Happy Birthday to DrP

DrPHealth celebrates one year since this experiment began by this writer.  Initially the purpose was about learning how to use social media.  It quickly became a form of self-education as there are it forces the writer to remain current with public health activities in Canada and more globally. Curiosity has driven its prolongation.  The dynamic shifting of audiences, the fascination with specific topics of controversy – whether Smart metres, fluoride, or Hookah and less interest in the the relatively mundane in public health like tobacco.  Wandering into the fringes of public health with telehealth, healthy built environments, and the use of social media have garnished much more interest than the exciting developments in work near the core like Hepatitis C, data management, influenza or screening. 

Topping the consistent list of views are topics directly linked to determinants of health. Topics related to food and nutrition have tended to garner the most engaging comments.    

What are the messages in this?   That these are the hot topics in public health, or merely a reflection of interest of the consistent readers? 

I am so appreciative of the core of readers who have the blog sent to them by email, for which I have no statistics on how many are recipients.  A small core of followers on both the Blog site, through Linked in, and the several dozen who follower Tweets @drphealth.   Increasing, more folks make passing verbal comments that reflect knowledge about the site, some of whom seem truly oblivious as to the sources. 

July 3rd will also see the 8000^th visitor to the site - with an original horizon target of 10000.  

The time has come to begin to decide the future for the site.  At the top of the home page, there is a poll that asks the question about what should be the future for the DrPHealth blogsite?  For some reason the question was dropped and is added into the site description (I continue to learn).  Please vote, and you may choose multiple answers – they are in part based on feedback that has been received. Be sure to communicate with your colleagues and have them express their opinions too.   The poll results will be viewable, and will stay open until the end of July.   Comments of course are welcomed to be posted, or sent privately to drphealth@gmail.com.   Any and all feedback is encouraged and welcomed.  Anonymity has a value, but also a price when it comes to the interactive dialogue needed to ensure needs are being met.

In the meantime, please celebrate with me, this 185^th posting, along with 175 Tweets, and some 85 followers between Twitter and Linked-in.   Happy Birthday to us, DrPHealth has become a small and sometimes vibrant community!!!.