IPHA 2011-2012 Annual Report - Illinois Public Health Association

Center for ContinuingEducation andWorkforce DevelopmentThe Center for Continuing Education and WorkforceDevelopment (CCEWD) continued its successduring Fiscal Year 2012. The Center serves as apremier entity for conference coordination servicesand fiscal management for government agencies,state associations and other organizations addressingpublic health issues. During the year, CCEWDprovided staffing, registration, fiscal managementand/or continuing education credits for 10 trainingsand conferences for eight different groups includingthe Illinois Department of Public Health Food,Drugs & Dairy, Minority Health, HIV, and Women’sHealth Divisions. The fiscal year began with theImmunization Conference held at the Marriott Hotelin Normal. This conference was co-sponsored byIPHA and IDPH. Over 300 individualsattended educational sessions focusingon hepatitis, TB, vaccinations, and foodbourneillnesses. In September 2011,the 2011 Food Safety Symposium washeld in Peoria at the Pere MarquetteHotel. The theme for the conferencewas Eat Right, Eat Smart, Eat Safe. Theevent had over 200 attendees. October2011 brought the 20th Annual HIV andSTD Conference to Springfield. Incelebration of the 20th anniversary ofthe conference, educational sessionsfocused on past accomplishments in the treatmentand prevention of HIV/AIDS, and where the movementwould be heading in the future. Over 400health professionals attended the conference at theHilton Hotel. The Women’s Health Conference washeld in Springfield in November 2011. Educationalsessions focused on cardiovascular disease, obesity,managing stress, and chronic disease prevention.IPHA held its 71st Annual Meeting and LegislativeDay in Springfield in April 2012. Keynote speakersfor this event included Jim Duffett, Sherry Prowda,Robyn Gabel, Alderman Cory Jobe, and ComptrollerJudy Baar Topinka. Also in April, IPHA worked withIDPH to host the first annual Minority Health Conferenceat the Marriott in Naperville. Nearly 300 attendeeswere present at the two day conference, whichhosted sessions focusing on Eliminating HealthDisparities Through Community Transformation. InJune, IPHA and IDPH partnered once again on theIntegrated Public Health and Medical PreparednessSummit (formally known as PHEP) in Lombard.Nearly 800 emergency preparedness, public health,and medical personnel attended this conference,which highlighted perennial favorite, General RusselL. Honore (ret.) as one of its keynote speakers.In addition to the conference planning and fiscalmanagement, CCEWD staff also handled theadministration of the IPHA AmeriCorps Program.Early August marked the end of the ninth successfulyear of the AmeriCorps Program with twentyfourfulltime members and 3 summer memberscompleting the program. Throughout the yearmembers participated in health promotionand education, and emergencypreparedness planning for local healthagencies in Illinois. The 2011-12program year had seventeen agenciesserve as host sites for the members.In addition to the important work thatAmeriCorps members provided to theirhealth agency work sites, they alsoparticipated in a variety of local communityservice projects. These projectsincluded: promoting healthy livingtips to people in their communities for NationalPublic Health Week; assembling flood buckets forcommunities in the United States affected by floods;cleaning up litter in a Springfield park area; and,building wheelchair accessible ramps and docks ata campground for disabled individuals near Peoria.2011-2012 IPHA Annual Report 9Programs & Partnerships