Quality First! Expo

On October 12, 2000 from 12:00 to 2:00, the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Program's Quality Working Group hosted the Quality First! Expo. CCP staff and guests visited regional displays and browsed through a wide variety of materials, illustrative of each division's myriad activities. Displays also presented summaries of each region's programmatic lessons learned in improving access to quality care. Participants appreciated the breadth and depth of quality initiatives in each display.

In their introductory remarks, Carol Brancich, Senior Advisor for Quality and Michelle Heerey, Program Officer for Quality and Performance, invited all to use this event as a means of sharing experiences in putting Quality First. Carol Brancich noted that this event with enable us "...to better view our future opportunities to assist our clients, whoever they may be, in their pursuit of successfully seeking quality in family planning and reproductive health care." She also noted that CCP's contributions to improving both the 'supply' and 'demand' for quality services have focused on:

Jose Rimon II, Deputy Director for CCP, at the entrance to the Quality First! Expo.

• Communication interventions that impact on both provider and client behavior change including improving the image of providers in their organizations and communities;
• Improving providers' counseling skills by emphasizing provider-facilitative and client-active roles in IPC;
• Promoting improved health services & access to generate client demand including empowerment of clients to demand quality services; and
• Enabling clients' informed choice of services and their reproductive health options.

Please browse through the program for the event and review the lessons learned. A complete list of the materials on display at the Expo will be available the week of October 16, 2000.