Issue 2 December
Happy Holidays Health Studies!
2014
The Apple The Holiday Issue
The Apple - April 2016 HSSA's online Newsletter
We are both happy and sad to say this is the last issue of the school year, and my very last Apple publication as VP Promotions. I truly hope the Health Studies student body enjoyed reading the Apple, I've had a great time making them! Included in this last issue are recaps of past events within the School of Health Studies and interesting articles!
The purpose of this newsletter is to help keep the student body up to date and informed of what's happening within their faculty, any upcoming events and things to look out for. If you have any comments, suggestions or questions, or feedback on The Apple, feel free to email us at westernhssa@gmail.com! Have a fanatastic summer Health Studies!
WHAT'S ONE THING YOU LEARNED THIS YEAR? TARA: How awesome my VP Admin Alex is MIN: Seize the opportunities out there! JENNA: Get involved! NINA: Make the most of your fourth year bc it flies by! And don't feel guilty for wasting extra time, that's the moment you'll remember when you leave western! MARISKA: Positivity is the best way to succeed! KYLEEN: You will lose gains if you stop working out. So workout regularly. Consistency is key! JENNIFER: Take advantage of all the things that university has to offer. Extracurriculars, profs, events. Because it'll be a lot harder to get these things in the real world ABBY: Communication is important in order to along with your housemates
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Last words from 2014-2016 HSSA President Tara Chen Dear Health Studies Student Body, It has been a pleasure serving as your Health Studies President for the last two years. I cannot believe how much time has passed by! I still remember my time being the second and third year representative. My first class presentation was in Dr. Irwin’s Health Promotion Class in our large class of over 300 students looking at me. It was pretty funny because Dr. Irwin left her mic on her and I had to speak into it (If you’ve met me- I’m pretty short in comparison to her) and I was tiptoeing trying not to fall. When I decided to run for elections, I had a small dream and little confidence towards winning. I simply wanted to throw myself out there and get uncomfortable. I tried my best and throughout my campaign, I met many people on the way which lead to my win at the Elections in 2014. It was scary transitioning from the 3rd year representative to President but I was determined to take it on. I’m super proud of what my team and I have been able to accomplish in the last two years. We’ve been able to truly develop a Health Studies community and strive to differentiate ourselves as a unique program every day. From the Student Opportunity Fund to the Health Care Challenge, it’s been rewarding to see all the hard work come into play. I enjoyed meeting many students in our program whether it was from office hours, council or socials- you guys are what make all the hours HSSA puts into planning these opportunities worth it! Seriously- when you hear a student talk about how the Global Health Innovation Conference at Yale University changed their life in class- it makes all the sweat and tears feel like nothing! I wish the best of luck to you- study hard, play hard! Make sure you seek the opportunities and don’t hold yourself back! Never let anyone say “no” or “you can’t” to you. It is YOUR world, YOUR journey, YOUR degree. Make the most out of it! Wishing you all the best, Tara Chen Health Studies President 2014-2016
Health Studies at MonWHO 2016 On March 18th, 56 Health Studies Students travelled to Montreal for a three-day conference that brought students from a diverse array of disciplines together to discuss global health issues. The Montreal World Health Organization Simulation provided an interactive opportunity for students to learn about the WHO and to attempt to tackle non-communicable diseases, the topic for this year. Each delegate was assigned the role of a country ambassador, an NGO representative, a pharmaceutical representative or a journalist and had to work together to create resolution papers on how to address non-communicable diseases. Western Health Studies Students made their voices heard throughout the conference, providing valuable insights and sharing their knowledge of the very familiar but fundamental social determinants of health. Azerbaijan Delegate, Sheila Amri was awarded the Best Delegate Award for her outstanding leadership through her efforts towards creating working paper 1.5 on Sustainable Health Systems. A special thanks to the Student Opportunity Fund for which this year’s conference would not have been possible without. Finally, on behalf of MonWHO 2016 Health Studies Delegates, a world of thanks to HSSA’s fourth year rep Eric Trinh who organized all the logistics of the trip and made the trip memorable for everyone!
Spring Eating Spring is here! It’s time to get back in shape for summer vacation, and “spring clean” out our bodies! The end of winter means saying goodbye to winter habits such as eating heavy pastas, and hearty soups, and hello to lots of salads and smoothies. A great way to get in a few servings of vegetables is to add some spinach to a fruit smoothie, and enjoy that with your regular breakfast. The great thing about spinach is it has a mild flavour so you will not notice a taste difference. A leafy green to avoid in smoothies are arugula. These greens are extremely bitter and are much better in a sandwich or salad. Instead of grabbing a bagel, muffin, or slice of toast for a snack reach for fruit instead. An all time favourite of mine is a banana with almond butter and a few dark chocolate chips. Another great snack idea are açai bowls. Some of you may have heard of them or seen them on Instagram, but they are a great healthy, lighter choice for a spring snack! Sugar makes your body slow and sluggish, which is especially unwanted with the upcoming exam season. When making snacks or meals this spring try to cut down on the added sugars to maximize your health. Instead of buying a pre-made flavoured yogurt, buy some plain greek yogurt and add fruit for flavour. The great thing about spring is the increased variety in fruit and vegetables. Instead of reaching for a traditional apple or potatoes for dinner, try something like passionfruit or mango. Spring vegetables to try are snow peas, baby lettuce, and purple asparagus. Cut back on the Starbucks lattes and homemade hot chocolate, and increase your uptake of fresh pressed juices or water with chopped fruit in it. It’s best to make your own fresh pressed juices as store bought ones are often pasteurized and have added sugars.
By: Mariska Batohl
Anxiety By: Abby Dzur
At some point we have all felt some level of anxiety, whether that be because of an exam, interview, presentation, or deadline for an assignment. Therefore anxiety is a normal part of life and can push us to do our best at times. However for some people, anxiety can become an overwhelming and disruptive problem that can occur for no reason. This is termed an anxiety disorder, commonly defined as a mental illness that causes
feelings of worry, panic, and uneasiness. Statistics Canada’s conducted a Community Health Survey of Mental Health and Well-being in 2006 which revealed that people aged 15 to 24 are most likely to experience anxiety disorders. As university students we are in the prime age group to experience anxiety disorders. So, here are some tips to help someone who has an anxiety disorder: 1. Ask the person what they need,
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make no assumptions Remain calm, when you panic it only makes things worse Be patient, it may take some time to compose the person Be encouraging and put things into perspective Let the person talk it out If the anxiety escalates to a panic attack, consider consulting a clinician to take
How to Beat Senioritis By: Jennifer Helen Lee
Senioritis. It’s a phenomenon that plagues many 4th year students as they enter into the final stretch of their university career. Senioritis is a crippling disease that strikes university seniors.
absences, and a generally dismissive attitude
* An over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts.
A lack of motivation to do anything school-related may even cause a drop in GPA. Simple assignments may take ages to complete. However, with the rise of students going to on to graduate studies, a bad case of senioritis may actually be detrimental to student’s future. With that in mind, here are a few tips to beating senioritis.
* Also features a lack of studying, repeated
* Prioritize your time on achieving clear, attainable
Symptoms include: * Laziness
goals * Organize study sessions with friends. Studying with someone else can help hold you accountable! * Take care of your health. Hitting the gym and eating right is always a good idea and will help you focus when you finally start studying. * Research your job rospects. Realizing that you can do nothing with a BA makes getting into grad school imperative. What a great motivation to study!
Summer Job Hunting By: Jenna Williamson The final month of classes has officially arrived! Summer is just around the corner which means the summer job hunt may be well underway or you are just starting to think about your plan. It can be an overwhelming process and one that requires a large amount of your time to sit down and scroll through various applications. A good place to start is with making your resume as strong as it can be. A helpful way to improve your resume may be to visit the student success center and to book an appointment with someone who can review your resume and offer suggestions on how to improve it. Once you have a strong
resume the next step is filling out the application questions or conducting a cover letter. Cover letters can be something that requires a lot of time as you may be applying to various jobs that have different job descriptions, resulting in having to make various cover letters. To speed up this process it would be helpful to have a general cover letter with key words and a strong description of the characteristics your poses as a person, that can be altered from job to job. Applications can be tedious and may seem as a lesser priority than the exams you are studying, but it is something
that will pay off in the end when you are working a job that you love for the summer months! Take small portions of time out of your day and to stay connected to the work force and people who may be able to offer you a helping hand in finding connections. My biggest piece of advice would be to send out as many resumes as possible and if you have the ability to go to different job locations/sites and present your self face-to-face with those who working there for them to see the dedication and desire you have for pursing a job with the. Happy Job Hunting!
The Grad Column: Natalie Scime By: Kyleen Wong Name: Natalie Scime
pursuing a clinical career as well.
School: Western University Program: Health and Rehabilitation Sciences – Health Promotion stream Favourite Health Sciences Course: Human Embryology – HS 4320a/b What topic are you doing your Masters on? My general research interest is in the field of maternal, infant, and child health, and my thesis specifically focuses on breastfeeding support for mothers of preterm infants in Canadian neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) across Canada. What were your aspirations during your undergraduate career? To be honest, my aspirations changed quite frequently! I toyed with the idea of working as a clinician, such as a nurse, physiotherapist, or doctor, as a researcher, an anatomist, and several other professions. I found it very hard to zero in on exactly what I wanted to pursue as a career. Ultimately, I found research incredibly interesting and settled on enrolling into a Master’s degree to explore this interest further, while still maintaining some options in terms of
What did you do in your undergraduate years to prepare yourself for grad school? During my fourth year of undergrad, I enrolled in both an independent study and practicum placement as a research assistant. These experiences were truly instrumental in preparing me for graduate school. I was afforded the opportunity to learn firsthand whether research was for me, in terms of the day-to-day of project development and execution, working with human participants, analyzing data, and writing. Aside from informing my expectations and allowing me to understand whether this is the right ‘world’ for me, I gained invaluable practical experience as both a research assistant and a principal investigator. I learned how research questions should be grounded in evidence, how every decision through project development should have some evidence basis or rationale, how to set realistic timelines, and how to organize and juggle the many tasks required for conducting successful research.
What is the structure of the program? What do you like best about your program? What would you like to change? My program is structured to be research intensive, so I only require five courses – three half courses (i.e. one methods course, one field-based course, and one elective), one health promotion seminar (biweekly), and one common seminar for all incoming health and rehabilitation sciences students (sporadically throughout the year). Personally, I like that the coursework is minimal, as this affords me more time to work on my thesis and side projects. I would have liked for the required quantitative methods course I took to have been more rigorous and calculations-based, as I think being able to read and critique the ‘analysis’ portion of a research article is really important for understanding the overall design of a study. This is typically the section that takes me the longest to read, absorb, and understand, and I still get lost in the statistics lingo at times. While it is not required, I intend to take another stats course this upcoming fall term to further my knowledge in this area.
What is a typical day like? A typical day for me is spent mostly working from home, leaving to travel to campus for classes or meetings a few times a week. Working from home consists of a mix of tasks. Thesis-related tasks include reading newly published papers in my field, writing abstracts, working on my prospectus (i.e. first two thesis chapters – introduction and methods), or actually conducting my research where I reach out to NICUs, interview their staff, or organize my data. Various coursework tasks are also ongoing since I am still fulfilling my mandatory credits, so I sometimes block off time to create presentations, review class/seminar readings, or provide feedback on my classmates’ work. I also hold a research assistantship where I am involved with assisting on many research reviews – so work-related tasks often consist of screening articles, data extraction, contributing to manuscripts, or joining research teleconferences as members of our review teams are across Ontario. Lastly, I look for ways to grow my career in research and explore my interests, so throughout the day I try to find time to be active on Twitter (@NatalieScime), add ideas to my growing list of research projects, or seek out
opportunities for professional development. Is there any advice you would like to share with current Health Studies undergraduate students? I remember having a hard time getting involved in research as an undergraduate student, as research opportunities usually aren’t advertised. I encourage students to reach out to professors, graduate students, or researchers that are pursuing work in a field of your interest to understand what opportunities are available and start to establish your professional network. Avoid using generic emails or letters when reaching out to new contacts or applying for jobs, as these are often ignored by the receiver. Always take the time to craft an email or letter tailored to the individual or job you are writing for – it may seem like more work, but you will have better odds of standing out and being successful in what you’re trying to achieve. I also want to emphasize that professionalism and communication etiquette are incredibly important for students who are trying to foster professional connections. Proofreading emails before sending, using complete sentences and proper grammar, and
responding to communications in a timely manner are important ways to establish yourself as a young professional. Lastly, I have learned how important it is to handle rejection with grace. If you receive word that you did not get the job or that there are no research opportunities available, always find a way to turn that into a positive learning experience. Ask the employer for feedback on your application or job interview, or thank the researcher for their consideration and ask them to keep you in mind for future opportunities. It can be difficult to break into the field you aspire to be in, so always try to learn from failure and don’t give up.
Final Exam Season is here! Make sure that you know the dates your exams are scheduled on! Tips for studying: - Make a study schedule and stick with it! - Take breaks when necessary - Feed yourself nutritious meals (use some of our recipes!)
Last year, we heard your pleas for study spaces! HSB will be open for the exam season from 6:00 am to 10:30 pm 7 days-a-week. Happy studying!