Ileana Balcu

I just met my new class. I am teaching the New Media and Health Communication at The College of New Jersey. I am excited for the possibilities ahead and I keep remembering my students in the spring semester. I loved their enthusiasm, the jokes, the hard work they put into the course, and how proud we all ended up being at the end of the course.

I remember the day when I was reading their mid-term exam thoughts and I realized that the course was a little too dark, a bit too much of patients’ needs not being met, burned out physicians not listening, bad pharma and bad insurance companies. We changed gears, I shared the amazing progress that patients made, I shared about doctors that listen online and offline. The students researched ways in which new media helps the blind, autistic, the people with chronic diseases. We learned about patient researchers, the #wearenotwaiting movement and The Walking Gallery. Finally, by the end of the semester we were all impressed with the amazing power of people and companies working together to make life better for themselves, their families and other patients.

It was not my first time teaching, but it was the first time I felt that I am making a difference and I have to share what I learned. My learning mostly came from other SPM-ers – my resume should say: she read every message on the SPM’s listserv for the last 5 years…

I think education, teaching and learning are some of the motivators to be part of SPM. Education offers opportunities for those of us that don’t want to be professional speakers or professional advocates, but still want to make a difference. We can teach children of any age, adults, or we can help write curriculums if teaching is not for us.

I wanted to explore the SPM opportunities in education in more detail. This newsletter spans the past, present and future, we have writers that have been with SPM for a long time and new members, we have patients, physicians and others:
– Peter Elias MD, SPM Board Member reminisces his medical school and residency, and shares a couple of education projects at SPM: Education: a Key Tool for Engagement
– Cynthia Chmielewski shares a patient story and the education she learned through social media and independent research: From Passive Bystander to Empowered Partner
– Casey Quinlan argues for introducing health literacy in schools for grades K through 12 and brings up some creative ideas on achieving this: Everything You Need to Know About Health Literacy, You Learned in Kindergarten
– Joe Ternullo, SPM President Elect, sends us in the future with a vision of education beyond the 21st century: Patient Education for the 21st Century

Finally, I need to bring back an oldie but goldie school story by Susannah Fox, Chief Technology Officer at the Department of Health and Human Services and Founder Member of SPM. Susannah describes the difficult job of going back to school for parents and children with severe allergies http://susannahfox.com/2014/05/13/20-minutes/

Enjoy the Back to School edition of the SPM newsletter!