CARRFS SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM

Workshops The CARRFS Symposium Working Group has organized four workshops for this symposium, all timely topics for regional risk factor surveillance.

The first workshop is put together by Charles Burchill from the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Medicine’s Center for Health Policy, focuses on the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for risk factor surveillance. This workshop will provide an overview of the basic concepts of GIS accompanied by demonstrations of these concepts.

The second workshop has been developed by Cristina Ugolini and Lara Murphy of Saskatoon Health Region’s Public Health Observatory and will discuss the processes involved in developing their Health Authority’s Public Health Observatory and Comprehensive Community Information System.

The third workshop, with presenters from Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick, is focused on school-based risk factor surveillance. This workshop will explore the experiences in these three provinces with the development and execution of school-based youth risk behavior surveys.

Presenters will discuss in detail the development and implementation of their surveys as well as their knowledge translation efforts.

The last workshop will explore the scope and application of indicators of community vitality by showcasing how various indicators can be used to analyse population health evidence at the local level. The presenters for this workshop, Verlé Harrop, Alton Hollett, and Doug May, bring considerable experience and expertise to this undertaking.

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