Brr brr brr.
I wake up to the sound of my alarm clock ringing maliciously at 8 in the morning. It is usually the alarm or the sound of my neighbor’s TV that wakes me up, but today, the alarm has triumphed. After getting out of bed, slowly but surely, I make myself a toast with pesto and sunny-side egg on top. Nibbling on my toast while scrolling through the news on my phone with dead eyes, I take a glance outside of my apartment’s window. The cloudy sky has continued to reign over the city of Binghamton. But at least for now, it has stopped snowing.
40 minutes left until my job begins, says the time on my phone. I take a quick seething hot shower, brush my long sleek hair (which who knows how long it has last seen a salon), dress up, and get ready for the day.
It’s going to be a Monday alright, not good or bad one but a Monday after all.
I drive my car to Johnson City to assume my work as Graduate Assistant at Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences. This is a job I applied and got over the summer thanks to the opportunity given to me by Christine Podolak, a former Associate Director of Experiential Education at BU Masters of Public Health (MPH) program. Not to brag, but she’s our Iris, our equivalent of Greek Goddess messenger who always brings us any news of job and internship opportunities available that comes her way. Be it be a local internship or a job hiring post in New York City, no opportunity escapes the hands of Christine who then passes them onto us thirty or so students.
Now because of her, I am able to work 10 hours a week at my school, which my program MPH falls under, and support myself financially through my last year.
Like any other day, I walk into the sleek new building of Decker College which was formerly the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Factory circa. 1899. After massive renovations and equipping latest advanced laboratories and tech-savvy classrooms and ghosts exorcising (just kidding, no ghosts were harmed), the building re-opened to host numerous nursing and health science programs and the coolest one of them all, the Master of Public Health. (Can you tell the author is biased? Because I can’t at all).
Anyway, like every typical Monday, I start off my work with a meeting with my supervisors who work as Decker Academic Advisers, Aly Novi and Sandra Conklin, along with a few undergraduate nursing student staffs. After updating us with recent changes and allocating job assignments, we are separated to our workspace. Luckily, I have my own private office where I get to do my work and frolic and eat stinky Greek yogurt without any complaints. Sometimes I would get into an argument with my desk neighbor, but I have to tolerate her to some extent (me, it’s me).
For the next two hours, I complete my work assignments.
Impressed by my graphic design skills, Aly would typically assign me to make posters for up and coming events and workshops for students. Other than being a glorified graphic designer, my responsibilities as a Graduate Assistant include assisting the Academic Advisers with various advising and administrative tasks, participating in advising events, maintaining a thorough updated understanding of all policies, procedures, and degree requirements, and assisting students as needed. My job has been fun and delightful and fulfilling, getting to know the students and my school's ins and outs. It certainly helps when you work with wonderful people who are nothing short of kind and passionate.
After three hours at my job, I quietly escape to the parking lot and drive to the local gym. I do my push/pull workout regime for around an hour, as being active and fit is important to me, before heading back home. I make myself lunch, which typically is filled to fulfill my daily protein intake, and take a shower. Then I sit down on my soft gray couch and get ready with my laptop before starting my next big work for the day – my remote United Health Services (UHS) internship.
As a second year full-time MPH student, I have to complete 6 credits of internship, or 360 hours, in order to graduate. My internship at UHS started last Fall semester, thanks to opportunity given to me by our Iris, Christine. Before the end of our first year, Christine had inquired each student individually on our interests and career prospects and our preferences for our internship. As someone who wishes to go into hospital setting, I asked for internship at the local hospital – UHS. Although I am on the Global Health track and I have aspiration to work in international non-profit scene, I was still curious about the hospital setting and healthcare system in the U.S. So in the summer before we began our last school year, Christine connected me to Kayla Velie, who is the manager of Workplace Wellness at UHS and who will soon become my preceptor. And thus begins my triumphs, my failures, and my journey toward healthcare path in my Public Health career.
In August 2022, UHS founded its very own Workplace Violence (WPV) Committee, comprised of different department and floor representatives, heads, nurses, physicians, and various important healthcare workers. Looking to establish its zero-tolerance policy, the Committee sought to change the way WPV is viewed and treated at UHS. According to OSHA, WPV is any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at workplace. CDC reports that healthcare workers, especially nurses, face one of the highest risks of WPV compared to other professions. During COVID-19 pandemic, 44% of nurses experienced physical violence and 68% reported verbal abuse. WPV can lead to physical harm, psychological toll, damaged morale, high stress level, decreased productivity, high absenteeism and turnover, and even incur financial costs. Thus, to combat WPV in hospital setting, I work closely with Kayla, my preceptor.
I meet with Kayla at least once a week to touch base and to receive assignments, most of which are done remotely and some of which, at the hospital. In the past, I have done literature review on WPV in NY and nation-wide hospital settings and read on tools and guides on how to mitigate this growing issue. Besides being a glorified reader, as for hands-on cases, I have worked on analyzing and interpreting the data for workplace violence including cases reported by the Wellness department and the security department. I made charts and graphics of the most prevalent occupation and department where WPV occurred and put together slides of my findings to present before the Committee. The Committee members had never seen such a comprehensive overview of WPV cases in UHS, especially from an intern, and were grateful toward my work, which only furthered my motivation to help the vulnerable population and community.
In addition to working with quantitative data, I also gather qualitative data by shadowing and interviewing healthcare workers at different departments, mostly those who are most affected by WPV. Ranging from mental health technician to social worker to nurses, the staff let me follow and interview them as they complete their daily work at the hospital. I would ask questions such as: What was your experience with workplace violence? How did you deal with it? Do you think UHS has enough adequate resources to help you? Just to name a few.
The information I gathered from these wonderful and patient healthcare workers help me understand the prevalence of WPV and allow me to assess ways that can improve or change culture of WPV to help them. This ranges from something big to something small like from changing the environmental design and procedure of WPV to simply giving them walkie-talkie to help boost communication. Using what I learn in Dr. Johnston’s PH 525: Epidemiology II – Applied Epidemiology, I coded my interviews and found common themes across the board. My findings were put in presentation and given to Kayla and WPV committee.
These are just a few things of what I do. Last semester, I did 8 hours of internship per week to 120 hours in total, and now, I am doing 16 hours a week or 240 hours in total. The things I learned in class were applicable to my internship. I have received gratitude and acknowledgement on the work that I do, which I do feel at times. But what goes on the paper is different from behind the scene. Majority of the time, I am stressed out and overwhelmed by the amount of data I have to sift through and by how problematic the issue of WPV is. I wouldn’t know where to begin on mitigating such a large issue. Then in my personal life, I would sometimes fail to maintain proper hours per week as I struggle with time management, the concerns of which I share with my preceptor and my faculty adviser, Dr. Emily Pape. But thanks to their understanding and strong belief in me, I am able to keep up with my hours and work.
I can’t express enough gratitude toward them.
Now, back to my soft gray couch, I work for the next 4-5 hours on my laptop the assignments for UHS. I try to complete 4-5 hours a day for 16 hours a week. This includes attending WPV committee meetings and meetings with my preceptor, shadowing healthcare workers, analyzing WPV data, working on reports, writing up policies, and occasionally spending time at the hospital. Often, I would get up and stretch and take a break by going on my phone to play chess. Music would be playing in the background on my TV. Sometimes, I would be serenaded by the sounds of my neighbor who, due to his dementia and array of mental health issues, would make a lot of unintelligible, loud random noises. I don’t mind him during daytime because his noises, albeit the chaos, made me feel like I’m not alone. Also it reminded me of New York City, where I grew up, because there was always some sound in the air as something was always going on. Never was it ever filled with silence, which is something Binghamton has a lot of and something I was not used to.
After I'm done with my work, I would catch up on readings assigned by my professors for the two classes I am taking. Although, let’s face it. I’m usually too tired to read another line, so I would try to catch up on my reading instead on the weekend or days I don’t have work.
Then, I escape my day by going to chess club on campus and beating up (or rather, losing to) those nerds (at chess). Sometimes, I would grab dinner with my best friends who live two blocks from me, unluckily for them. Then after eating yet another protein-rich dinner, I end my day by meditating for 15-60 minutes, an important wellness habit I’ve instilled in myself since graduate school has begun.
Now it’s easy to say I would close my eyes and go to sleep, but like every other Gen-Z, my eyes are glued to the blue screen and my fingers go scrolling through Instagram reels, the closest thing to drug there is. Either that or I play chess (again, I’m rather obsessed) or write poetry about whatever boy or situation I’ve been lamenting over. Poetry has become my sort of journal that documents any personal things that are happening to me and things I wish to get off my chest. Then I close my eyes and drift away to sleep as “Birdie” by Kota the Friend plays in the background.
I'm freeing birdies left and right, I'll never get them back I watch them fly away
I'm with you on the way up to the wake up By your side when the day comes Time goes by I'm the same one, the same one, the same one………
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