I believe that everyone has the right to equal living.

Specifically, I believe that those with birth

defects affecting physical attributes need a chance at living a life integrated with society. Children born
with defects such as muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy would be my focus, or my priority. The
reason I believe they deserve this chance is because my own family member experiences the daily
struggle of cerebral palsy. My nephew suffers from cerebral palsy and I am inspired by him and how
patient he is with his treatments and therapy. My passion for rehabilitation for children stems from him.
Originally, I started at the University of North Florida as a hopeful biology major, looking to
specialize in dermatology or nursing as my final career goal. My ideals changed after observing my
nephew over the years. At such a young age he was cooperating with therapists and underwent treatments
without resentment. This made me realize that his therapy, Botox, and treatment gave him the ability to
walk and use his appendages more efficiently. This brought me to the important decision to change my
intended degree from biology to public health. Understanding what public health is and what it has to
offer will allow me to give back to those who need it. Public health and health education are more than
just health defined in simplistic terms. Public health encompasses many behavioral theories, procedures,
and foundations, whether they be in health or philosophy. Being a health educator begins, at its core, with
understanding the Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) responsibilities and competencies of
health education. This allows us to assess the population and data, plan goals and objectives using
intervention methods, implement techniques to support the program, and evaluate by data collection,
analysis, and interpretation of any program health educators or future health educators put into effect. To
build upon our responsibilities as health educators, understanding the Code of Ethics is critical to proper
deliverance of health education. As a health educator I must serve the public by communicating about
decisions, benefits, risks, and limitations regarding health, a responsibility to the profession and my
employers by upholding professional standards and guidelines, and a responsibility to serve for
administration of accurate health education. Understanding Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES)
Responsibilities and the Code of Ethics allows me to transition from the population as a mass to the
understanding of the individual. Behavioral theories build on the who, what and when but help us further
understand the why and how, referring to people’s actions. After looking into certain behavioral theories,
I learned that multiple theories affect factors of change within people. An example being the health belief
model, which is a model that looks at determinants that influence adoption of a behavior. Application of
this model determines whether a person will be convinced to take action to prevent illness by answering
yes to questions asking if they are susceptible, is the susceptibility serious, if the benefits outweigh the
cost and effort, and if the person has the ability to take the action. Another theory of health behavior that
is applicable within the field of public health is the transtheoretical model stages of change. This model
focuses on an individual’s stage of readiness to change their behavior. This states that change process, so
it does not happen all at once. Furthermore, individuals are all at different stages of readiness which
allows health educators to gauge which plans and implementations are necessary for that individual. The
use of the transtheoretical model by a health educator is not to change behavior exclusively, but to help an
individual move to a closer level of readiness to change. Public health education to me is the
implementation of all of this information to help benefit the public, whether it be at an individual level or
at a mass level.
I plan to use my degree, and all the knowledge I have gathered from my degree to work closely
with patients that belong to Brooks Rehabilitation in Jacksonville, Florida. I hope to become a pediatric
therapist and provide therapy for children. My work will benefit the lives of these children and their
families within the city. I plan on building interpersonal relationships with my patients so that they feel
comfortable with me and their situation. I will provide patients with whatever they need to feel like they
can be physically capable and mentally strong in order to deal with any life changes associated with their
condition. Families will be provided with reassurance and comfort knowing that their child will be one of
my patients. I hope that by offering rehabilitation and therapy to children, that I can make a difference in
their lives, resulting in them making a positive difference in society.