KINS 4306 – Internship in Public Health: Reflection Paper

Kaitlyn Gauthier

Center for Health and Social Issues

Supervisor: Dr. Damian Francis

April 8th, 2021

My name is Kaitlyn Gauthier and to begin the semester off, I actually completed my first

49 hours as an intern for the organization Community and Schools. After a few weeks of

completing the tasks required, I struggled to see a connection of how this internship would

benefit me and my aspired career goals. After speaking to a few people about the possibility of

changing internships, I was very blessed to get to work with a staff who genuinely cares about

their students and was able to get an internship change. While I only worked at this internship

site for less than two weeks, I still like to include it in my journey this semester. I see this

situation helping me grow as an individual and it overall teaching me a lesson to speak up. I was

not happy and had many people tell me to just stick it out and it will be over soon. I did not like

that approach at all because I see completing an internship through my major as a huge learning

opportunity before jumping into the world of careers. To conclude this section of the

introduction, I believe that you do not HAVE to be miserable or HAVE to go through miserable

experiences to get to the better side of things. You are in control of your own life and if you are

not happy, you have the power to do something about it or at least try.

From week three and forward, I served as an intern for the Center for Health and Social

Issues (CHSI). CHSI was originally formed under Dean Pamela Levi as a way for the Georgia

College School of Health Sciences (SOHS) to make an impact on the health of the Central

Georgia region. During a SOHS faculty retreat, the mission and purpose of the center was

defined. Fast forwarding to present time, Dr. Damian K Francis now holds the position of

director for CHSI as well as being a professor at the college. Dr. Francis is a Nutritionist and

Epidemiologist coming from the Caribbean Institute for Health Research, University of the West

Indies, Jamaica. Not only does he take on the role of a professor and director of the center, Dr.
Francis also serves as Co-Director of the Cochrane Caribbean, serves both the Pan American

Health Organization and World Health Organization (WHO), while also serving as a member of

the Essential Medicine List expert panel. Many work alongside Dr. Francis and CHSI such as

graduate assistant Catherine Woodall, myself as an intern, and three undergraduate researchers;

Savannah Webb, MaryElle Michael, and Elias Torres.

The purpose of this organization at Georgia College is to “improve health of the residents

of Central Georgia through collaborative campus/community partnerships to provide research

and education concerning contemporary health problems and social issues.” We believe that

good health is a “multidimensional phenomenon” that consists of a balance of physical,

psychological, social and spiritual dimensions, much like the social determinants of health.

The Center for Health and Social Issues currently has six areas of prevention: Obesity,

cardiovascular disease, diabetes, mental health, and healthcare access. With these areas of focus,

the center is currently involved with the following community outreach projects and research:

Diabetes Prevention Program, Community-based participatory research, Live Healthy Baldwin,

Harrisburg Community Engagement, and the Childhood Obesity Prevention in afterschool

programs. It is important to note that individuals have the power to positively change their own

health status and to influence the health of the community and nation. When it comes to research,

it is essential to our understanding of health and social issues related to health. According to the

Center for Health and Social Issues’s homepage, it states how, “As an institution of higher

learning, GC has an obligation to direct its many resources for the purpose of improving both

individual and public health” (Center for Health & Social Issues).
Description of Experiences

After about 12 weeks as an intern for CHSI, I have not accumulated only one role.

Through this internship, I have taken on more roles than I can essentially count on my two

hands. From project planning for multiple events, becoming a master of Canva by creating and

designing infographics/flyers etc., assessing blood pressure of the community, grant writing,

community outreach/empowerment, development of surveys, blight assessments and the list goes

on. While all these tasks have been nothing less than challenging, I have enjoyed every last

second of it. I enjoy being challenged, and trust me, Dr. Francis knows how to challenge me. I

will never see that as a complaint but more of an opportunity for it to form me into the best

version of myself. When being asked “what was the best (fun, exciting, motivating, rewarding)

part of your internship,” there is nothing specific that stands out to me because my whole

experience has been the best. To answer the question, being able to apply everything that I have

learned through my four years of studying Public Health while making the connections through

CHSI, I would say has been the best part of this internship. I have learned so much in the three

short months I have been here and I am so thankful.

While this internship has been amazing, it has come with its challenges and difficulties.

At the beginning, I found it very difficult to transition to a more work based schedule rather than

class schedule. It just took some getting used to but I am thankful for this because it prepares us

for how life might be life after college. Some other difficulties included being asked to complete

tasks that I did not think, at the time, I would be able to accomplish. The expectations while

working in the environment of CHSI are always high and some days, I would find myself

applying a lot of pressure to be perfect and not want to disappoint. So something I wish I would
have learned earlier on is that it is okay to not be perfect and fail sometimes. It only teaches you

to learn from your mistakes and to be better the next time around.

Perception and Evaluation of the Internship

While working with CHSI, I had a lot thrown at me pretty quickly. When I first started,

the first task I was given was the assessment of blight in the surrounding communities of Georgia

College. Now, when given this task, I will not lie and say I immediately looked up what in the

world what “blight” was and remember thinking what in the world have I gotten myself into.

After being asked to write a literature review on the assessments, It helped me grasp exactly

what I was being asked to do. I explain this because with every task I have been given that I

might have been unsure of what something was or how to properly carry out the task being asked

of me, I was provided plenty of background material and explanations to make sure I could

exceed the expectations that were asked of me. Due to this, this internship did more than meet

my personal expectations. Something that Dr. Francis always pushed my limits and was trying to

get me to express more of my thoughts, ideas and considerations. Typically, I would just look to

be told something and told exactly how to do it rather than me taking leadership and expressing

my thoughts or maybe a different way to complete something. With that being said, I do have a

slight excuse due to Dr. Francis always having visions of exactly what he wants and if it is not

done that way, it would have to be redone. After working alongside him for about a year, I have

slowly learned how his brain works and I would like to think the work I produce now that he is

proud of is all because I know exactly what he might be looking for. No wonder why he doesn't

want me to leave(:

Overall, the effectiveness of the supervision from the site supervisor was almost too

effective. During the first few weeks, his office also became my office. After some time of me
most likely getting on his nerves, he moved me into the office in the basement of the Health

Science building which is now the Public Health Research Pod. Even then, I was right next to his

office and he would stop by every once in a while to check in or to give me additional tasks. The

location of the office was probably double the effectiveness because it was also located directly

across from Dr. Kaninjing’s office so he was able to stop by as well to do his internship site

drop-ins.

Something that might have improved my experience while interning with CHSI would be

the board approving our blight assessment grant on time. Due to the delayed approval, It has

pushed back the amount of time I have to complete my internship project. Personally, I do not

think the time I have left will be enough to complete this project the standards we are expecting

but fortunately, due to the grant being approved, I have the opportunity to become employed

through this project and continue the project after graduation.

Finally, for future interns, I would recommend completing their Community Health

service-learning hours through CHSI and Live Healthy Baldwin. I say this because I was able to

do this and this organization (aka Dr. Francis) takes on a lot of different projects at one time and

getting the experience before becoming a full time intern has really helped me be successful in

this internship. The work environment is fast paced and the expectations are set high so I would

recommend working with CHSI to any and every student but gaining the previous experience

will help coming in as an intern by not feeling overwhelmed.

Internship Preparedness

Like I mentioned in the last section, coming into this internship with the experience of

being able to complete my service-learning hours through Live Healthy Baldwin has really

helped me be prepared for this placement. I also say this because over the years I have learned
that after a test or class, I tend to let everything I learned leave my brain. Therefore, coming into

the internship, I was a little skeptical because I did not think, academically, I was prepared to

understand how to efficiently and effectively complete public health work. After some time of

working, Dr. Francis and I both learned that I am a very hands on learner. I wasn't necessarily the

smartest in the classroom and wasn't the type of student to go above and beyond on assignments.

I did enough to get me by. Now after working through CHSI, everything I have learned over the

years has come back to be by being able to apply it to real life assignments. Everything has come

full circle and I am able to say I have a strong grasp on how to carry out public health work

within a community. The areas I felt most prepared and confident in were when we would go to

community meetings and I was able to speak on and relay information to the community

members as if I am the expert. Through my years of college, I would find myself struggling to

give presentations in class and being able to elaborate on certain topics. I would always get so

frustrated because I felt that with my outgoing personality and aspirations to go into medical

sales, that this would be the one thing I would be good at and have to be good at. When coming

into this internship, I learned that I would have to speak to community members, give

presentations and essentially make myself look like an expert on things that I might not be an

expert in. I quickly learned that I was lacking confidence. Confidence in my abilities and

confidence in the information that I was learning. With the random reassurance remarks from Dr.

Francis about the work I would complete, plenty of background research and hand on activities

through the CHSI, I have been told that I excel in the communication aspect of public health.

Through CHSI, I have found that pretty much every course that I have taken as a public

health major has been implemented. The course that stands out to me the most when making the

comparison would be Health Promotion Program Planning. Coming into this internship with
having some background knowledge of how to conduct efficient health promotion and programs

has been huge. The Harrisburg food drive is the event that stands out to me the most when

thinking of the skills learnding during that course. From meeting the individuals who put on the

event ahead of time to discuss logistics, to the carry out of the event itself, to the community

coming together to successfully put on the event to the meetings once a month where everyone

comes to discuss the turn out of the last drive and what can be done at the next to improve. It

efficiently carries out how to effectively plan, assess, and conduct health promotion and program

planning.

Internship Performance

Through this internship, I have been able to acquire so many new skills and knowledge. I

think the most important thing I have learned through working with CHSI is overall just

confidence in myself and my performance. Like I said before, I am not really the “school type”

and that worried me for my future performances in the work field. I felt as if all the students who

would make high grades on their test while I struggled to pull out a C after studying all night,

would have better opportunities than me and be more successful. I have learned that is not true

by any means. Through gaining the confidence in my abilities, it has opened up a whole new

window of skills for myself, the main one being public speaking. Other skills I have developed

have been, but not limited to, leadership, creative thinking, and effective decision-making. The

knowledge I have learned about community outreach and community empowerment might be

my favorite to speak about. It is amazing what can happen when people come together as a

community as one. Taking Harrisburg for example, that community has worked so hard to get it

to where it is now and without the proper steps of community outreach, the community

empowerment would not be what it is today. I have been able to make connections within the
community for more opportunities such as connecting with Kristina Hyland and Health

Empowers to get the importance of nutrition more involved through the Harrisurg food banks. I

also was able to make connections with the community members and help them find the care

they need.

Overall, I think I would rate my quality of work about 8 or 9. Dr. Francis always seemed

happy with any work that I would present back to him or he would ask me to make slight

changes to his liking. Some skills that I think I could sharpen to be successful as possible after

graduation would be being more organized. Everyday that I would go into work, I never knew

what the day would hold. On the days that I would go in and would get thrown all kinds of

different tasks, I think if I was a little more organized that maybe I wouldn't have felt so

overwhelmed. Other than that, I can’t really think of anything that I would really need to sharpen

up on.

Personal/Professional Insights/Benefits:

Having the experience of working with CHSI has severely impacted my

personal/professional and academic goals. I definitely think that beginning the semester with my

first internship really made me appreciate being able to work as an intern for CHSI. It tied in

pretty much everything I have learned the past four years as a public health major and really

helped me fully grasp what public health was all about. In regards to my personal growth, it

really impacted my entire outlook for life after college. Dr. Francis really saw the potential in me

and bought it out during my time working here. Like I mentioned before, I gained a ton of self-

confidence and confidence in my work.

The Center for Health and Social Issues mainly targets the lower-income communities

that surround Georgia College. One thing I have learned while working at CHSI and our target
population is that these communities can be tough to work with. Some are better than others , for

example, when we go out to the Coopers community, we have a positive response but when it

came to the Oconee Heights community, they were a little tougher to work with. We would go

door to door in each community to spread the word about the community meetings and I

immediately saw a huge difference in the reaction of the community members when coming up

to their door. All that is needed to get a better response from the members of Oconee Heights is

trust. Over the past few months, we have worked so hard to make connections with the Oconee

Heights members to earn their trust to show that we are only here to do good to their community.

We actually go back out there next Thursday and I am looking forward to hopefully seeing more

progress with that community.

Overall, my time working with the Center for Health and Social Issues has gone above

and beyond my expectations. Even though I plan going into medical sales, this internship has

shown me that I could really thrive in this work environment and that I would be very good at it.

I am so thankful Dr. Francis always believed in me and pushed me to be the best version of

myself. I look forward to what the future holds and will always be blessed to be a part of this

amazing organization.
 Resources

Center for Health & Social Issues. (n.d.). Retrieved April 08, 2021, from
https://www.gcsu.edu/chsi