Oh Public Health, What Great Things I Learned During My Time in Thee

So this post is a little delayed due to mass amounts of internship-related work, but here is my final reflection of my public health rotation.

My Office in Public Health

 My rotation in Public Health: 

• Forced me to expand and alter the way I think – think about the bigger picture.  
• Increased my familiarity, comfort, and knowledge in Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Publisher.
• Allowed me to participate in activities outside of meetings and committees and resource building that Public Health Nutritionists are involved with.
• Meet new people and see parts of Nova Scotia I wouldn’t have otherwise had the opportunity to see. 

Food Service Assessment Project

• Increased my knowledge and experience on how to quickly build rapport (and the importance of doing so) in getting genuine responses.
• It helped me to become familiar with the Food and Nutrition policy so I could better recommend required supports for schools to help them with their efforts to follow the FNP.
• Helped to increase my confidence level in myself and in my background in food service. It felt good to have my preceptors ask me questions to clarify food service-related questions they had. 
• This rotation exposed me to presenting on behalf of a department such as Public Health. It is much more different that a University setting – a necessary and interesting learning experience. 
• I learned so much about prenatal and breastfeeding (nutrition and otherwise). This is an area where I had had no exposure outside the classroom and the prenatal nurse was incredible as a teacher. I was able to create documents, do presentations, help out with prenatal classes and Friendly Feeding Line meetings. I enjoyed having an active role in my education.
• I really enjoyed going on a home visit with a Home Visitor. I hadn’t known that this program existed prior to this rotation, so it was a huge learning experience for me.
• Getting to know the staff of Public Health and meeting with most individually to hear about their roles in the department. 
• Learn about and create documents for the Child Care Regulations – worked with PH Nutritionists province wide for edits. These documents are now being circulated throughout the province. 

Everything hinges on education. Without it, you can't advocate for proper health care, for housing, for a civil rights bill that ensures your rights.

~Susan L Taylor