We know that public health is often underfunded, undervalued and misunderstood. What we also know is that public health may have saved your life today and you probably didn’t even know it. That’s the conundrum that public health faces; public health makes modern life possible, but not many know about it. We have an opportunity to learn more about what it can do for us as individuals and as a community. Missoula Public Health will be sponsoring the four-part PBS docuseries, “The Invisible Shield” at The Roxy beginning on Thursday, January 9th. The first showing in the 4-part series will focus on the history of Public Health, “The Old Playbook: Public Health in Context”. It centers on defining and understanding public health by exploring historical factors and actions. We will screen the hour-long episode and follow it up by an hour of facilitated conversation.
We will continue the opportunity to have screenings and conversations by presenting the following episodes once a month through the month of April. Each episode will bring unique information that will include engaging topics; Episode 2, “Follow the Data” an essential public health tool since at least the seventeenth century, Episode 3, “Inoculation & Inequity” focusing on disinformation and misunderstanding, skepticism of science, and distrust of government, and finally, Episode 4, “The New Playbook”, life expectancy is declining, how do we rethink the system before it’s too late?
One of the highlights of this series is on the focus of the role of public health professionals as the first line of defense during public health crises through their use of outbreak science, health patterns and forecasting data. Each episode will build upon the others encouraging you the viewer to think about how the next generation of committed public health workers and advocates will approach future obstacles in public health.
So, we hope you will join us in watching this docuseries and participate in the community conversation; it’s a chance to hear the story of public health and have deeper understanding as to why it matters.
Dates: January 9, 2025
February 13, 2025
March 13, 2025
April 10, 2025
All showings are at The Roxy Theater from 6:30-8:30pm