St. Luke's Men’s Health Coordinator Intern

1. St. Luke's Men’s Health Coordinator Intern Organization: St. Luke's Advisor: Jeff Matsushita Intern: Riley Allen Fall 2013 Resource: I participated in the information dissemination while operating our men's health booth. Jeff and myself had informational reading material and offered potential resources to booth patrons that were interested in more information or had specific health questions. Communicate and Advocate: I have a much bigger drive to get others to follow in my healthy behaviors. I have made my friends and family participate in the same healthy behaviors that I have started to practice. BACKGROUND Health Fairs: Jeff and myself participated a few different health fairs which game me to opportunity to see how the community reacts to health fairs as well as what draws community members to different booths. The health fair that had the biggest impact on me was actually the health fair I attended alone in Fruitland. I was responsible for managing the booth and talking with health fair patrons. This gave me an opportunity to try different methods of talking to people as well as see what people are interested in while attending a health fair. We were also present for the Idaho Statesman Health Fair, which was a private health fair for employees only so I got a chance to see a few different audiences and saw how to plan accordingly. St. Luke's men’s health program focus’ on the life expectancy and health of men. Currently on average women live longer then men by an average of 5 years. The goal of the men's health program is to help bridge that gap in life expectancy by recommending that men of every age get a check up once a year even if they don’t believe something is wrong with them. These early and frequent screenings will catch potential problems before they start. The men's health program is a preventative resource in the community that believes prevention is a much more useful tool than treatment when it comes to men's health. What I Learned My internship in itself was all communicating about health to the community through different outlets. During my time with St. Luke’s I found myself really practicing what I preached. I started to wear sunscreen more, ate better, exercised more, and feel all around more healthy then I did before the internship. From all the experiences that I had at both football games and health fairs I have become much more comfortable with delivering information to people of all ages and interest levels. I still need to improve in this category but I have noticed growth in the short time I have been doing these internship activities. Before this internship I was concerned with how I would actually start using what I have learned so far in school. I had only ever had practical experience as a health promoter one time as a project in Sherry’s class. At this point in the internship I have had to come up with educational activities for the football game and have also used many tools that I have learned at Boise State during the Boise State University portion of Movember. I had to work in a team, create a plan, identify a need, work with the target population, and create educational materials for the contest. This is not something that I think I would have been able to do before taking this internship. Movember has been a good learning experience for me to see what a project like this is like from start to finish. I have gotten a chance to experience what works and what doesn’t work which seems to be a key factor in health promotion. I also got an opportunity to see what it is like as a small team to try to get a message and service out in the community by partnering with a service provider. The time spent at Sportsman’s Warehouse was a good way for me to see what an event is like that the intended population doesn’t necessarily choose to attend. This showed me how to interact and maintain an educational conversation with a passerby that may not necessarily want to stop and hear what you have to say. Through this internship I have also gotten a chance to network with other employees that work for St. Luke's (Alissa, Sherry, and other St. Luke's employees at health fairs) as well as other health promoter that have actively engaged in the community (Lauren Baines and other that I have met at health fairs). Overview Of Intern Duties Movember: I assisted in the creation of information material's for the Movember campaign at Boise State University. I also assisted/ran the Movember photo booth at St. Luke’s Shoreline Campus, St. Luke’s Hospital downtown, and at the City of Meridian City Hall Building. During my time at the booth I was responsible for taking at uploading pictures of patrons who took photos in support of Movember. While working the photo booth I was also responsible for handing out information as well as talking to the supports about the importance of men's health. Figure 2 Fruitland Health Fair Booth Figure 3. Men’s Health Booth in Fruitland Figure 4. Auditory screenings at Sportsman's Warehouse CHES Competencies Assess: During my time so far with St. Luke’s I have used many different CHES competencies that we have been taught in school. We used the assessment step while deciding on how to best reach the intended audience for the Movember campaign. Plan: We planned for our audience during football games and health fairs. At football games we participated in activities directed towards adults because more adults attend late games. During weekend games or early games activates were for focused towards children. At health fairs we brought more information material and less give away items at private health fairs. On the other hand for health fairs or booths open to the community we brought more give away items because that has seemed to be the best way to get the attention of passerby's. Implement: The largest implementation was the kick off the Movember campaign for both Boise State University and St. Luke’s. We started implementing the photo booth at our booth to present a fun way to support men’s health. We did implement weekly small plans for our informational booth at Boise State Football home games and Sportsman’s Warehouse. Evaluation: We conducted evaluations a few different way over the semester. Jeff and I would talk to other health fair exhibitors or attendees on what they liked, didn’t like, or maybe what input they had on improving the booth. Jeff and myself held weekly meetings do discuss what had happened the previous week, as well as what was to come next week. During this time we discussed ways of improving from the last weeks activates to the next. Lastly while working with the Boise State Peer Educators I asked for their feedback on what they thought of my ideas as we implemented the Movember Campaign. Words of Advice My words of advice would be to take your internship very seriously. I have learned and practiced so many different things from school that you come to learn are absolutely crucial in being a health promoter. Also take that time to network with other health promoters to make connections for future internships or jobs. Lastly and maybe the most important thing I have learned is always be professional you are getting an opportunity to gain experience for your career you never know who is watching. The better you make your relationships with other health promoters in the community now, the stronger it will be in the future, so always work as hard as you can. Special Thanks to Jeff Matsushita, Sherry Iverson, and Dr. Spear for helping make this internship happen in the first place. Figure 1. Myself and a fellow HEP intern participating in the Movember photo booth. Events: Jeff and myself participated in many different events out in the community to bring awareness to men's health. We had a booth at just about every home game where we switched topics and attention grabbing activates to education the attendees of the football game about the importance of creating/maintaining healthy habits to live a longer life. We also offered free hearing screenings at Sportsman's Warehouse and talked to the shoppers about the importance of maintaining auditory health. The booth gave examples of common everyday items that don’t necessarily seem loud but are loud enough to damage hearing. We brought a dummy that was constructed to monitor decibel levels so each shopper could turn the music up to their desired level and see if that is potentially too loud.