#1 NEW Newsletter! “Post”-pandemic

EuroNet Newsletter

One year of COVID-19: where has EuroNet MRPH been?

by the EuroNET MRPH Board

Dear Euronetters,

It’s a huge honor for us to present this EuroNet MRPH Newsletter. Last year was undoubtedly a challenging one. Since the declaration of SARS-CoV-2 as a public health emergency of international concern, public health has been in the public eye, and, from surveillance to vaccination, medical residents in public health have played a key role in the response against Covid-19.
Sadly, this situation has affected our network, denying us our beloved meetings. Nevertheless, we must look on the bright side. Due to digital media, we are more connected than ever. We were able to see each other at the last online Winter Meeting, where we got to know more regarding OCDE, ECDC, and EPIET internship programs. Besides that, monthly teleconferences have gained more attention, and in the last months, we could enjoy several talks covering topics as equity or qualitative research.
Last, but not least, doubts, experiences – and our favorite public health memes – can always be shared through our WhatsApp groups. Moreover, due to the current vaccination campaigns across Europe, we look ahead to the future with optimism, hoping presential meetings to be around the corner.
Being part of the board is a privilege, and we truly appreciate all the trust placed in us. We cannot forget to mention all the people that have been collaborating with us in the last months: from presidents of national associations who were pleased to meet us to help us know how to improve our net, to our alumni, who are always there to give us a hand, acting as an endless fountain of wisdom.
Finally, we would like to recognize the hard work and dedication of our working groups. When it comes to research, there is an ongoing study targeting the Mental Health of public health residents during the Covid-19 pandemic, whose results will be submitted to the 2021 European Public Health Conference. As for the internships, requests for information are on the rise, and lastly, we would like to thank our communication working group for all the hard work done in social media and creating this newsletter, and all the contributors that made it possible. We are looking forward to seeing you all at the next meeting!

Yours Sincerely
EuroNet MRPH Board

 

 

What is happening around Euronet?
We asked the National Committees to tell us how they lived this past year. Give a look at the updates of Portugal and Italy in the next paragraphs and let us know what is happening in your Country next time!

 

 

Updates after one year of COVID
In the boxes below, we collected impressions and reflections of the Public Health residents around Europe. Read what this past year of the pandemic has meant for Euronetters.

 

“COVID changed our daily life, not especially my “job routine”, excepted for work hygienic measures.” David Peyre-Costa, France, 3° year resident

“My formation period was cut down and I became a full-time employee in the Local Health Authority. A great deal of ‘Learning by doing’ and a lot of professional growth, but this was independent of my University formation. Globally, it had an enormously positive influence on my professional life, although some areas of my formation remained hopelessly uncovered.” Antonio Vinci, Italy, 4° year resident

“Covid-19 pandemic is an opportunity to learn how to manage health services during a pandemic. At the same time, I consider it harmful for my training. Indeed, pandemics sooner or later ends, and learning how health services work in a non-pandemic period is fundamental. Unfortunately, this is not possible, because almost all public health services today are focused on Covid-19.” Alessandro Catalini, Italy, 2° year resident

“It gave us the possibility to participate more actively in the Public Health Services, but it reduced the formative moments and obliged us to follow only the activities which are Covid-related.” Nausicaa Berselli, Italy, 2° year resident

What is happening around Euronet?

ITALY – In our NC the call for many new working groups – concerning different topics of public health – has been open. In the coming days, the groups will be introduced and the members will join the ones that are most interesting to them. Once the work of each group has started it would be nice to interact with EuroNet members to possibly collaborate with other European working groups. Alessandro Catalini, Italy, 2° year resident

PORTUGAL – The Portuguese NC has been off during most of the pandemic because of the excessive workload in our public health units, and only now are we starting to regroup and plan new activities with the residents. Our NC comprises one public health resident from each 5 regional health administrations (ARS). ARS are public entities that cover and divide in 5 (North, Centre, Lisbon and Tagus Valley, Alentejo and Algarve) the whole continental part of the country. We don’t currently have public health resident representation in our autonomous regions, which are our islands, Madeira and Azores, even though we have public health units there.

WORKING GROUPS PRESENTATION: ITALY

Looking for ideas? Interested in knowing what the other National Committees are working on? Take a look down here, in this edition of the newsletter we are sharing the working groups of… Italy!

Gender equality in public health

  • Ethics in scientific publishing and dissemination
  • Reproductive Health and HIV prevention
  • Primary Health Care
  • Health inequality and migrant health
  • Emergency in public health
  • Healthcare-associated infections, antimicrobial resistance, emerging infectious disease, and hospital hygiene
  • Mental public health
  • Physical activity and health promotion
  • Communication, scientific dissemination, and health education
  • Prevention and innovation: hygiene departments, vaccinations, organizational models and economic evaluations
  • The role of the competent doctor
  • Education in Public Health

The call was open in February and they have just begun to work. Most of them are lead by 1 or 2 coordinators, involve about 20-40 participants, and will work for around 1 or 2 years.

Are you interested in sharing what your NC is working on? Send an email to the communication Lead, at communication@euronetmrph.org

I am overwhelmed and I believe you are too

by Francesca Grosso, Communication Lead

Hello everybody, nice to meet you! My name is Francesca, I am the Communication Lead for this year and I am a public health resident at the University of Milan (Italy).

I am writing this while I am attending a course on my computer and I feel guilty. I am never able to fulfill all of the “to do’s” of the day, constantly making priority lists in my head and systematically rescheduling things. The amount of items that are always pushed to “tomorrow” grows day by day… will they someday find a place in real life and get done, somehow? I don’t know.
I love my job most days but I never believed in Confucio’s famous words “Find a job that you love and you will never work one day of your life”. I’m PRETTY MUCH working every day of my life, how is that?

I know most of the public health residents are in my same shoes right now: associative life in Euronet was reduced considerably, participation of some countries was around zero, and this year it had been impossible to decide for a day to schedule March Meeting on.
On the other hand interest in mental health seems to be growing: the survey on how the pandemic affected the European PH residents’ mental health has been a huge success and we collected more than 400 surveys!

If I hadn’t had the help of Giorgia in the communication team, I believe there would have hardly been the first newsletter this year and I hope it’s not the last one. Thank you so much Giorgia and thank you to everyone I worked with, thank you for the patience, the constant understanding, and for pushing deadlines like there’s no tomorrow. I appreciate you.

I want to believe that next Spring Meeting we will be meeting life somewhere colorful and lively, where we could get to know each other, share our stories and RELAX.
Until then, hang in there and take care of yourselves.

Francesca