VPHA Mentorship Program
In the Spring of 2022 I had the privilege of volunteering with the Virginia Public Health Association (VPHA) to improve my leadership skills, learn more about the organization, and increase engagement with the public health community. During that time, I took on the role of creating a mentorship program for this organization. This included crafting the mission of the program and the program manual. I also created a flyer to be put in the membership newsletter when it came closer for the mentorship program to be ready for launch. Finally, I created a separate mentor and mentee survey. The mentorship program is a great addition to the VPHA because it provides one-on-one and/or group guidance to students and early career professionals interested in the public health profession. The program will cultivate a diverse generation of leaders, help members and students navigate education and professional experiences, and provide networking opportunities throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. It will allow mentors the opportunity to build connections with other professionals about public health issues that impact us the most, and give back by sharing personal experiences, guidance, and support of mentors currently working in the public health field. Creating this program allowed me to improve my leadership skills and communication skills by creating a program from scratch.
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VPHA Webinar Flyers
To increase membership in the organization, webinars were provided free of charge and open to the public at the VPHA. During my volunteer time with the organization I was in charge of creating the flyers to provide information about the webinars and to register for them. This allowed me to be creatively involved with the organization and the members, along with improve my web designing skills.
Sleep Apnea Presentation
In April 2020, I was given the opportunity to present a health topic to a group of healthcare professionals that was relevant to their field of work and a life-threatening subject. This experience allowed me to be more comfortable leading a room with a presentation. I was able to didactic critical information utilizing effective instructional planning and teaching methods taught in DNTH 660. I also created visual media to complement the teaching and learning process of my target audience, along with developing a comprehensive lesson plan appropriate for the engaged audience for this presentation. Critical thinking activities were adopted throughout the presentation to instill the habit of good questioning and design making in the audience. This presentation allowed me to broaden my communication skills and innovation in the public health field.
TMD Presentation
In March 2020, I had the pleasure to present another health topic to a second group of healthcare professionals that was informative in the health care field and focused on our anatomy. This experience allowed me to gain confidence and learning agility with my leadership skills. I was able to didactic critical information utilizing effective instructional planning and teaching methods taught in DNTH 660. I constructed visual media to enhance the teaching and learning process of my target audience, along with developing a comprehensive lesson plan appropriate for the engaged audience. Critical thinking activities were discussed throughout the presentation to ensure audience attentiveness and core understanding of the material. This presentation allowed me to enhance my communication skills and enhance working with a wide range of diverse healthcare professionals in the public health field.
How To Keep My Teeth Happy Lesson Plan
In February 2018, I collaborated with a dental hygiene colleague to teach a first grade class at a Montessori school in Floyd, Virginia the importance of proper oral hygiene, the role their teeth play on their total body health, and the impact their food choices make on their teeth and body. This leadership opportunity allowed me to gain experience presenting to a unique age group and population, while discovering creative ways to promote a health care message to my target audience. We created hands on activities to engage the audience, along with asking appropriate age based questions. This allowed us to keep the learners involved and interested in the presentation. Learning how to lead presentations to a variety of diverse groups is helpful for the public health field due to the problem solving and strategy planning needed to assess each population and create the best learning strategy for that target audience.
