Yasmin Goreja was completing her dual masters in public health and social work at the University of Georgia when she served as a Region IV PHTC Pathways to Practice Scholar in the fall of 2021. In her field placement, Yasmin had the opportunity to work with the East Georgia Cancer Coalition (EGCC) to create a new program known as “Love Your Lungs.” This program aims to reduce the prevalence of lung cancer in the region by helping residents quit tobacco through a variety of smoking cessation methods. The program also works to guide healthcare providers with evidence-based resources to assist their patients’ quit attempt. Here is Yasmin’s reflection on her experience in her own words:

The East Georgia Cancer Coalition is an essential asset to the residents of Georgia, especially to individuals who have limited access to cancer-related resources. Creating the Love Your Lungs program has allowed this organization to address a significant, yet under-addressed issue in the state of Georgia and across the coalition region. Moving forward, EGCC should continue to establish the foundation of the program and later expand it to more clinics across the region, especially in rural areas. Going forward, creating a virtual telehealth component of this program could potentially reach a greater target population across the region. Lastly, further research on lung cancer prevalence rates and various demographic tobacco statistics among East Georgia residents is highly recommended to better serve this population. 

Working at the East Georgia Cancer Coalition has reaffirmed my belief that access to healthcare is a fundamental right for all individuals. This organization strives to address many cancer-related needs that are often overlooked. Interning here has helped me gain practical experience that I hope to use as a future public health practitioner. The project I worked on allowed me to truly understand tobacco dependence as more than just a “bad habit.” Instead, I learned how addictive nicotine is and how it can chemically alter an individual’s brain, eventually leading to dependence. I hope to continue to use my skills and knowledge on tobacco dependence to spread information to vulnerable populations. EGCC has granted me greater insight into the East Georgia region and its needs, and I am excited to see how the Love your Lungs program continues to unfold.

Angela Lupo was a senior at the University of North Carolina Wilmington majoring in Public Health with a concentration of Global Health when she served as a Region IV PHTC Pathways to Practice Scholar in the summer of 2021. In her field placement, Angela worked with the Center for Healthy Communities, also in Wilmington. Here is Angela’s reflection on her experience in her own words:

Center for Healthy Communities captured my interest because of their goals and mission. Because this agency works with the communities, I was exposed to their projects that focused on helping the needs of the communities. I also had a great experience working with this agency’s community partners because they helped me broaden my knowledge and skills especially when communicating with them and with other people. This agency did not disappoint me because by working with them, I gained confidence talking to other people and not hesitant to speak up even though English is not my first language.

During my internship, I learned to developed, implemented, and evaluated a nutrition education program that focused on healthy eating with hydration and the integration of diabetes. I also learned to conduct online research to locate and learn about nutrition programs from different agencies within New Hanover County and the Northside Health & Wellbeing Improvement Team’s partnering agencies. As a future health educator, I valued all the experiences that I had from working with this agency especially when educating the communities and promoting their health. In addition, by working with the Center for Healthy Communities, made me realized all the skills that I need to improve in order for me to be successful when I work at the real world. I believe that all the things that I learned from Center for Healthy Communities will be very helpful to me when I entered the public health world after I graduate at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Dawn Mapatano was a Master of Public Health student at Jackson State University with a concentration in Epidemiology when she served as a Region IV PHTC Pathways to Practice Scholar in the fall of 2020. In her field placement, Dawn worked with the West Central Alabama Area Health Education Center (AHEC) to assess opioid use disorder treatment needs. Here is Dawn’s reflection on her experience in her own words:

This field placement appealed to me initially because I saw that they worked with the rural community of southern Alabama and I had not had an opportunity to work with in a rural community because I have always worked and lived in an urban area. Learning that the focus of the activities that I would be working on was the immense issue of opioid addiction and the opioid crisis currently occurring in southern Alabama really intrigued me. I had not previously had the opportunity to work directly on an issue that is domestically centered but also has global ramifications. The survey that our team created to assess the needs of the community is a concept I was familiar with due to the coursework that I have taken as a master’s of public health candidate. It was intriguing to see how something that I had only seen in practice within a global public health context like a need’s assessment was also applicable within a domestic space.

This experience helped me to become more culturally competent because I had to think about an issue that I had no previous experience with. I was tasked with then displaying sensitivity to the people who have been placed in those contexts. In the initial phone calls, I talked to community members who were involved in providing resources for people addicted to opioids. I was able to figure out ways to communicate the reason this grant would also be helpful for the southern Alabama community. Learning to use Qualtrics for the first-time is also a useful skill gained from this experience as I now know how to create surveys and assess and analyze the data that come out of these surveys.

Jennifer Drey was pursuing an Executive Master of Public Health at Emory University when she served as a Region IV PHTC Pathways to Practice Scholar in the fall of 2020. In her field placement, Jennifer was responsible for the development of DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet curriculum for implementation in the Georgia Department of Public Health Coastal Health District. Here is Jennifer’s reflection on her experience in her own words:

This field placement was appealing to me because it offered the opportunity to work on chronic disease prevention programming in my current hometown of Savannah, GA. This fully aligned with my future professional interests, as my career goal is to transition into a position that involves creating and implementing public health programming that improves nutritional outcomes in poverty-affected areas of Georgia. While my placement was rooted in chronic disease prevention and focused on the DASH diet curriculum, my mentor also introduced me to other aspects of the health district, as well as some emerging ideas in chronic disease prevention, including the Blue Zones Power 9 and Knorr 50 Foods for the Future.

This placement was gratifying because it allowed me to apply my skills and knowledge to a project that has the potential to impact the community in which I live. The development of a DASH diet curriculum directly correlated with many of the skills I have acquired through my coursework at Emory and allowed me to apply my knowledge in a real-world setting. As a result, my placement solidified my desire to work in chronic disease prevention programming and helped me gain a better understanding of the barriers to consider when working with a low-income community.

Admittedly, carrying out this placement during COVID-19 raised a few concerns for me with regard to the future of chronic disease prevention programming within public health departments. My primary concern is that there is a lack of resources and staff time to fully address both COVID-19 and chronic disease prevention, and this may exist well into the future. This is worrisome to me, given the relationship between chronic disease and poor COVID-19 outcomes. At the same time, that relationship between chronic disease and COVID-19, as well as the relationships between chronic disease and so many other negative outcomes and premature death, continues to inspire me to pursue work in this field. 

Christina Faulk was an MPH candidate at the Medical University of South Carolina when she served as a Region IV PHTC Pathways to Practice Scholar in the fall of 2020. As a research intern at the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), Christina assessed childhood homelessness as a risk factor to opioid misuse and the role of effect modifiers as protective factors. Here is Christina’s reflection on her experience in her own words:

I chose this field placement because I knew that statistics was not one of my strengths and I wanted to build my skills in SAS and statistical analysis. My field placement gave me more experience in this subject matter and I was extremely fortunate to be able to work with the Director of Surveillance at DHEC, who is very knowledgeable in the field of Epidemiology, and Research and statistics.

I learned that with good public health research, a huge impact can be made for an entire population of people, which is quite profound. My mentor taught me patience, to believe in myself, and with dedication and effort anything can be accomplished. I have grown both personally and professionally during this field placement and feel more confident with large datasets and my ability to use statistical programing software to clean and analyze data.

This opportunity has confirmed my desire to work with data and research, specifically trauma and substance abuse research. I am extremely grateful and fortunate to have had this experience and encourage all public health graduate students to apply to the Pathways to Practice Scholars field placement.

Jenesha Nance is an MPH student at the University of South Carolina who served as a Region IV PHTC Pathways to Practice Scholar in the summer of 2019. She worked for SC Thrive, a nonprofit committed to leading South Carolinians to stability by providing innovative and efficient access to quality of life resources.

At SC Thrive, she facilitated benefits trainings, attended outreach events, and supported numerous nonprofits’ partnerships with SC Thrive. She also conducted a needs assessment to help organizations better utilize SC Thrive’s resources, including ThriveHub, a new tool that expedites the government benefit application process and helps connect SC Thrive partner organizations.

Jenesha had the opportunity to work with a wide range of clients, from seniors to schoolchildren. The population she worked with was primarily rural, and issues with transportation, high rent costs, and low income were common. Jenesha explains, “My time with SC Thrive was an eye-opening experience. I learned about real issues those in poverty have. Financial and physical health tie hand in hand. Once a person has all the basic needs such as food, water, shelter and healthcare, they can focus more on building a career, having healthy families, and increasing financial resources.”

“One of the most important skills I gained from my field placement was empathy,” she reflects. “I experienced how those who live in poverty scrape by each day and am grateful for all my privileges. I want to continue in nonprofit work and ensure every person has food, shelter, and healthcare. Then, I can begin to assist people in breaking the cycle of poverty.”

Jenesha is currently completing her last semester at the USC. When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, she began volunteering with Mutual Aid Midlands to help people access food, housing assistance and utility assistance. She is currently working on a back to school electronics drive to help children access technology like computers and headphones.