Organizing
Your Community
Health
Care Forum
Pull
Together a Work Group
Gather
people who you can work with and have a mutual interest
in the Health Care Forum or have an interest in open
public discussion.
The
main roles to be filled are those of moderator, recorder,
and observer.
Here
is a brief overview of each job:
Moderator:
guide the discussion, promote deliberation
Recorder:
Record the discussion on a flip chart in a legible style,
capture the essence and values in what people are saying
Observer:
Sits and tries to capture as many direct quotes from people
as possible including who it is from - Ex. "I think
the health care system is a mess" - 25 year
old Nicholas County male
Apart
from these roles the work group will also work together
to convene the event i.e. inviting the
community, publicizing, securing a meeting space, and arranging
the room. They will work to report out
to the WVCCL and report back to their forum participants.
Preparing for the Health Care
Forum
Find
a good public space for your forum.
This is a place that the public relates to and people from
all areas of the community can feel comfortable at.
Set a date and time that will encourage participation from
people. Let the WVCCL know about your forum so it
can be posted on our website.
Gather
materials for your forum with the help of the WVCCL.
Contact the WVCCL and we will equip you with materials for
your forum including issue guides, post-forum
questionnaires, and a starter tape.
Publicize the Forum
You
do not need hundreds of people at your forum, but you want
to have enough participants to have some diversity of thought.
Attempt to get some people who work in the health care field,
community leaders, and decision-makers. The most important
element of publicizing is to get as many people from the
general public as possible. These
are the people who are affected by the issue on a day-to-day
basis.
Ask
colleagues and neighbors to come. Post a notice in
your community newspaper. Send out letters, emails,
and make phone calls to possible participants. Let
them know they will be a part of a statewide initiative.
Hold the forum with a captive audience i.e. library reading
groups, community organizations and clubs, at a community
festival, or at a high school or another educational facility.
Conduct
Your Forum
Develop
rapport with your participants by meeting and greeting them.
Make them feel welcome, but don't be afraid to ask the tough
questions. The recorder and observer will be actively
taking the forum notes. At the end of the forum have
all the participants complete the post-forum questionnaire.
Send the questionnaires to the WVCCL. Ask people to
give you their contact information to keep the group connected.
Report
On Your Forum
The work group
should fill out the response form on the back of the Health
Care Moderator Guide, reflecting on the conversation they
just heard. Prepare a list of the participant comments
from the recorder's notes to report back to the participant
group as well to send to the WVCCL. Ask for comments
on your summary from the participants to confirm the validity
of your report.
Send
Post-Forum questionnaires to
West
Virginia Center for Civic Life
2300
MacCorkle Ave., SE
Charleston,
WV 25304
|
