with the festivalgoers and believed incentives were the best way to do so. David has also given us an emergency backpack to use as an example at our table as well. Some of the flyers and informative pamphlets we will be handing out are in the picture above. We will be using most of the same material when we go to Scotland County next weekend, at the John Blue Cotton festival, when we speak with them about disaster preparedness at their festival. We won’t have any stage time then but I am sure Team Prepare will make an impact either way! This is also the same weekend as my birthday!

During both of these events we will be talking to festivalgoers and video short interviews with a few people from each county to discuss their knowledge of disaster preparedness.

Another project we have been working on is the survey for Harnett County first responders. Our IRB has been approved and we will be starting to give out flyers as soon as we get the ok from certain people. We hope that our involvement will help create an impact on this issue in Harnett County. I certainly hope that analyzing these surveys and reaching out to first responders will make a difference in the long run. I am very excited to start giving out surveys and to get the results on the project!

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“there's no harm in hoping for the best as long as you're prepared for the worst.” - Stephen King

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This week we had to improvise during our weekly meeting with David, he facetimed up all the way from New Bern, NC. We discussed what we planned to perform and talk about at Erwin's upcoming Denim Days! We are really excited to show everyone what we have "prepared"! #teamprepare

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World Suicide Prevention Day 2016

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day.

No matter what you are going through, you don’t have to go through it alone. There are resources available to help.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need it, Tumblr.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Available 24/7 at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Crisis Text Line: Free, 24/7 support for anyone in need. Text START to 741741.

IMALIVE: Chat confidentially with a volunteer trained in crisis intervention.

7 Cups of Tea: Speak anonymously with a trained active listener.

American Psychological Association: A resource for finding mental health care in your area.

NEDA: Help and support for people struggling with eating disorders. You can call 1-800-931-2237 or chat with them online.

To Write Love On Her Arms (@twloha): Dedicated to helping people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide.

You Matter (@youmatterlifeline): You Matter was created to let people know that suicide is preventable.

NAMI (@namiorg): Dedicated to improving the lives of anyone living with mental illness. Free to chat at 1-800-950-6264.

The Trevor Project (@thetrevorproject): Confidential suicide hotline for LGBTQ+ young people. Available 24/7 at 1-866-488-7386.

It Gets Better Project (@itgetsbetterproject): Communicating to LGBTQ+ youth around the world that it gets better.

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Week 4: our team finished our IRB proposal and survey. More info to come! We are finalizing details for our upcoming events in Scotland and Harnett county!!

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Week 3: Our team is working hard to develop a survey for the first responders of Harnett county to take. It will determine the need for mental health initiatives. I'm very excited to send off our IRB proposal and get these surveys started! I want to take this time to brag about these young ladies on Team Prepare! They are so smart and hardworking and I am very thankful to have the chance to work alongside each and every one of them! We are going to do great things together this semester!

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Week 2: Hashing out all the details for the events we are planning for this semester! Go Team Prepare!

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Week 1. Met our team and team leaders! We're excited for a great semester and can not wait to get started!