Master In Public Health

Public health deals with the public, community, and society as a whole. It promotes and protects the health of people and the communities where they live, learn, work and play. I believe that the many leadership, teamwork, communication and community skills I have gained through NHS and FBLA, will allow me to excel in the Public Health Field. Which will, in turn, allow me to be the best I can be, enabling me to be a great positive force in my community.

My interest in public health emerged when I recognized how much the health and well-being of an individual affects a community. From a young age, both my parents have struggled with their health; my mother having diabetes and my father having hypertension. I have seen how their health has affected them on the day to day basis and how it has affected those around them at a community level. As I continue to learn more about public health I am beginning to understand that many of the health problems, like the ones my parents face, can be prevented through lifestyle adjustments. Also, I have learned the most effective way to prevent diseases in a community is through advocating healthy habits to avoid health problems from emerging in the first place.

For second part of reading response, I choose to report on Promoting public understanding of public health article by our professor Stephen Bezruchka. I really enjoyed reading the article he wrote about how people in the America are being less healthy than those people in other rich nations. Promoting public awareness about this topic should be high priority for all Public Health majors. Health is the most important part of human life and it surprising to me that people in America are not really doing anything to change it. Solving this problem need individual supports and public supports.

While both medical care and public health work to improve the lives of many people, there are several distinctions between the two fields. Healthcare providers such as nurses and doctors are responsible for diagnosing and treating illnesses for individual patients. The care ranges from minor injuries to severe and chronic diseases. Meanwhile, public health strives to improve the well-being of a population. Public health advocates for the overall “promotion and prevention” of diseases before it even becomes an issue for healthcare providers. Public health encourages people to adopt healthy lifestyle choices and strives to control the outbreak of diseases. Although public health is often overlooked in the grand scale of medical care, it is undoubtedly the main aspect in ensuring that the overall health of a community is prospering.

During my undergraduate career at Florida A&M University, I discovered the Public Health graduate school program and I knew this would be a perfect way to make health and diseases, infectious and otherwise, fit into my future plans while expanding my horizons. I have the desire to be one of the movers in the healthcare field, finding answers to the never-ending questions as to why certain diseases are prevalent and others are not. I want to be the person that researches, plans, and executes healthcare programs and policies that will ultimately improve the healthcare field in America. I naturally see myself as a leader and I know that the field of Public Health will help me sharpen my skills as well as bring out the leader that I know I am.

With my older sisters away at college, the responsibility of caring for my ailing mother, suddenly fell to me, and my once picturesque childhood was at an end. I spent the early part of my adolescence learning how to run a household and play nurse to my mother. In addition to school and keeping the house in order, I administered her medications, gave injections, learned to catheterize her, helped her bath and use the restroom, and did all of the physician prescribed exercises to help with her leg cramps and numbness. When I had time I studied her disease, determined to find anything that might help alleviate her symptoms and bring the mom I remembered and craved back to me. And though she was often too far gone within her own mind to realize what was going on around her, when she was fully lucid she would smile softly and tell me what a wonderful nurse I would be when I grew up, just like she had been before the disease struck her. Looking back, I wish I could say that I preformed my duties with a smile on my face, but unfortunately that’s simply not

The Advances in public health have been possible due to the contributions of people with ideals of change who decided to make a difference in their communities through the creation of innovative ideas capable of changing the lifestyle of a community. Public health is about helping people to stay healthy, and protecting them from that psychosocial factor that may affect their life and that is why the public health worker must have a passion for a change and for a better quality of life for their community. In the beginnings of public health there were two people who acted as agents of social change and they were Sara Josephine Baker and Clara Barton.

I began volunteering at the Hope Line Resource Center to assist those in the community. This way I could assist with helping people become healthier to avoid facing the same situation my mother was in. Furthermore, I volunteer in health fairs to spread awareness of the ways people can put their body in a healthier state with Urban Health Plan. I wanted to do this to increase the community’s knowledge of how they can take control of their health. I eventually became an intern in the clinic with Urban Health Plan to have a chance to get involved in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) department and to collaborate with pediatricians to further understand the healthcare field. What happened to my mother motivated me to get involved, which eventually taught me that we all have the ability to take care of

The current field that is in is the Healthcare field and I’m currently seeking my associate Degree in Healthcare Management. My goal is to keep going to school until I obtain my master degree in Healthcare. I want to continue to become knowledgeable in all the aspect of healthcare so I will be able to obtain a stable career. I feel like by me doing this will always open new doors and jobs for where I will be able to use my knowledge within my field because the healthcare field is currently growing each and every day and to be honest I don’t think it will never end at

‘Public health is everyone’s business’ illustrates Jones (2012, p.2). The Faculty of Public Health regard public health as a combination of health protection, health advancement and promoting health (Griffiths and Dark, 2006, cited in Jones, 2012, p.6).

Walking through Louisiana in the middle of summer is no picnic. Not only is the temperature sweltering, but the mosquitos are ferocious. Every year my church sponsors a missionary trip down the Tigre Bayou to vaccinate at risk communities, and to educate population centers about the importance of exercise and diet. Although the United States has some of the best doctors in the world, we have many population centers that have little to no access to medical care, which places them at risk. The healthcare disparity in the U.S.A is egregious and unfortunately is a reality in rural America. I am passionate about not only healthcare disparity, but diseases that afflict at risk populations, such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. The purpose of this personal essay is to communicate why I would like to study public health at Campbell University, how my past education has prepared me to be a public health professional, my reasons and motivation for enrolling in a public health program and my career plans upon completion of the public health program.

When I first began my college career in 2011, I was a first generation college student. I entered into college with only a vague goal of becoming a Physician’s Assistant. The most common question I was asked was why? Why a Physicians Assistant? And I my answer was always the simple standard answer of: “I want to help people”. I, undeniably, still want to help others but it was not until the Christmas of my sophomore year, that I truly understood what it meant and took to be a successful Physician’s Assistant. A few days after Christmas my mother was hospitalized for two and a half weeks with a continuous blood clot in her leg and a small blood clot in her lungs. She spent the first 3 days in ICU, required multiple blood and iron transfusions, and eventually surgery. For me, the worst part of the entire experience was being awakened in the middle of the night by nothing more than the faint whisper of my name. Till this day, I don’t know how I heard it. My mom had collapsed on the stairs in excruciating pain. She was extremely weak and unable to move. I thought I was watching my mother die, and the immediate fear and panic that I felt, still haunts me sometimes. I didn’t know what to do or what was

An executive master's in public health is designed for working professionals who want to advance into public health leadership roles. These individuals are committed to advancing their careers and acquiring the knowledge needed to become public health proponents and stakeholders. Any accredited Executive MPH program should be approved by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH).

My unwavering interest in infectious diseases began in middle school when I read the book, The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston that intricately describes the Ebola virus. While the description of how the virus destroys the human body are unpleasant, this virus fascinated me. Consequently, in my spare time I read about other infectious diseases, such as cholera and tuberculosis, on Wikipedia and other web pages for my personal enjoyment. Years later, I participated in Princeton Model Congress in high school where I first learned about public health. Participants made mock congressional bills to be passed in a congress comprised of high school and college students in order to implement a national change. My mock bill advocated for the incorporation of HIV tests within annual physicals. The purpose of this bill was to ensure that more people became knowledgeable about their status and with this knowledge, HIV positive individuals can receive care faster and take proactive measures to prevent infecting others with this virus. As I researched various facts about the HIV epidemic and how HIV impacts communities in Washington, D.C., my interest in public health evolved even though I did not know of the official name, public health. At the time, I wanted to be a lawyer and averted from anything science or math related. Yet, I cared about my community and I wanted to make a difference. I rediscovered my interest in public health in college as a biology major.

In the whole of the United States, the Public Health System comprises of the National, State and community, often referred to as Local agencies (Slover, 2005). As opposed to Medical Care, Public Health focuses on the promotion of health in the community. It, further, promotes and enhances prevention of diseases and injuries to the community members. As such, the primary goal of the Public Health System lies in the promotion and protection of health in the local community (Slover, 2005).