My internship e-Portfolio consists of my work during my Health Advocate internship at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) of Tucson. I chose to intern at this organization because of the work they do with the refugees in Tucson. Many of them come from Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Eritrea, and Nepal. There are many other countries that refugees come from as well. While it was not appropriate to document my experience through pictures of the clients I worked with, I have put together documents including: English to Arabic medical dictionary, steps to enroll refugees onto WIC, and a small Health Advocate's Handbook. The artifacts can be reached in Sections VI and IX.
Courses that have helped me throughout this internship are the following:
CPH 350: Health Education/Health Promotion- This class showed me how to assess the needs of a target population. In my case, my target population was refugees in Tucson. I also learned how to develop a program plan, which is where I came up with the idea of developing a handbook. I created a Health Advocate's Handbook, so that the next intern can better understand the important role a Health Advocate Intern has when assisting refugees in healthcare.
CPH 387: Health Disparities and Inequalities- This course showed me the vast health disparities refugees face in Tucson. From a panel of members representing different refugee organizations (TIARC, IRC, etc.) I understood how they all worked together to make resettlement smooth. With that in mind, there are still significant factors in our health system that make it difficult for refugees to access and utilize health care, resulting in frequent ER and urgent care visits and poor health.
ENGL 307: Business Writing- This course taught me how to write eloquently and professionally. It also showed me how important it is to represent an organization, and how to write an application letter for the internship.