HOSA Internship in the Office of the Surgeon General: Day II

After receiving a warm welcome into the Office of the Surgeon General on day one, day two consisted of the interns getting into the office and working hard on the projects they had been assigned. At the end of the week, all three interns will have a presentation prepared to showcase everything they learned about their specific topic. Brittany Ebbing, will be focusing on Health Disparities; Oregon McDiarmid chose to focus on Emergency Preparedness; and Brittany Woods will study information on the opportunities for HOSA members as Jr. Medical Reserve Corps volunteers.

Throughout the duration of the day, the interns had time to take a break from all their hard work and sit in on two conference calls. The first call was regarding the Seasonal Influenza Vaccine that is distributed every year  during the fall just in time for flu season. The moderator of the call was Assistant Secretary of Health Dr. Koh.  Members on the call reported out from their working groups. Topics ranged from pregnant women receiving flu vaccinations to ensuring that health professionals are vaccinated as well. LTJG Hager even discovered that there is a "Flu pledge" by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Along with this pledge is a catchy phrase that states, The Flu ends with "U"!

The second conference call of the day took place in Captain Tosatto's Office after the interns had lunch. This call was with a political lobbyist for HOSA who has an interest of informing HOSA members about the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) and the Public Health Service (PHS). With the MRC and PHS as partners of HOSA, it is believed that this partnership can assist with strengthening America's pipeline of future health professionals. 

The day concluded with an interview with a graduate student of the University of Arizona. The student was participating in a project on youth engagement in the MRC. She found the interns as a helpful resource and chose to survey them for her project. Through this opportunity, the interns had the chance to make their voices heard, and possibly assist with getting more youth members involved as volunteers for the Medical Reserve Corps. Each intern had the choice of receiving their survey results as well as a 10$ target gift card for participating in the research project.

Even though majority of the day was filled with work for the interns, these three HOSA members still had a great experience and cannot wait to see what's in store for them tomorrow!