MPHA will be at the 34th annual St. Louis County HHS Conference: The Losses and Laughter We Grow Into! This conference draws together 2,500 public and private sector practitioners for 2 days of training and networking, providing a forum for sharing innovative ideas and programs, stretching perspectives, strengthening community Health & Human Services, and addressing common issues and concerns.

Husband and wife team Ken Bence (Director of Public Health for Medica and MPHA past president) and Rev. Nancy Nord Bence (Executive Director of Protect Minnesota) will present a workshop on The Epidemiology of Gun Violence. They will present data and analysis about morbidity and mortality rates, populations at risk, infectious agents, social determinants and effective means of disease control. They will explain how to address this epidemic as a public health problem, and how to change the narrative for the benefit of the community.

HHS practitioners know what how contentious this issue can be; participants in the workshop will benefit from a lively discussion of possible interventions that can remove the politics and treat it as a public health crisis that leaves 30,000 Americans dead each year.