Capstone Internship
Indiana Immunization Coalition
During my internship I was able to work as a administration intern. I worked both at the office and mobile clinics that are all over the state of Indiana. Mondays are our onsite clinic hours and during the rest of the week I traveled to different locations to advocate vaccines and work on the administrative aspects of the clinics.
Reducing Barriers to Vaccinations
Access to care is a big barrier to most people. This may be because of language barriers, conflicting schedules, living in a rural area, or the inability to find affordable healthcare. These clinics offer vaccination services to on-site location services such as schools, businesses, and more. The IIC brings the vaccines, the staff, and the supplies.
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As an intern I was required to participate in a multitude of mobile immunization clinics. Including going to places like elementary schools, hospitals, and community centers. Being able to work with the community face to face was something that I really enjoyed doing. I was able to do community outreach by sending flyers of upcoming clinics or Health Fairs that we would be at. Making small hygiene bags or handing diapers out to give to the community.
Preparing hygiene bags for different Health Fairs in Noble County and Wells County.
Personal Development
Skills that I sharpened was my communication skills. Not only by being able to talk to patients and coworkers, but also translating to Spanish. Being able to step in when patients only spoke Spanish was a rewarding feeling when you could see the relief on their faces.
A major component for healthcare is trust and that is especially true for vaccines where there is a lot of misinformation and fear surrounding it.
Being able to communicate with patients and walking them through vaccines and the process builds trust. Taking the time to use cool resources like online translators to further explain what is happening in a multitude of languages is helpful for both the patient and the IIC to give them the information to fully understand things about their health and have the patients fully informed consent.
Another skill I acquired/ further developed in this role were the ability to work as a team to get things done efficiently. From greeting the patients' at the door, looking them up through Indiana's immunization site, letting the patient know which vaccines they are able to receive that day, to checking how they are going to get covered (Medicaid, private insurance, or through funding), and lastly, handing them off to the nurses to get their vaccines.
An area of weakness that was revealed to me during this internship was that I didn't know the background things that needed to be done to be able to have a successful
Academic Connections
A class that helped me prepare for this internship was my Influencing the Public's Health class. This class allowed me to see how policy impacts the communities health. We see a lot of public health policy taking place to better build herd immunity in our state like requiring school vaccinations and even requiring vaccinations if you are trying to be a resident of the U.S..
It would have been great if I took a class more specifically geared towards health administration. For example, how to interact with patients or a more health care approach than just some of the business classes that we had to take, since this internship didn't require those skills I developed in those classes.
Learning Objectives
I have met my learning objectives with my internship. I was able to understand the administrative aspects by using the programs that the IIC uses including Medicaid, CHIRP, and VaxCare.
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I was also able to communicate effectively with both my team and patients to ensure their check in process was smooth and the patients got the correct paper work they needed.
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I was able to learn a lot through my internship and I will be able to carry this experience into my future endeavors.