Point #66: Outreach Update 2013 – 2014

By Julie Taylor

Each year, the APP Outreach committee takes on a wide range of activities, and from educating healthcare professionals to junior high school students, the committee is always looking for new ways to spread the safe piercing message. The following is an account of our 2013-14 activities:

We reached out to health professionals by attending the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) and the American Public Health Association (APHA) annual conferences. Despite feeling a bit nervous about fitting in with health inspectors from all over the U.S.—and as far away as Australia—A.J. Goldman and Lou Quino had an overwhelmingly positive experience at the NEHA conference. (The inspectors were excited to to see the APP booth and A.J. says “they asked a lot of questions and

Outreach committee chair Ash Mishako.

genuinely seemed interested in the answers, and we handed out a lot of brochures for them to take back home!”) Nicholas Adams, Laura Jane Leonard, Brian Moeller and Jef Saunders had a similarly wonderful reception when they staffed the APP booth at the APHA conference. As Jef mentions issue #65 of The Point, “so many people stopped and said, ‘Thank you for being here. This is definitely a great public health topic!’”
A PowerPoint presentation for junior high schools was created—spearheaded by Outreach committee chair Ash Misako—and has been the focus of much of our activity this year. From autoclaves and spore tests to jewelry standards and portfolios, the PowerPoint is full of facts that will equip young people with the tools to search out safe piercing experiences—and we are proud to have created a presentation to educate students around the world.
We have continued to meet our goal of having articles published in each and every edition of The Point, with Courtney Jane Maxwell writing about last year’s Conference in #64 and April Berardi and myself writing about preparing for this year’s Conference in #65.