Reflection On Interning At The Nueces Public Health

On the day of April 1st, I volunteered in the Proviso East HS Health Fair. I was paired up with a Nurse Practitioner, a graduate student, named Carrie Bach. Our topic was “Oral Health,” and we had a poster and other visuals on our booth to educate the high school students during the Health fair.

Over the course of the summer I will be working with Dr. Laura Warner. Dr. Warner is the Medical Director of Corporate Mission at Centura Health. The project that I will be assisting with is the health equity dashboards development plans and the development of diversity awareness model for associates. Over the next 12 weeks I am responsible for researching best practice models preformed by other health systems, attending webinars form the American Hospital Association on how to better approach diversity, attend health equity council meetings with Dr. Warner, create PowerPoints, graphs and spreadsheets of the racial and ethnic background on all Centura health hospital boards and help brainstorm ideal for potential ideal learning modules for

The key informant that I chose for my interview was Breanne Watson who is a registered nurse at Surry County Health and Nutrition Center in Dobson, NC. Watson explains that she has been a county health department nurse for five years and has worked in several different areas within the health department. Currently, Watson specializes in communicable diseases at the health department. Watson states that her job consist of providing services to individuals with communicable diseases, reporting the disease, planning treatment regimens for the individual, ordering medications and following up with the individual. In addition, Watson educates and counsels individuals on communicable diseases and takes part in the health team planning of the community

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.

We envision a future in which we, as a community, build a culture of health-conscious women – whatever their ethnic, racial, socio-economic or physical circumstance may be – who understand how to live well-balanced lives.

My experience as a volunteer at the Holland Christian Homes Long Term Facility was very enlightening as a person and more so, as a nursing student. Initially, as a student I believed health was merely an absence of disease and that one could only enjoy good health if there was a complete absence of medical, diagnosable problems. With more education in the health field, experience in the health industry, there was a shift in my ideas to a socio-environmental model of health

The biweekly Saturday free clinic was full and overflowing the first time my best friend brought me to the Student for Health organization’s community health clinic. For the next two years, I was ‘hooked on’ the organization’s volunteer health services. It was always exciting to come and help with the health screening services. We screened mostly for chronic conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. I was always curious to know the fate of patients referred to major hospitals by our medical director: Did they make a full recovery? Was there anything more we could have done to help them get better? It was this drive to be better informed, better positioned to offer help to those in dire circumstances that spurred my interest

As a new graduate nurse, I can make an impact in my society by being my patients advocate and a responsible collaborative member of a health care team that provides patient centered care that encourages patient involvement in the plan of care to increase a likelihood of compliance and to maintain his or her sense of control.

When I was seventeen, I fled France to escape persecution by the government. I arrived in Utah as a refugee without my family. I had little understanding of the English language and the culture when I began volunteering at the hospital. For the following four years, my experiences at the St. Js hospital helped me build my identity and guided my ambitions. Many patients with obesity or diabetes could not afford healthy diets and preventive care. Consequently, their complications had gotten worse and they needed to be hospitalized.

Pitt County Health Department mission is to protect, promote, and assure the health of all people in Pitt County. This agency has several programs and classes to educated and serve the community. During my internship they provided several opportunities for me to teacher classes and work with the members of the community. Another strength about this agency is that every health educator is passionate about what they do when serving and educating the community. Throughout my internship they have provided me with several teaching opportunities. I’ve also attended meeting and conducted research for two grants. The agency allowed me to see first hand what health education is all about, which is providing the community with knowledge and skills

Beginning May 18th, interns were invited to weekly seminars or field trips that helped facilitate the summer internship. The three field trips were to Williamson County Health Department, Mid-Cumberland Regional Health Office, and The State Lab. We got to meet with Commissioner Dr. John Dreyzehner, along with several other executives that spoke about the programs they are involved with. The program also opened the door to become familiar with other interns that attend other universities. Most of the interns were pursuing a Master’s in Public Health, a few were working on their doctoral degree, and a few were finishing their bachelor degree. The last two seminars were about writing and critiquing your resume, interviewing skills, and instructing us on applying for state jobs. The TDH Internship Program really helped facilitate and engage the interns.

One direction is in the public health model, where my responsibilities are in the involvement of the community. “The public health model applies a multicausal approach to studying the causes or origins of problems and emphasizes prevention” (Woodside & McClam, 2015.) I personally have a strong interest in promoting health information and disease prevention to those in need. I want to assist in the improvement of those in need and their quality of life in the present and future (Woodside & McClam, 2015.) My other interest is in the human service model. This model focuses on identifying the individual’s problems and empowering them to improvement and self-sufficiency (Woodside & McClam,

To say that I’ve always known what I aspired to be would be nothing short of fiction. In fact, my career goals often change on a weekly basis. While policy and procedure inspire my inner businessman, I can’t deny my passion for health promotion and community outreach. Through my educational and practical experiences I’ve come to learn that I am hooked on several different genres of Public Health. And as I continue to browse through the seemingly endless selection of possibilities, I am certain that I want to begin this next chapter in the School of Public Health at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center.

There are multiple branches in the Department of Public Health, but I was placed on the stroke team that was responsible for increasing awareness of the signs of stroke (FAST), improving hospitals’ infrastructure for stroke patients, and sending hospitals data on their stroke patients to see if any of the new policies the stroke team implemented had made any changes in the amount of individual that survive from a stroke and their discharge time. This internship introduced me to the nuances of health I had never even thought

I had the opportunity to interview and shadow a public school nurse at Mark Twain elementary school in Miamisburg, Ohio. This paper will discuss my experiences and learnings from my interview with the nurse on May 20, 2015. I’ll discuss my overall experience talking with the nurse, my goals and expectations before meeting with her, how my knowledge, skills and attitude have been impacted and how this experience impacted my view of myself and the world. I’ll also discuss what I would do differently if I could repeat this experience as well as how this experience impacted my view of wellness and health promotion.