View from Vacation

Some vacations involve less work than others. This past week I was visiting family. But, that did not negate the need to reply to students in need of reassurance, an appointment to work out an issue, or feedback on papers due  in a week. It also did not negate the need to prepare for the public health nursing training workshops that I’ll be giving this coming week. Nor did it negate the need to process manuscripts as the Editor-in-Chief.  Most of all, it did not negate the anxiety about fulfilling all of those responsibilities.  

I don’t think of myself as being “on call” but the reality is otherwise. I, like most of my faculty colleagues, seem to have taken to heart the implicit expectations of students that we are available 24-7. It’s our own fault for answering emails on both Saturday and Sunday. It’s our own fault for carrying a smart phone, reading and replying to their work related emails. I’m not sure how much of it is our conscious choice versus our natural adaptation to the insidious wiredness of today’s world.

Admittedly, most of us don’t mind and would rather stay on top of the work than let a mess build up. A proverb about prevention comes to mind.

Traveling is always a good reminder that most of the world has no or very little notion of what we do in public health. The infamous 30 second introduction explanation gets a lot refinement in a plane or the gate waiting area.  Being as this was National Public Health Week, I guess I ought to have worked harder to explain and brag. But, I didn’t. I did suggest to my niece who will be starting at UC Berkeley in a master’s program in land management that she might find kindred souls in the School of Public Health. For me it was a good reminder of how broadly the social justice foundation of public health reaches. It was also a reminder how the principles that weave together the variety of disciplines composing public health also are part of the fabric of other disciplines concerned, ultimately, with the health of the people and the planet.