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Weekly Journal #5

Public Health Internship

Dr. Kaninjing

Sarah Buttermore

June 12, 2020

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On Monday and Tuesday, I primarily continued to gather information and content for two

sections: “Grief and the Elderly” and “Treatments of Grief.” On Wednesday, Thursday and

Friday, I prioritized the process of assembling this information into paragraph format on the

rough draft regarding grief. Throughout the week, I obviously worked on my other internship

assignments, such as the journal, discussion post and responses.

After completing the discussion post regarding my future career plan, I did a little more

research about job opportunities and started trying to apply to some entry level public health

positions on Handshake. I also communicated with a staff member from the Career Center to

improve and update my resume, which will be helpful for when we turn in our resume later in

the internship. I am trying to stay positive throughout the job process because obviously not

many places are hiring because of the COVID-19 situation.

So far, I have learned a lot about cumulative grief which is inevitable and very common

in the elderly population. Although elderly individuals still have their younger friends and family

members, they lose their lifelong spouses, partners and friends. Typically, these losses occur

unexpectedly or in quick succession so the bereaving individual does not have a lot of time to

process one loss before another occurs. These emotional experiences may act as a catalyst to

further decline in overall health and quality of life.

As I mentioned in my last journal, last week was tough for me mentally and emotionally.

I communicated this with my site coordinator because I believe that it is very important to

communicate openly and honestly, despite how challenging it may be. She was very

understanding of my situation and reminded me that it was very important to prioritize my

health. This week felt much better mentally and emotionally and I was able to get work done

with a clear mind which obviously increased my productivity.

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Another challenge I have faced personally is that there is another intern at this same site

working on the same project and I have been comparing her progress to mine. We have

communicated some about the progress we are making individually and she is a little ahead of

me. I have to keep reminding myself that I need to focus on the progress I am making and less on

how she is doing. My site coordinator reminded me that she is not comparing our work either,

instead she is assessing the quality and thoroughness of our work individually. I tried to work a

few more hours this week to make up for some lost time and I feel pretty good about the progress

I am making so far.

Hours Worked 6/8-6/12

Monday: 9:00am-12:00pm, 1:00pm-4:00pm (6 hrs)

Tuesday: 8:30am-11:30am, 12:30pm-2:30pm (5 hrs)

Wednesday: 9:00am-11:00am, 12:00pm-3:00pm (5 hrs)

Thursday: 10:00am-12:00pm, 1:00pm-4:00pm (5 hrs)

Friday: 8:30am-12:30pm, 1:30pm-3:30pm (6 hrs)

Total Weekly Hours: 27 hours

Total Hours to Date: 123 hours