From Ecophany to Burnout? An Anthropologist’s Reflections on Two Years of Participating in Council-Citizen Climate Governance in Eastbourne

In July 2019, Eastbourne Borough Council declared a climate emergency and committed to making Eastbourne carbon neutral by 2030. In order to achieve this, citizens together with Council created a unique model of council-citizen collaborative climate governance, the Eastbourne Eco Action Network (EAN). EAN’s main strategy has been the setting up of targeted working groups, each bringing together Councillors, engaged citizens and providers, and each tackling a specific area of climate action through a combination of infrastructure, institutional and behavioural changes. As an environmental anthropologist living in Eastbourne, I was involved in this process right from the beginning, having had my own ‘ecophany’—the realisation that the climate emergency required urgent action—in February 2019. Two years and one pandemic later, in this paper I reflect on the overall experiences and challenges of EAN’s and Eastbourne Borough Council’s work towards town-wide carbon neutrality to date, discussing possible factors (structural and other) determining varying successes and failures. At the same time, this paper provides an auto-ethnographic account of what ‘engaged anthropology’ means in practice, mapping out the real contributions anthropologists can and should make in local climate action, but also reflecting on challenges encountered along the way.

Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Programs' Participation in the Nursing Home COVID Action Network

In late September, 2020, the Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program’s (GWEP) Program Officer, at the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA), alerted the 48 GWEPs about a nationwide initiative focusing specifically on the pandemic’s effect in nursing facilities. The ECHO Institute at the University of New Mexico negotiated a national contract with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to provide a nationwide educational intervention via the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund. The ECHO Institute recruited over 100 Training Centers as educational coordinators for the Project ECHO Nursing Home National COVID Action Network. Our Project Officer suggested that individual GWEPs participate in this effort and take the lead or provide geriatric educators for these Training Centers. Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is an innovative telementoring program that creates virtual learning communities, bringing together healthcare providers and subject matter experts using videoconference technology for brief presentations, and case-based learning, fostering an “all learn, all teach” approach. This symposium will describe the journeys that five GWEPs experienced becoming Training Centers, rapidly deploying a nursing home ECHO project, to support nursing home staff on best practices for protecting patients, staff, and visitors from coronavirus infection and spread. GWEPs from The University of Louisville, the University of North Carolina, the University of North Texas, the University of Rochester and The Virginia Geriatric Education Center’s two ECHO Hubs, joined the National COVID Action Network. This presentation will provide an overview of why GWEPs are well positioned to address emergent needs with short notice.

NC CAN COVID-19 Action Network: Project ECHO in North Carolina

Experts in geriatrics, infection control and nursing home administration joined the ECHO Hub team led by The Carolina Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (CGWEP) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Ninety-two of North Carolina’s 423 nursing homes enrolled in a 16-week videoconference series designed to address clinical, logistical, and leadership issues related to COVID-19. The CGWEP coordinated recruitment with two other Training Centers at UNC Family Medicine and the Mountain Area Health Education Center, reaching 58% of all NC nursing homes (N=245). Faculty used curriculum and pre-recorded videos provided by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). Discussions demonstrated real-world problem solving as participants applied what they learned to local conditions. Quality Improvement (QI) experts from IHI mentored participants in gathering data and completing Plan, Do, Study, Act cycles to better respond to the challenges of COVID-19 among a critically vulnerable population.

Lessons Learned in Executing the Nursing Home COVID Action Network

The University of Louisville ECHO Hub for the Nursing Home COVID Action Network put together a hub of experts that could effectively address the diverse needs of the 240 nursing homes in the 7 cohorts launched. We included an infectious disease expert, a geriatrician, and a behavioral health specialist who adjusted the curriculum to be more in line with the needs of the nursing homes. Our nursing homes were diverse in terms of geography, size and location. We created space for our cohorts to feel comfortable with each other, despite their differences. To foster this sense of togetherness, our facilitators used anonymous opinion polls and incorporated the use of virtual breakout rooms to encourage small group discussions. These strategies assisted in developing a sense of community within the Project ECHO sessions, that will continue to evolve in the post COVID world.

Virginia’s Response to the Nursing Home COVID Action Network

The Virginia Geriatric Education Center’s GWEP recruited 195 of Virginia's 273 eligible nursing homes, using two Project ECHO Nursing Home Training Centers located at George Mason University and Virginia Commonwealth University. These sessions promoted collaboration, allowed for sharing of successes and challenges, and nurtured quality improvement projects. Our next steps are to survey Virginia’s nursing homes to see if they are interested in future ECHO sessions with other topics. We plan to share these results with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement so that we may be able to continue to enhance this national network of Training Centers with faculty and staffing dedicated to quality assurance and performance improvement. The program has initiated new collaborations with nursing homes across many healthcare disciplines, strengthened connections between nursing homes and research institutions, and will help foster innovative ways to collaborate in this post-pandemic virtually connected world.

Marina Ferreira Rea: A Militant Doctor Active in the Endless Fight for Breastfeeding as a Human Right - A Luta Continua!

Marina Ferreira Rea is a Brazilian medical doctor. She has a masters and a doctorate degree in public health from the University of São Paulo (USP). She specialized in breastfeeding at Wellstart International, and completed post-doctoral research at Columbia University, New York, USA, focusing on working women and breastfeeding. She was a researcher at the Health Institute at Columbia University in New York, the Center for Population and Family Health, and at the postgraduate studies, Nutrition in Public Health, University of São Paulo, where she advised many students and published many articles and books (a few selected below). She was a Coordinator of International Breastfeeding Actions at the World Health Organization (Geneva), in the early 1990s, when actions like the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, breastfeeding counseling, and other courses were started. During this same period, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) and World Breastfeeding Week were initiated. In 1981 she participated in the launching of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. Marina Rea is a member of the International Baby Food Action Network and its Latin American policy committee, and is the founder of the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) Brazil group. Since 2017, she has been a member of the IBFAN Global Council. She is now retired but continues to volunteer as an IBFAN member. She has two daughters and four grandchildren. A more detailed curriculum vitae in Portuguese can be found here: http://lattes.cnpq.br/8193850878281835 (MR = Marina Rea; MA = Maryse Arendt)

Revisiting the Balanced Book Hypothesis – Bettor Preferences and Results in the NFL

Data on betting percentages, both in terms of number of bets and actual money wagered, is still difficult to find. Sports Action Network, in their premium access service, does provide this data in terms of both number of bets and money bet. For the2020 NFL season, it was found that the balanced book could be rejected as bettors were shown to prefer road favorites, big favorites, and the over at the highest totals. Allowing this imbalance in the sides market appeared profitable for the book as the underdog won more often than implied by efficiency, while totals were evenly split.