Introduction:

My name is Anna Eakes and over the course of five months, I have been interning at

Lake Country Medical Group (LCMG). Lake Country Medical Group is located at 119 Harmony

Crossing Suite 3 in Eatonton, Georgia. The site employees many different types of people, all of

which have different specialties and interests. Dr. Nicolas Chronos is an internist and

cardiologist with over thirty years of experience. LCMG is his clinic and he is the only physician

who sees patients full time. Aside from Dr. Chronos, there are many nurse practitioners that

specialize in cardiology, internal medicine, and women’s health. In addition, there are a handful

of Medical Assistants who work directly with the nurse practitioners and Dr. Chronos. Moreover,

there are several other interns, mostly from UGA, that are studying directly under Dr. Chronos.

Many of these interns hope to one day continue on to medical school or physician assistant

school. Aside from the medical professionals, there are also a handful of employees who strictly

focus on research. For example, Dr. Chronos and his team were a vital part of the early COVID-

19 research in regard to finding a vaccine.

LCMG offers many different specialties such as, electrophysiology, gynecology, imaging

resources, echocardiogram, internal medicine, cardiology, and grief counseling. The majority of

the clients served by the clinic are geriatric patients ranging from 60 to over 90 years old.

However, there is also a younger population aged anywhere between 23-45 years old. The clinic

is working diligently to attract more and more patients in this age range as a preventative

method. The main focus of Lake Country Medical Group is preventative care and longevity. The

medical professionals are very thorough and truly care about their patient’s well-being. The

clinic offers extensive testing and frequent procedures in order to catch medical issues early and

prevent unnecessary hospitalization or health complications.

Description of Experiences:

During the beginning of my internship, I felt that I did not have a clear job description.

Every day looked different for me and I was trying to learn as much as I could about every area

of the clinic. However, as time went on I began focusing most of my energies on the concierge

and Chronic Care Management program. My role as an intern was quite vast; I was thrown in to

the deep end and expected to swim. In a way this was really great because it pushed me to think

for myself and not have someone just give me the answers. However, it was also very scary for

me because people’s lives and health decisions were placed in my hands. I never knew what that

kind of pressure would feel like until this internship.

As time went on, I became more confident in my abilities and in asking for help when I

needed it. I love the employees that I work with and they have truly helped me grow

intellectually and as a person. I work directly with the concierge patients and the CCM patients

helping them with whatever needs they may have. I think the most rewarding part of my

internship was the patient’s truly getting to know me as a person and telling Dr. Chronos that I

was doing a wonderful job and was very helpful. Being able to establish true relationships with

the patients is the best outcome I could have asked for out of my internship. With the being said,

the most challenging and overwhelming aspect of my internship was my lack of knowledge

about the medical field. Once I established relationships with these patients and they trusted to

come to me for answers, it was frustrating that I was not legally able to give them medical

direction. I took this internship as an opportunity to learn from some of the best doctors in the

area and to truly increase my knowledge. I have learned more than I ever thought I would, but I

would still like to continue my knowledge about the clinic side of my internship. I am hopeful
that as I finish my internship and begin as a full-time employee, I will have more opportunities to

truly grow my knowledge in a lot of different clinical areas.

Perception and Evaluation of the Internship:

Before beginning my internship, Dr. Chronos sat me down and discussed that he wanted

me to do a little bit of everything around the clinic so that I could get as much experience as

possible. In regard to that, my internship did meet my personal expectations. I was working

directly with the marketing team for concierge and CCM purposes, I did direct patient care

coordination, worked with the billing team to learn the flow of money in and out of the clinic,

and worked directly under the Manager of Operations to understand the administrative side of

clinic. I truly enjoyed getting to dabble in each area of the clinic. This aspect met my

expectations, if not exceeded them, because I was already aware that I would be thrown

completely in the deep end.

The clinic was more than open to my ideas and contributions throughout my internship.

In the beginning, I did not feel that I had anything to offer, nor would anyone respect what I had

to say. However, as time went on I became more confident in myself and my abilities and began

having thoughts and ideas that I wanted to contribute. My direct supervisor and Dr. Chronos and

the rest of the team was very open to my ideas and encouraged me to always share what I was

thinking. Dr. Chronos told me on day one that “there is no such thing as a stupid question, the

stupid question is the one you don’t ask.” I stuck with this concept throughout the whole

internship and used it to motivate me to always ask questions and always give my opinion. Now

that my internship is coming to an end, my supervisors come to me for my

ideas/thoughts/perceptions which feels very good and makes me feel that I am a valued

employee.
 The Manager of Operations was my direct supervisor and Dr. Chronos is his direct

supervisor. In the beginning of my internship the supervision of my supervisor was very good,

and he always checked on me throughout the day to make sure that I was doing well. As time

went on, he stopped checking in on me as much and holding my hand throughout the day. I

believe this to be a good thing, because he trusted that I would get my work done and do so in an

effectively and timely fashion. Throughout my internship, I became the girl that everyone

dumped their grunt work on. In some instances, this was very unpleasing to me because these

things were keeping me from doing the job I was actually assigned. My supervisor does a really

great job running the clinic and keeping everyone as happy as possible. However, he can be very

unorganized and get very overwhelmed. One thing that would have made my internship

experience better would be having a clear, consistent job description and not being the employee

that everyone dumped all their extra work on.

I would highly recommend this site as an internship for future interns. This internship has

allowed me to get experience in multiple different areas of interests. In addition, I have been

challenged as an employee with the workload, time management, and the difficulty in

communicating with an older population of patients. I have learned how to better communicate

not only with other employees, but also with patients, and physicians. I would make future

interns aware that this site is one that is very fast pace and requires a great ability with time

management, communication, organization, and personal motivation. I have always enjoyed fast

past working environments with high workload and short period of time to complete tasks. With

that being said, I would consider a setting such as this for a future career. I would also consider

working somewhere such as a hospital emergency room for a future career because it has this

same environment as my internship.

Internship Preparedness:

I feel that I was prepared for my internship position, not only because of my academics

but also because of personal strengths. Throughout my academic courses, I learned the

importance of health promotion and prevention. These courses, such as Health Promotion and

Prevention and Health Program Planning and the key points that I learned throughout them

allowed me to feel prepared. From my academic courses, I learned the importance of

preventative methods, but I do not feel that I was prepared in knowing how to create preventative

programs from scratch. In addition, I learned different ways to get different health programs out

to the population and tailor them to specific populations. I feel that I was very prepared in this

area and I contributed some ideas to the CCM and Concierge program that I do not think have

been thought of yet at this site.

I felt the least confident in areas that had more to do with medicine and clinical

knowledge. I feel that many public health internships and jobs have at least one area where it

would be beneficial to have more medical and clinical knowledge. Throughout the majority of

my courses, I learned to think critically, manage my time, be impartial, unbiased, and work in a

way that represents equality in every aspect. All of my courses contributed to my internship in at

least one aspect and I utilized everything I learned throughout my four years and put that toward

my internship. Aside from the things I learned in the curriculum, I think the personal things I

learned were the most relevant to my internship and my success.

Public Health has taught me many things about myself, our society, and the people

surrounding me. I think the diversity in the courses and the students within the field of Public

Health is what makes it most successful at GCSU. I think something that the school of Health

and Human Performance should include in their curriculum is requiring at least one leadership
course. I was fortunate enough to be a part of two leadership courses at GCSU and I am more

than grateful for them now that I have graduated into the real world. Those courses taught me

how to express myself in an appropriate way, ask for what I want without being overpowering,

and how to work well with others and not abandon my own beliefs. Working in the field of

Public Health requires people who can be leaders and think for themselves, while also respecting

the views of those around them. I think the Leadership programs offered at GCSU are wonderful

in teaching this concept and I believe it would be very beneficial to Public Health students.

Internship Performance

Throughout my internship I really improved on my time management skills and

prioritizing my work. I have always been good with time management and prioritizing, but this

internship showed me that I was not doing as well as I thought in these areas. I think that I have

truly grown in these areas and this growth will benefit me in every area of my life. In addition, I

think that I have been able to manage my stress a little better after my internship. I have always

struggled with being overwhelmed and overpowered by stress. However, other employees and

my supervisor have helped me grow and learn to calm myself down and settle my nerves about

stress.

I have been satisfied with every task, project, assignment, etc. that I have done thus far. I

am one to do things to perfection and I do not like to disappoint those around me or myself. I feel

confident in saying that I gave 100% to all of the work that I have completed throughout my

internship. In continuing my internship and nearing graduation, I think that I need to continue to

work on my management of stress and learning to not allow things to overwhelm me. I have

improved on this greatly, but there is always room for more improvement.

Personal/Professional Insights/Benefits:
 Throughout my internship, my professional goals have changed drastically. Now that my

internship is coming to an end, I am determined to continue my studies and grow my knowledge

about the clinical and administrative side of Lake Country Medical Group. I do not know if I

want to continue my education through another University, or if I want to gain experience first-

hand and learn in that capacity. I have already learned so much about the populations that my

organization serves. Although this site is a medical site, I have seen the connection to many

different aspects of Public Health. For example, I have seen aspects health promotion, health

prevention, research and statistics, epidemiology, and health programming. It is incredible to be

able to tie years’ worth of different courses all to one main topic and to see how my internship

intertwines between all of them.

I feel that I have grown more confident in myself and my abilities throughout my

internship. In all honesty, I was timid to graduate into the real world because I truly thought I

would have nothing to contribute to the work world and no prospects for a future. However, I am

pleased to say that I was very wrong. I have grown into a strong woman with the capabilities to

think for herself and make decisions for herself. I am confident to say that I am a valued

employee at LCMG.