Yinghua Academy Health Office Internship
Creating a healthier school environment for K-8 students
by Mona Reddad
Background
Yinghua Academy is a Chinese immersion K-8 school in northeast Minneapolis. I volunteered as a teaching assistant a while back, so I was pretty familiar with some students and the staff. My internship was at the Health Office in the school, where I worked alongside school nurses and health paraprofessionals to assist and educate students with health-related issues. The Health Office has goals including providing health care and support that best encourage well-being and achievements in and out of the classrooms (Yinghua Academy, "Health Services"). The school follows The National Association of School Nurses’ Framework for 21st Century School Nursing Practice (shown in the image to the right). It advocates for building a structure that integrates evidence-based practice to help foster healthy and safe school environments for students to thrive.
When I was searching for an internship, I really wanted to work with children since I feel that offering educational programs and providing support in their daily lives can benefit their well-being in the long run. I also valued the history of the school, where a group of parents who adopted interracially (mainly internationally from China, at the start) came together to advocate for reconnecting their adopted children with their biological heritage, culture, and encourage ethnic socialization (Yinghua Academy, "Yinghua Overview"). Cultural competence in the delivery of care is something the school focuses on as well, and I wanted to gain real-life experience working with these values in my community.
My Role
My work included assisting school nurses with providing first aid and basic health care for students, organizing paperwork and individual health visit information, and communicating with other nurses, students, and their parents regarding caring for the students' health. If a student has certain needs, chronic illness, major injuries, or disabilities, we check in with them and their families to see how they’re doing in and out of the classroom from time to time. I helped manage charts and tables of health records, and reviewed them to better understand the student's condition and talk to them about it. I was trained to perform vision and hearing screenings for a group of students, and practiced drawing their attention so they don’t just wander away in the middle of the screening. I also helped with creating educational posters and programs that promote wellbeing and safety, and help with teaching about disease prevention for different groups of students.
During this internship, I helped plan the health station at a school event for prospective students’ families. This space provided opportunities for families to ask questions about how the Health Office plans to support the students’ physical and mental wellbeing. If they had specific concerns for their child, I relayed the information to other staff members in the office and communicated their responses with the parents. I gathered resources that the school already had, as well as other health services in the community and shared them at the event.
Takeaways
This experience helped me understand the importance of providing culturally competent and quality care to different groups of people. I helped create educational programs and events targeting different audiences and a variety of health topics, and that will help me with creating pamphlets for students to understand different illnesses and how to take care of themselves and asking for help. The school nurse's training helped me practice explaining to kids and their parents regarding how certain medication works, understanding their conditions and what they can do in everyday life to manage their health. It gave me skills to promote wellbeing and effectively teach strategies to disease prevention that can be applied to the larger community. This internship also helped me better understand how students’ knowledge of their own health can be impacted by different factors, such as their health education and their background, and how we can help improve that. My work allowed me to see how different health determinants can affect the students' health and help seeking behavior. Student’s knowledge about nutrition, their socioeconomic status, access to care, and the environment they live in can play a role in how they perceive health and care. This experience complements my community and global health education by helping me see public health issues we learn about in real life, and better understand the public health dimensions of working at a school.
Conclusion
Whether it is talking to students in the office and understanding their symptoms and health history, or teaching them to prevent possible injuries and taking precautions for covid-19, the internship provided opportunities for me to effectively teach students necessary skills to protect themselves and others. I was able to successfully encourage a number of students to take control in managing their health. I really enjoyed answering student's questions about health, and addressing issues they may have in managing their health.
References
Yinghua Academy. "Health Services". (n.d.). https://www.yinghuaacademy.org/current-families/health-office/
Yinghua Academy. "Yinghua Overview". (n.d.). https://www.yinghuaacademy.org/prospective-families/yinghua-overview/
Mona Reddad
Hi my name is Mona (she/her/hers). I am a senior at Macalester majoring in neuroscience with a psychology minor and a community and global health concentration. I have worked at the Health Promotion Program throughout my 4 years at Macalester. I am from Taiwan and have lived in the twin cities for the past eight years. I am going to attend Tufts University for occupational therapy after graduation, and I am interested in working in mental health in the future. Feel free to contact me with any questions. And as always, have a nice day :)
Image Credits:
Header Photo: China Learning Initiatives | Asia Society