Alexi Smith, APPLIED LEARNING EXPERIENCE, Spring 2022

Seminar and Internship in Public Health Applied Learning Reflection

Alexi Smith

Tarleton State University

Alexi Smith, APPLIED LEARNING EXPERIENCE, Spring 2022

Seminar and Internship in Public Health Applicable Learning Experience

This written reflection contains an in-depth explanation of my Applied Learning

Experience (ALE) in the Seminar and Internship course. Over the progress of the spring 2022
semester there were several ALE’s offered. All of them were focused on different areas within
public health, including public health education and promotion, epidemiology, medical ethics,
and medical sociology. My two internships were at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital in
Stephenville and the other was through Texas Health Resources. Throughout my experience at
Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital in Stephenville, the main objective was to learn what
each director does to contribute to public health and the community of Stephenville. I visited
over 16 directors and got to discuss with each of them how they impact public health each
director had their own way of helping the patients that walk through the hospital doors. Many of
them would go out of their way to help a patient get the care they needed even if that care was
outside of the healthcare realm. The Stephenville hospital directors and staff were so close nit
and knew exactly who to call if they did not know the answer. This hospital taught me that it is
important to be intertwined with the individuals who you work with to help give your patient the
best care in the hospital and out of the hospital. The staff had so many resources to offer patients
from food insecurity, rides, and mental health assistance. It is important to note that these
resources are available, however the staff does their best to help those who want to help
themselves. One experience that I experience during my time at Texas Health in Stephenville,
was I got to sit and assist in the Help Clinic in this clinic the patients who are being seen are
either uninsured or underinsured and suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure, or a chronic
disease. This clinic was open on Tuesdays from 8am to 12pm and there was a physician’s
assistant there to check the patients. This clinic had a very low co-pay, as well as covered
patient’s lab test. Throughout this experience I got to interact with these patients and listen to
their day-to-day struggles. Many of their struggles were things that I would never have imagined
encountering. The patients would often come in and get their blood pressure taken and it would
usually be high, even though they are on seven varies medications. It truly showed me what I
take for grant in my everyday life and how I should be grateful to be healthy. This program
really verified that I am in the right field.
At Texas Health Resources the objective was to education the public about the importance of the
COVID-19 vaccine. This internship was uncomfortable but taught me that is necessary to discuss
hot button topics for the benefit of the community. To educate the community and individuals I
would do social media advocation regarding the truths and myths of the COVID-19 vaccine and
why it is important to have factual statistics before deciding to not get vaccinated. I got to
interact with people of all ages and all though sometimes the experience was not what I was
hoping for, it taught me how to interact with people who may not agree with me.
Alexi Smith, APPLIED LEARNING EXPERIENCE, Spring 2022

Education within Core Curriculum

There have been four courses within my discipline that have aided me throughout the
Seminar and Internship courses include Public Health Education and Promotion, Intro to
Epidemiology, Medical Ethics, and Statistics for Health Care. These courses provided me with
the basic knowledge and understanding of public health and aided me and were used during my
Internship and Seminar Course.

Public Health Education and Promotion is a very important aspect of public health
including education, prevention, and health interventions. This class taught me one of the most
important aspects of public health, Health education and promotion also taught me the
importance of knowing your target population better and implementing the necessary policies
needed for that population. I was able to use this knowledge I gained from this class in my
internship and seminar, during my internship at Texas Health Resources, I used my knowledge
of health education and promotion to educate the public on the importance of the COVID-19
vaccine.

Introduction to Epidemiology ensiled in me knowledge that I use in my everyday life.

Epidemiology is known as the science of public health and takes an in depth of the biological
aspects of diseases. In this course I was able to learn where diseases originate from, the spread of
the disease in various population, and what individuals are more at risk than others. I was able to
use this knowledge during my internship when talking with various directors about specific
diseases their patients suffer from.

Medical ethics is the focus of the rights that every human is entitled to and ensuring that
those ethics are followed when trying to put implementations into place to benefit the public.
This course played a vital role in my internship experience when discussing the vaccine,
although the COVID-19 vaccine is beneficial to protect not only yourself, but others around you.
It is important to still respect the ethics for everyone to make their own decision on whether they
want to get the vaccine.

Statistics for Health Care taught me to analyze and understand statistics related to
diseases and other health related states. This course is essential in the field of public health due to
the importance of knowing what the statistics are for the population you are trying to help. With
this course I was able to read COVID-19 rates and data and use this to analyze why specific
populations are more at risk in comparison to others.

General Education Core Curriculum

Three courses outside of my discipline that helped me throughout the Seminar and
Internship course include Medical Sociology, Human Resources, and Business Communication.
The knowledge that I gained from the courses carried over and aided me in my internship
experience.
Alexi Smith, APPLIED LEARNING EXPERIENCE, Spring 2022

To begin, Medical Sociology gave me a different perspective of the health care and how
the health care system affects individuals. Medical Sociology is the applied sociological theory
and research techniques are used in medical sociology to study the relationship between social
factors and health. In this course there was an in-depth look into how social factor influence
health such as the community individuals live in, the food they eat, and they job they work affect
their health. This course gave me knowledge that aided in my internship in the aspects of
understand how outside struggles influence the health of individuals. I was able to understand
why some individual’s health were poorer than others and why they suffered from specific
diseases. Outside factors play a large role on the influence of health and understanding these aids
in helping the community achieve their needs.

Secondly, Human resources helped me understand the importance of connecting and

networking with those who can help me in my career. This class taught me the steps on how to
land, maintain, and keep a job. I learned the importance of great resume building. This flowed
over in my internship in knowing how to network with each staff member that I met during the
time of my internship.

Lastly, Business communication taught me the importance of presenting information in a

way that gave me confidence and allowed for me to engage with the audience. I was able to use
this knowledge when speaking with individuals in the community and knowing how to engage
them or give them examples of what answer I was looking for when discussing what
implementations their communities need.

Experience Outside of the Classroom

Throughout my time at Tarleton, I have been able to have experiences that have helped
me tremendously through out this semester. The first experience is my job and involvement with
Erath Engaged this opportunity is a grant that is funded through the Department of State Health
Services and focuses on the disparities that Erath County has suffered from due to the COVID-
19 pandemic. The next is my involvement with Public Health Student Association, this
experience has allowed me to connect with individuals who appreciate public health as much as I
do.

With my involvement with Erath Engaged, I have been given the opportunity to work
with a multitude of professionals and gained new knowledge that will help me in my
professional career. In this job I am required to attended weekly meetings and discuss events
going on and who will be in attendance. I am also able to use my creative side, when designing
event poster or promotion of an event. I was also able to be super involved in the Erath
community and learn how they have suffered from the pandemic and what resources they are
needing. Throughout my experience in this I have learned many new skills and had new
experiences that allow for me to relate to those I am trying to help.

My experience with Public Health Student Association, has introduced me to peers who
are involved in the same curriculum as myself, and has allowed me to have a circle of like-
minded people who care about public health as much as I do. In this organization I have held two
officer roles secretary and treasurer. During my time as secretary, I oversaw take meeting notes,
Alexi Smith, APPLIED LEARNING EXPERIENCE, Spring 2022

as well as take attendance of those in the organization. As treasurer I oversaw the financing of
the organization, I ensured that each member had paid their semester dues and making sure
money that was needed for events. We also hosted a week-long event for National Public Health
Week, and had various speakers, seminars related to public health, and fun tabling events with
give aways to spread awareness of the importance of public health.

Interconnectedness

The experience of my Seminar and Internship in Public Health as a student who has
integrated all my core education classes and general education classes, along with a wide range
of outside experiences, to create a whole new learning experience. Finding connections among
seemingly unrelated information has had a significant impact. During my internship I was able to
use the knowledge from my public health courses to my benefit. Being able to link all the
knowledge I have gained while pursuing my degree and connecting it to my seminar and
internship is a skill that I will carry into my professional field. I have gained the necessary
knowledge to understand public health ethics and principles and was able to utilizes these outside
of the classroom. The courses that were not specified to my major have made an impact as well
in knowing the social impact on health as well as knowing how to be professional. Throughout
my courses each professor has always had an expectation to be well mannered in their classes
and has taught me the importance’s of professionalism. My personal experience has instilled in
me the qualities of being able to work with a multitude of individuals from different back
grounds as well as knowing how to work with others and guide others when in officer position.

Global Awareness

Public health is often not well understood, any many assume it involves something in the
health care world but does not understand the importance public health has on their life. Before I
started my journey in the public health world, I did not know exactly what public health workers
did and assumed the usually just work for the government. While pursuing my degree I learned
of the multitude of opportunity there is in the public health field, despite many public health
workers working for the government there are public health workers in almost every field. Many
everyday people do not understand the depth of public health and that the goal of public health is
to keep the community safe and increase their lives through education. As a public health
worker, it will always be in my morals to educate my community and ensure that trust is there
when implementing interventions. Now that my undergraduate education is ending, I am
confident as a public health professional that I will educate my community while respecting their
rights.

Larger Implication

Throughout my internship course I have been made aware of the many issues that affect
the health of the people in Erath County, specifically Stephenville and Dublin. The first time I
noticed the issue was when I sat in at the HELP clinic. When I noticed that the patients that were
Alexi Smith, APPLIED LEARNING EXPERIENCE, Spring 2022

coming into to get care, were underinsured or uninsured due to how expensive health care is. The
patients could not afford medications they needed to maintain their health and were only seeing
this physician’s assistance every six months, for a check-up. Many of them also had to enroll in
an assistance program to cover the expensive cost of insulin. Another occurrence was when
speaking to individuals they lack knowledge of how many resources there are to help them.

There was a reoccurring issue of lack of education and resources. People in Erath County
are simply not educated on what resources there are to be used to their advantage. To solve this
issue there needs to be an intervention of education the community on what resources there are to
help them. The internship experience has inspired me to continue my education in public health
and hopefully one day become an epidemiologist, so I can study the diseases and understand how
they affect communities.

Overall, all the courses and experience that were mentioned previously have aided me in
the success in my applied learning experiences. Every course within my public health degree has
benefited me in succeed as a public health advocate and will help me as I further my degree in
public health. The general education courses have given me an outside view but has given me a
different way to look at the world of public health. My personal experience has prepared me to
work with a multitude of people from varies backgrounds. All these combined along with the
seminar and internship have given me new skills that will play an important role in my future
career.