Moving on out!

The last day we spent together as an internship group, as a family, was bittersweet! On Monday we all met, and was spun into a day of appointments, learning experiences, and food at a new culture that some of us have never experienced! We grew and developed together as a group and family and it was difficult to say goodbye!

Once we entered the Tower Building the interns typed and talked fast about the finishings of our project – the Let's Move HOSA program! In the midst of finalizing what we will be discussing we had a wonderful surprise and we could meet with former Deputy and Acting Surgeon General RADM Kenneth P. Moritsugu, USPHS (Ret) (1998-2007); he was the Surgeon General that came to one of HOSA's NLC and introduced HOSA to the Medical Reserve Corps – without him HOSA wouldn't get the opportunity to have this internship! We sat down with RADM Mortisugu in a discussion circle and talked openly about many aspects of public health to his initiatives as Surgeon General. After he talked about himself, he asked us about our personal life story, where we are from and what we would like to do in the medical field; from there he spoke about what we could do to improve our way into the health field – very inspirational! After we talked about ourselves we could ask him any questions! We asked many questions from how he got involved in the public health service to how to battle our insecurities, our doubts, and push through everything to follow our dreams and to put the patient first and go boarder from there! Once our time came to an end with RADM Mortisugu he gave us his personal coin (challenge coin) to have with us for the rest of our life!

When RADM Mortisugu said his goodbyes we worked feverishly on the final touches for our project. The 20 minutes we had flew by and we were up on the 2^nd floor pulling out our PowerPoint for the project! At exactly 12:01pm we started with the two representatives from the President's Council, Zach Parolin and Meredith Aronson, from the Medical Reserve Corps there was CAPT Robert Tosatto, CAPT Paul Reed, LCDR Skip Payne, LT Katie Hager, Tracy Smith, ENS Sophia Yang, and from National HOSA Nancy Allen, Karen Koeninger, Jim Koeninger, and George Sifakis! We discussed our ideas of how to implement Michelle Obama's campaign, Let's Move, into HOSA and all of its members!

An hour and a half into our presentation, the question and answer portion, we got a yes from National HOSA! We will continue to work on this project and hopefully, we will make this assessable to all of HOSA soon!

After our project was completed we unwillingly said our goodbyes to two of our fearless interns but the rest of us will go out to Rockville Center to watch the Nighthawks play with CAPT. Tosatto and his family! Thank you so much to everyone in the Medical Reserve Corps, the Surgeon Generals, everyone involved in making this happen! This internship group will never forget this! This was the best time we have ever had in our life and we can't wait to share everything that we have learned with those around us! THANK YOU AND WE WILL SEE YOU IN THE OFFICE OF THE SURGEON GENERAL SOON!

Day 4 with So Much More!

We began our day with a metro ride to the SOC or the Secretary’s Operations Center. There we took the metro into DC and went to a highly secure building and were escorted to the room where the action takes place 24/7/365. There were about 50 computers in one room. Today was slow and therefore not many professionals were there, however, on a hectic day the room would be filled with specialists and analysts. The purpose of the SOC is to serve as a location where information about critical public health and medical information is followed and analyzed. Therefore when an emergency situation arises they can coordinate a response for the Department of Health and Human Services.

Following the Presentation at the SOC we went to the American Indian Museum to work on our project and enjoy a culturally rich and varied meal. The food court had five different sections and each featured delicious options from various locations. 

Following that we met with George Sifakis. who is the director of the HOSA office in Washington. He is responsible for representing HOSA at the Federal level and ensuring that we maintain the continued support of our congressmen and women. He briefed us on how our congressional meetings would take place and gave us a bit of background on the importance of ensuring that people on Capitol Hill know of HOSA as well as the value of networking and creating these valuable connections. We met with five senators from each of the intern’s respective states. This was a very unique opportunity where we shared our HOSA story and presented our case of the importance of Perkins funding to ensure the continued growth of this great organization. The following representatives, John Cornyn of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida, Mark Warner of Virginia, Dianne Feinstein of California and John H. Isakson of Georgia, opened their offices to us and gave us their undivided attention.

In the evening we were invited to dinner by Mr. Sifakis. at the historical Willard Hotel in D.C. There we were enriched with the hotel’s history. At the Willard President Abraham Lincoln checked out and could not pay his bill (this was a week prior to his inauguration!). His first check as president was utilized to pay his bill to the Willard. Additionally, President Nixon utilized the Willard as his center of operations during his campaign. 

We concluded our night by working hard to complete our project for the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. Tomorrow we are invited to an early morning workout with CAPT Tosatto and ENS Sophie Yang!

Moving Forward!

An exciting (and admittedly tiring) journey lay ahead of us today! We met up with ENS Sophia Yang and LT Katie Hager at the Rockville Metro Station in the early morning. With tennis shoes on our feet and adventure on the mind, the team headed out to Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) on the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where we were greeted by Joan C. Stearman, M.S.W.,Director, Office of Admissions.

Joan C. Stearman, M.S.W Director of the Office of Admissions!

Mrs. Stearman provided us a unique inside look into the medical school admissions process. Given that one of our own (Alyssa Falise) is currently in the process of applying to medical school, this golden information certainly went a long way! The entire admissions staff was helpful, welcoming, and enthusiastic at the time of arrival.

After our discussion, we went down to the anatomy lab to meet with the anatomy lab curator. Did you know, that there are three medical schools in Maryland, and that it costs USU only $137 per cadaver? After an eye opening question and answer session with the anatomy lab curator, we took a look at $400,000 worth of medical textbooks and a laboratory the length of a football field. That’s some amazing stuff! We were even fortunate enough to see a cadaver of a human body and learn how the process of dissection can help medical students learn about the complexities of the human body. Med students from the USUHS School of Medicine- Ophthalmology Program were preparing to learn about the major arteries in the head and brain by way of dissection. We were able to see the cadaver portion of just the head as the anatomy lab curator showed us some of the major arteries in the head and brain.

Following our tour of the anatomy lab at USUHS, we headed directly to National Institute of Health (NIH). Met by two lovely two guides Mrs. Sharon and Mrs. Sharon (that was not a typo) we marched on to the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Center. This facility is absolutely enormous; in fact, it is the nation’s largest hospital dedicated to entirely clinical research. With 234 beds patient beds and up to thirteen floors, the Mark O Hatfield Clinical Center includes a gym, chapel, library, indoor play area, and much, much more.  After stopping for lunch on the lower levels (yum!), we waved goodbye to Mrs. Sharon and Mrs. Sharon and headed onwards to the final leg of our journey.

The National Library of Medicine was our last stop. We marched the grounds, inside and out. Two ladies presented a short bit on web resources and phone apps designed by the National Library of Medicine to provide accurate and up to date medical information for daily life and in case of emergencies. We proceeded to walk around various parts of the library, including but not limited to the Native American Exhibit and the History of Medicine.

All in all, it’s been a phenomenal, awe inspiring, and utterly tiring day. There’s no doubt about it; the entire team is in agreement--it’s time to nap. Happy snoozing!

Day 2 & So Much To Do!

We began day two by working on strategizing for our projects. There is so much information available so we must find an effective way to make relevant information easily accessible for people to utilize them.

Yen Luong, of the Office of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (OHPDP), informed us about a program their office created called Healthy People 2020. This list of objectives provides our US health care systems with goals that they should strive for throughout the years 2010-2020. Their goal is to create a supportive environment that engages individuals and informs them about a variety of health topics, known as leading health indicators (chronic conditions such as mental illness and diabetes). The Health Communication and eHealth Division uses Twitter, healthypeople.org and Facebook to try to develop engagement between people and the organization by providing information to the public about the Affordable Care Act and many other topics.

Health literacy was also addressed in our meeting because although information must be evidence-based, the findings must be explained to the community in ways they can understand to promote adherence and health among the population.

The Healthcare Quality Division discussed standards through the realm of National Action plans. Hospital associated infections, which are infections patients acquire while receiving healthcare, impact nearly 1.7 million people each year, lead to deaths in approximately 100,000 people, and costs Americans nearly $33 billion. We discussed the Healthcare Quality’s Health Adverse Drug Event Prevention which consisted of opioids, anticoagulants, and diabetic medications. Adverse drug effects of these medications are often preventable, yet still often lead to complications and death in America. Patients facing adverse drug reactions not only face health complications, but also a prolonging of their average hospital stay length by 1.7-4.6 days.

We also met the division of OHPDP that includes exercise physiologists, dieticians and PhD candidates who are responsible for developing the MyPlate campaign and MyPyramid nutritional guides.

The Office of Minority Health (OMH) spoke with us about their history and how they initiated after the 1985 release of the Heckler Report. This report looked at minority health and observed many health disparities based on social and economic factors. The OMH now works to raise awareness about health disparities while also providing research and accessibility to healthcare for our nation.

Captain Eric Shih, the Director of the Division of Integrated Systems, discussed the USPHS framework under the US Health and Human Services, as well as the hierarchy that has developed and shifted throughout the years. He also told us a little bit about the money and funding, and advised us to always know where money comes from within an organization!

After an event packed day at the Surgeon General’s Office, we ventured into a new territory and experienced a new culture of food by eating Ethiopian food! Yum! Then we took part in the OSG HOSA intern tradition; we took a beautiful twilight tour of the Washington D.C. monuments with CAPT Tosatto.

Everyone at the Ethiopian Restaurant!

Let's Move!

Greetings HOSA!
We are honored and ecstatic to be here in Washington D.C., from July  7th-11th this year! We are a group of five whom consist of Ronda Esper from Texas, Alyssa Falise from Florida, Madhi  Al Husseini from Georgia, Christina Noack from California, and Rita Griffith from Virginia as our fearless advisor!

Today, 7/7/2014, we began our experience at the US Surgeon General's Office in Rockville, Maryland. Upon arrival, we were welcomed by ENS Sophia Yang  and CAPT Paul Reed. They brought us to our training room and gave us a brief overview of the US Public Health Service.  Then, we had the long awaited chance to meet our Acting Surgeon General, RADM Boris Lushniak. He spoke with us about his key initiatives, including the importance of tobacco cessation. Fifty years ago, Surgeon General Dr. Luther Terry released the first report linking smoking to poor health. Fifty years later this year, the US Surgeon General's office celebrates the dramatic decrease in smoking prevalence.

The Internship with the Surgeon General!

In 1964, approximately 50% of the American population used tobacco regularly; today the prevalence of smoking has decreased to 18%.  Although many strides have been made towards the journey for our country to be tobacco free. Over the past 50 years, we have gone from being able to purchase cigarettes from vending machines, to smoking openly in public places, and now to a mostly smoke free environment in public places; our journey towards a tobacco free country, the US Surgeon General hopes to look back at the centennial and think of tobacco as a habit of the past.  RADM Lushniak is a highly respected member of the USPHS as he has worked his way up from the ensign rank to being admiral, and now the Acting United States Surgeon General, a truly remarkable achievement.



After our meeting with the US Surgeon General, we were able to meet with CAPT Robert Tosatto, the Director of the Division of the Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). He explained the workings of the MRC and what his job entails. Also we were introduced to a unique opportunity to intern the OSG office as a junior commissioned officer in the Public Health Service.

We then had a chance to meet with the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition. They discussed their mission for our country, including our driving efforts to have schools commit to physically active days for youth through the Let's Move! Campaign. We will be working closely with the council throughout the week in order to target more schools with the help of National HOSA (more information coming soon!)

Some ideas for our project!

 After a busy morning, we went with our new US Public Health Service mentors to Benjarong for a Thai lunch. We bonded as not only as a team but a family!

With satisfied bellies and rejuvenated minds, we listened to LCDR Skip Payne about the US Public Health Service History as well as his career in epidemiology.  He discussed with us the history of the United States Public Health Service, in addition to clarifying the distinctions offered to them through awards they received to celebrate their achievements. He also discussed with us some of his experience while working as an epidemiologist for various components of the Public Health Service within HHS such the Food and Drug Administration.

Lastly, we heard about the career path that brought LT Katie Hager to the US Public Health Service and her passion for the job.  She experienced many difficulties however she persevered and this led her to encounter opportunities which gave her the career she loves and is currently in.

Next stop a night out on the town, Chinatown to be exact! With ENS Sophia Yang by our side we will climb onto the Metro and go on a city adventure!  Goodnight and see you tomorrow!

Chinatown!