September 2022
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 Note from Elizabeth (EJ) Ashbourne, PQMD Executive Director
We are so excited to be holding our Education Forum in Seattle, hosted by Medical Teams International, in only a couple weeks (October 17-19)! The meeting is shaping up to be engaging, thought-provoking and fun. We will spend the time together discussing important issues, including trends in donations and how they affect access, sustainability and resilience. There will be plenty of time to collaborate and connect during optional dinners and activities. If you are a member, I strongly encourage you to register here.
Before then, we will have an opportunity to discuss disaster recovery during our next Pillar Talk, Long-term Strategies to Support Disaster Recovery: Multi-Sector Perspectives on October 6, 2022 at 11 am EST. This event promises to be a robust conversation. We have assembled an excellent panel that will provide corporate, NGO and government perspectives on disaster recovery and discuss how their collective resources can have a meaningful impact for affected communities. You will not want to miss it! You can register here.
 I also wanted to mention that PQMD staff had the opportunity to meet a couple weeks ago for a staff retreat. Our team has not had the opportunity to meet in-person since before COVID, and many of our staff had never met in person! We spent the time understanding how to work more collaboratively together, along with prioritizing our work to align with PQMD’s mission and vision. Lastly, I want to acknowledge our members’ work responding to the recent hurricanes in Puerto Rico and Mexico, typhoons in Japan and Vietnam, in addition to other disasters affecting communities all over the world. We also have all hands on deck working to address and mitigate the impact and catastrophe of Hurricane Ian in Florida. Thank you to our members for all your work providing critical assistance where ever the need may arise.
Please stay safe and I look forward to seeing you soon in Seattle! |
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PQMD Attends Sparking Innovation to Achieve Health Equity Fireside Chat Hosted by BD
On September 16th, PQMD attended a fireside chat at Esperanza Center in Baltimore: "Sparking Innovation to Achieve Health Equity Forum: Engaging the Private Sector in Community Health,” featuring leaders from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Heart to Heart International, and the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics.
The meeting provided an opportunity to take a closer look at private sector investments and partnerships with US free and charitable clinics. Throughout the United States, more than 2 million people in medically underserved areas receive healthcare at one of over 1,400 free clinics. These safety net providers provide high-quality primary care and referral services to the nation’s most vulnerable people, despite operating with limited resources.
This event brought together a cross-sector of attendees including the private sector, their nonprofit partners, and government to talk about best practices for building successful public-private community health partnerships and investments and highlight the critical role of free and charitable clinics in improving health outcomes. |
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GARDaccess Initiative Update
The Gardaccess team is soliciting a final round of comments and feedback on the GARDaccess Resource Handbook which includes the updated Framework and Guidelines from the outputs of interviews and conversations over the past year. The team plans to capture some additional inputs from a stakeholder group of supporters. In addition, the online interactive module for the Rare Disease Guidelines is nearing completion and will be available by November 2022.
The GARDaccess team has submitted an abstract titled "GARDaccess strategic initiative for persons living with rare diseases in low- and middle-income countries" to present at the WORLDSymposium 2023, to be held February 22-26, 2023, in Orlando, Florida, USA.
Lastly, the team is also working on preparing the draft for Phase 2 of the project and starting to develop a GARDaccess website. If you have any questions about this initiative, please contact Harpreet Ram. |
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PQMD Executive Committee Participate in Social Media Training
On September 8th, PQMD held a social media training for PQMD leadership to assist with their efforts to get the most out of social media. PQMD has been working with a Communications Consultant, Christine Quern, to better utilize our social media channels, including LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Participants learned more about social media, how to use it to promote their work and to help us leverage our social media posts. If you have questions about PQMD's social media, please contact Sam MacDonald or Beth Haynes. |
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Stay Informed!
Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn or one of our other social channels to get the latest, most up-to-date information on our Pillar Talks, courses, events, and resources. |
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PQMD Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Survey Results
In a recent survey of PQMD members we asked members to share reflections about significant developments in their organizations monitoring, evaluation and learning practices over the past year. Here’s what we heard:
- Members are developing, streamlining and deepening M&E frameworks as their strategies related to donations shift - this is true at an organization and program level
- Monitoring & evaluation systems are becoming more sophisticated, yet practical - and members are excited for growth including engagement of a wider group of invested stakeholders
- Algorithms to articulate the number people impacted through donated medicines continue to be a high area of interest and investment of time and talent
- Our members shared that they are partnering with academic institutions for M&E projects
- Our members indicated growth towards renewed consistency and quality of their MEAL systems following the shrinkage of these efforts during the pandemic
PQMD is so excited to expand our M&E network - please reach out if you’d like to learn more about our Measuring for Success Programs. |
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PQMD Pillar Talk: Long-term Strategies to Support Disaster Recovery: Multi-Sector Perspectives
October 6, 2022; 11am EST
Each disaster is unique, and each requires unique responses. While there is a structured system of managing disasters that includes the four central tenets of mitigation, prevention, response, and recovery, each stage of response is dependent on many factors including but not limited to severity, length, infrastructure, need, and the next disaster.
All disasters and phases of disaster management also hinge on the availability of resources. While the onset of a disaster can result in an influx of compassion and financial generosity from donors and individuals, often media attention fades and donors’ hearts and wallets are diverted as subsequent disasters strike. This can leave recovering communities with dwindling resources that affect their ability to build back, and more importantly, to build back better. How do we ensure that impactful resources are still available to communities that are facing the aftermath of a disaster for years or even decades?
Join us for PQMD’s Pillar Talk on Long-term Strategies to Support Disaster Recovery: Multi-Sector Perspectives to learn from government, corporate, and non-profit disaster management experts as they reflect on the individual and collective resources that can have a meaningful impact for affected communities.
Confirmed Panelists:
- Kimberlin Keller, Senior Manager, Global Community Impact (GCI), Johnson & Johnson; Treasurer, PQMD
- Anna M. Taylor, M.A., PMP, Operational Readiness Branch Chief, FEMA
- Betsy Warfield, Interim Vice President Emergency Programs, Americares
- Kavita Sood-Isaacs, Senior Manager, Global Community Relations, Baxter International Inc.; Chair, Disaster Response & Humanitarian Relief, PQMD (Moderator)
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PQMD Coffee Chat: The "Ins" and "Outs" of WHO's Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) Certification Process
PQMD Coffee Chat: The “Ins” and “Outs” of WHO’s Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) Certification Process for Disaster Response
Have you successfully gone through the World Health Organization’s Emergency Medical Teams certification process specific to disaster response? Are you in the middle of it? Are you weighing the cost-benefit analysis of engagement? Or are you just interested in learning more?
These are some of the things PQMD members discussed during September’s Coffee Chat the “Ins” and “Outs” of WHO’s Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) Certification Process. The conversation was facilitated by PQMD members from International Medical Corps, Heart to Heart International, and Americares who shared their certification experiences - which included criteria and commitment to certification, a realistic look at the pros and cons of certification and how their involvement will benefit their organizations and enable a more streamlined approach to disaster response.
NGOs can join the conservation by clicking here.
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Do you love the PQMD Newsletter?
Are you an avid reader of the PQMD Newsletter? Are you ever searching your inbox to find a previous edition for an article you finally have the chance to read? Or do you want to suggest content or share your own news to include in the line up? The Community of Practice (CoP) has got you covered! Just click here to see the newsletter archive or to add your suggestions for content and articles. You can also find all archived newsletters on the PQMD website here. If you have articles or content to contribute, feel free to email Beth Haynes at bhaynes@pqmd.org.
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PQMD Members are Responding to Hurricanes and Other Natural Disasters
PQMD members are responding to communities affected by hurricanes and other natural disasters. On September 18th, Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico with devastating winds and as much as three feet of rain, which led to widespread flooding and landslides. The storm has also caused major damage on the island of Guadeloupe, the Dominican Republic, and Turks and Caicos. The storm forced more than 2,000 people in Puerto Rico into shelters; recovery is expected to be difficult for an island whose infrastructure was already damaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017 and earthquakes in 2020. PQMD members have responded by meeting the water, sanitation, and hygiene needs and supporting health facilities in affected communities to provide targeted care and health education outreach for those most in need. On September 28th, Hurricane Ian hit Florida bringing dangerous storm surges, flooding and damaging winds. PQMD members have prepositioned supplies and were ready with hygiene kits and medical supplies for those affected by the hurricane. If you are a member and what like to coordinate and learn more about how PQMD members are responding to recent hurricanes and other natural disasters, visit our CoP. If you'd like to learn more about how our members are responding and support them, visit our Members Page on our website. |
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The IDEAL approach for elevating women's voices in disaster risk reduction
Climate change has increased the frequency and severity of extreme weather events such as droughts, storms and floods, severely impacting livelihoods, health and human security. Disaster risk reduction (DRR), a systematic approach that prevents or mitigates the damage of disasters by preparing communities against the adverse impacts of hazards, is not gender neutral. Women, men, girls and boys experience differentiated risks and impacts that are reinforced by existing gender inequities.
Women and girls experience more material and intangible losses during disasters. Girls are made to sacrifice school to take care of the household or, far worse, they are married off in exchange for financial support. Gender-based violence (GBV) increases during crises as social protection networks dissipate, stress is exacerbated by economic loss and shelters are overwhelmed.
Lutheran World Relief and their Corus International family of organizations is committed to addressing crises through a gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) lens, engaging women as change agents and investing in their leadership before, during and after disasters.
To elevate women’s voices and leadership in DRR programming, Lutheran World Relief developed the IDEAL approach: intersectionality, delivery, equity, access and leadership.
To read more about the IDEAL approach, visit this website. |
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BD, Heart to Heart International, NAFC and Henry Schein Cares Award Critical Lab Equipment to Six U.S. Free and Charitable Clinics
On September 29, PQMD member BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), in conjunction with Heart to Heart International (HHI), the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NAFC) and Henry Schein Cares, announced that six U.S. free and charitable clinics will be awarded product-based grants worth a total of $360,000 to support point-of-care diagnostic testing in communities with underserved and at-risk patient populations.
The BD Point-of-Care, Enhancing Clinical Effectiveness (PoCECE) initiative will provide the clinics with laboratory equipment to evaluate patients and receive diagnostic test results while still onsite. The initiative focuses on diagnosing the most common health issues faced by vulnerable patients in underserved populations, including high cholesterol, diabetes, urinary tract infections, kidney disease, blood clotting disorders, liver disease, strep A, HIV, hepatitis C, flu A & B, RSV and pregnancy tests.
To read the full press release, visit BD's website here. |
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Does your organization have news to share?
Contact Beth Haynes for placement in future newsletters.
Next Month's Theme: Mental Health
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