By Shelby Jarret
Internship programs, partnerships with academic institutions and on-the-job training can all help relieve some of the pressures felt by public health providers whose programs are perennially short on resources.
Field placement programs advised by the Region IV Public Health Training Center are a win-win situation for students and for the health departments that supervise them, Laura M. Lloyd and Melissa Alpern of the center said. Internship programs at the Rollins School of Public Health, East Tennessee State University, and Florida A&M University are good examples, the presenters said.
Workshop participants agreed that having interns benefits a public health program, but they had suggestions for increasing the yield for both parties. The best field placements assign interns to work on clearly defined, discrete projects with measurable outcomes.
Partnerships with academic departments are another way that local public health programs amplify their impact. Dr. Jimmie Smith is a public health physician who serves as a liaison between Mercer University’s public health school and the North Central Health District. Both are headquartered in Macon, and they have a formal agreement that turns the health district into what Smith called an “academic health department.” As a teaching health department, this program addresses concerns regarding the separation of education and public health practice.
One of the innovations of this program is Operation T.R.I.M. (Taking Responsibility by Informing Men). Students distribute free condoms in Macon barbershops as a way to increase personal protection against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. The program was created by students and mostly managed by them, and illustrates the types of novel interventions possible in an academic health department.
Another way to expand the impact of the existing public health workforce is to make sure that their training is targeted to genuine needs and kept up to date. Professionals throughout Region IV say they need reinforcement in cultural competencies, financial planning, leadership and environmental health. In response, Laura Lloyd said that the Region IV Public Health Training Center offers free online courses, lectures, practice academy trainings and webinars on these topics.
