A new Vol State degree can provide the education for a career on
the front lines of public health. The Health Sciences associate of science (not to be confused with the longtime AAS) is the stepping stone towards employment in public health administration. It's a new option for students who may not make it into our highly competitive specialty programs in Health Sciences. Here's a story we did that explores employment in public health. Help us get the word out to students!
The kids hold up their hands
excitedly inside the dark tent. There are patches of glowing white here and
there. It’s a fun way for the Whitten Elementary School students to learn about
handwashing. Sumner County Health Department public health educator, Beth Gray,
assists them in the project, making sure they use the glow in the dark lotion correctly.
Then the kids head off to wash off the lotion. They return under the black
light in the tent to see how they did. The splotches show places they didn’t
get “clean”. Out in the gym, Kimberly
Bonds, a health educator II, talks to the third graders about scrubbing beneath
their nails and making sure to get the backs of their hands. The demonstration
is on the front lines of public health and the simple lesson has big implications
for all of us.
“We want to keep them in school,”
Bonds said. “When they’re not sick, they’re learning. They may work in fast
food restaurants as teenagers, and this can remind them how to keep their hands
clean. When they enter the workforce they better understand how to be responsible
when you have a cold or flu.”
Vol State has a Health Sciences associate of science degree program that is designed to
train workers for public health administration jobs. Working in public health,
as an administrator, educator or in community outreach, means a wide range of
activities.
“It’s a lot of fun,” said Gray. “We
go to many different schools. Rather than sit in the office, we go out into the
community and meet people. We have an impact on their lives.”
The Vol State Health Sciences
degree includes courses that you might expect, such as Medical Terminology and
Anatomy and Physiology, but it also includes other important education for a
public health worker, including Fundamentals of Speech Communication and
Introduction to Ethics. The program is intended to transfer to a bachelor’s
degree program in Health Sciences at a university. Most public health jobs
require at least a four-year degree. The Sumner County Health Department
handles many responsibilities, including the operation of health clinics,
promoting immunizations and preventing the spread of disease. Public health
administrators have many roles within the field.
“The roles of Public Health
administrators are evolving to include community economic development,
community planning, and design,” said Hal Hendricks, county director for the
Sumner County Health Department. “We live in a global society, even in what we
still consider rural communities. That, along with changes in healthcare, make
public health an integral part of community safety and quality of life.”
“We are on the front lines of
education and prevention with four major areas of concern: obesity; not getting
enough physical activity; tobacco use; and opioid drug abuse,” Bonds said. “One
day you can be teaching cute kids and the next day adults. You’re doing
something that impacts the community.”
For more information about the
Health Sciences associate of science degree program visit www.volstate.edu.
