Kim Jones, assistant professor of Anthropology was a featured speaker at two workshops in Minas Gerais, Brazil this summer.
The first workshop was for the directors of the Humanitization of the Public Hospitals Program from various municipalities in the state of Minas Gerais. The workshop was held in the Ministry of Public Health in the state capitol, Belo Horizonte, on June 18, 2008, and attended by approximately 75 program directors. Dr. Jones was the featured speaker at the program and gave a presentation on “Medical Anthropology and Public Health: International Exchange for Humanitization.” During her program she explained how concepts from medical anthropology could help guide humanitization efforts and described a project where Service-Learning students from Elon participated in a project where the play area of the public hospital in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais was reformed.
One week later, Dr. Jones was the featured speaker for the 1st Annual Conference on Applied Medical Anthropology, Public Health, and Humanitization of Public Hospitals at the State University of Montes Claros (UNIMONTES). Students from various health programs, and hospital staff from various municipalities attended the workshop. The president of the university, vice president of the university, director of the university hospital, municipal minister of health, and the director of the Humanitization Project at the university hospital welcomed Dr. Jones and commemorated her 10+ years of collaboration with UNIMONTES faculty and students during the opening panel. During the morning session, Dr. Jones discussed the articulations between applied medical anthropology and humane health care. In the afternoon, the 100+ audience viewed and discussed “The Warrior Women Workers of the University Hospital”, a film made by Dr. Jones, Fernanda Lima Veloso (MA, UNIMONTES, ’08), and Robin Newton (BA, Elon, ’09).