HOSA OSG Internship Day One-August 8, 2011

Oregon McDiarmid, Brittany Woods, CAPT Tosatto, LTJG Hager, and Brittany Ebbing during the first day of the HOSA OSG Internship

Today was the first day of the HOSA Office of the Surgeon General Internship for Brittany Ebbing, Oregon McDiarmid, and Brittany Woods. The interns were excited and energized at the start of the weeklong internship. At the beginning of the day, the interns were introduced to the staff of the Office of Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps (OCVMRC), the host office within the Office of the Surgeon General during the internship.

LT Payne and LTJG Hager introduced the basic infrastructure of the United States Public Health Service and an agenda for the upcoming week. CAPT Tosatto then educated the interns about the infrastructure and history of the Medical Reserve Corps. He also shared his personal story about how he became part of the Commission Corps., which interested the interns immensely.

Brittany, Oregon, and Brittany then had the opportunity to sit in on a conference call about Program Operations for the MRC. CAPT Nair facilitated this call with different staff members from the OCVMRC to discuss the schedule and goals for the next week. Next, the interns were introduced to Shadow Acting Chief of Staff, CDR Gregory Davis, who talked to the interns about the definition of public health and how complicated it can be, because public health has many different facets and definitions.

The next conference call that the interns were on was one between HOSA and MRC. CAPT Tosatto, CAPT Nair, LTJG Hager, Dr. Koeninger, Mrs. Koeninger, Mr. George Sifakis, and the interns discussed how to further the partnership between HOSA, OCVMRC, and the United States Public Health Service (USPHS). This call was of great interest to the interns because it gave them ideas of how to facilitate a connection between HOSA, OCVMRC, and USPHS in their local communities.

The final conference call of the day was with Ada Dieke, who is a doctoral student at the University of Arizona doing her dissertation on Youth Engagement in MRC. On the conference call the interns discussed Ada’s project and the ways that the interns could be utilized to help with her dissertation during the next week and in the future.

At the end of the day, the interns discussed and finalized the projects that they will be completing in the next week. Overall, the first day in the Office of the Surgeon General was very exciting and informative. Brittany, Oregon, and Brittany learned a tremendous amount and are looking forward to the next four days of the internship!