Before I came to HRSA, I didn’t know that HRSA existed.
(Music) What did HRSA Interns do this summer?
Hi, I’m Paul Davis with the HRSA Learning Institute.
Jacquelyn Ramirez
Margaret Bykowski,
Briana Allen.
I work on various projects such as the evaluation of our classes that we offer.
I help out with the trainers.
Jacquelyn: This summer I worked at HRSA’s Health Systems Bureau
under the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program.
Margaret: I also worked on the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee for the Designation
of Medically Underserved Areasand Populations and Health Professional Shortage Areas,
which is a mouthful to say.
Briana: This summer I have been working with the Nursing Scholarship Program.
(Music) Health Resources and Services Administration
– HRSA Student Intern Program.
Briana: The scholarship program basically pays tuition for nursing students,
in return for their service to work in clinics in underserved communities.
(Music)
so if we give them a year or two years of money,
then they owe us two years of service in an underserved community.
Jacquelyn: We worked with countermeasures, specifically,
so in small pox, botulism, anthrax, H1N1 and any
other countermeasures, that are declared by the Secretary of the Department of
Health and Human Services and it’s primarily compensation for any
individuals receiving adverse effects from any of the products used.
Margaret: We’re doing a documentation tracking process so we trace decisions
back that the committee had been making and that is important to know for
government transparency purposes. So if someone comes up and says why is the committee
making this decision, we can say well here it is and its in this
documentation that I got to work on.
Briana: I can physically see the impact they were making in the communities.
Their funding for the clinic and stuff, I just feel like these services are things that
our nation would really miss…you know. It’s behind the scenes work
but if we aren't here then people aren’t getting their scholarships
and then in return people aren’t necessarily going to work in underserved communities.
Paul: The most valuable thing I did over the summer was the
evaluation project because that's something that HRSA needed and we need to
be able to compare our data from class to class, ranked
by dates…so that was a very important project.
(Music) What do Interns like about working at HRSA?
Briana: I do like the service and the impact that I’m making.
I feel really effective. I pay you... you come work with us.
It’s a really effective way of doing things.
(Music)
Jacquelyn: Serving underserved and underinsured populations and other
vulnerable groups, I think it’s very important especially given the difficult times there
are, that there’s an agency committed to them.
(Music)
Margaret: Consider HRSA because it is an important agency. The work that it does
is vital to the healthcare of this country. Furthermore, on a
practical level, you will learn skills that can take you to other Federal agencies
and in the public sector as well.
(Music)
Paul: HRSA’s most important function would be the work across the country
supporting healthcare systems.
(Music) What did you do last summer?