What did you enjoy most about STD Engage?

STD Engage was a memorable week with plentiful networking opportunities, including breakfasts, lunches, and social receptions. I was able to not only get to know more about the strategies and tools to improve STD services, but also make connections with other public health colleagues. I enjoyed these networking events that led to meeting STD Directors and DIS currently working in other jurisdictions. This professional conference experience is one I would recommend to my peers— all thanks to the National Coalition STD Directors for the scholarship.

What’s something you learned at STD Engage that you plan to put into practice in your work?

As a DIS with 27 years of experience, I was one of the fortunate people from Puerto Rico to attend the STD Engage. All topics were extremely relevant for all experience levels of DIS. I have a whole notebook full of information from the presentation “340B: Preparing for Audit and Centralized Distribution Plans.” All of that new learning at once can be overwhelming, so the best slogan for the conference should be, “What happens at STD Engage should NOT stay at STD Engage.” After leaving the conference, I had a meeting with my colleagues to “Start now an action plan!” and put in practice the new learning.

In light of your work experience and what you learned at STD Engage, what do you think are the biggest challenges faced by DIS?

Every day, my colleagues and I provide STD services in our jurisdictions to a wide variety of patients with problems of varying complexity, but also deal with the lack of financial resources to offer STD services. Due to the ever-changing terrain that we call the public health care system, the DIS staff work under demanding circumstances. We recognize how challenging the process of providing services can be in settings often defined by volume overload and task saturation.