Chicago: My kind of town

I love Chicago. It's great to be back in this city of Sandburg's big shoulders for the annual meeting of the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ). The four days of the meeting offer a unique opportunity to the UGA grad students in attendance--including me!--to meet new people in this new part of our lives!

After arriving at O'Hare on Thursday, I took the "L" into the city. On the train, I used my iPhone to figure out where to change trains to get closer to the Hyatt at McCormick Place. But when I arrived at Roosevelt and disembarked, I couldn't get the Web page to reload and show me the number of the bus I needed to take from there. So I flagged a cab and forked over the eight bucks, figuring I'd already seen enough of the real people anyway.

In my hotel room, I was awed when the bellhop opened the curtains. This skyline photograph is taken from the room, with Lake Michigan and Soldier Field ("da Bears") on the right and all the city's big buildings filling up the rest. A little off the the left edge of the photograph is the iconic Sears Tower (actually it's now the Willis Tower--Willis was my dad's middle name, who would of thought).

At the meeting itself, I took in a session on how to use Web-based software to map demographics and health conditions. During two newsmaker briefings CDC Director Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH, and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, MPA, presented.

Frieden announced increased efforts at the Atlanta-based agency to reduce smoking levels among Americans, which are currently stuck at about 20% of adults. CDC wants to use state-based, high-impact strategies to get more people to quit using tobacco.

Sebelius discussed the new health care reform law and its implications for Americans. She seemed very genuine when asked in the question-and-answer period about her disappointments during the yearlong, arduous process of debate and discussion over health care reform. Sebelius was particularly disheartened when provisions that would have been very beneficial to patients--such as discussions about end-of-life care with physicians--were reduced to inaccurate sound bites ("death panels") and then removed from the bills solely for political reasons.

An opening reception closed the day by providing a taste of all the different types of people who are at AHCJ. Reporters, media relations folks at hospitals and other institutions, students, and freelancers are all here.

It's going to be a fabulous meeting--and the town will be great too!