Name: Janay

Year: Junior

Major: Anthropology, Legal Studies

CFS Program: Field Studies in Public Health

I feel that my CFS Public Health internship is especially involved, especially challenging, and especially rewarding compared to any other experience, internship or otherwise, that I have had. I am an intern at a small children’s hospital in Hyde Park that serves pediatric patients who have chronic diseases and developmental disabilities, or health issues that will ultimately involve frequent, and often long, hospital stays for the rest of their lives. The kids I work with are experiencing the most difficult days of their lives very early on, but I can honestly say that the wonderful staff, my current coworkers, all operate as a team to make sure that these young patients have the best outcome possible. They have made every effort to fully integrate me into this honor of improving the quality of life for a patient who had a rough life start.

Through my internship, I have learned how important a box of Crayola markers can be: I shadowed an occupational therapist as she taught a very young burn victim to use her arms properly by encouraging her to open and close a marker herself to color, an everyday task for most kids, but a Herculean task for her. I have learned to recognize the nuances in infant behavior, recognizing that not every baby will smile, or laugh, or reach for things, or do many things appropriate for his or her age, because not every baby can. However, I also learned that babies seem to universally love bubbles, and being read to, no matter their developmental age; thus, playing with bubbles, and endlessly reading “The Cat in the Hat” have become integral aspects of my internship description. Through my internship, I have witnessed the struggle that low-income parents with special needs children face every day, be it the struggle to buy medicine, or balancing their child’ s visits doctor’s visits with inflexible work hours.

Perhaps the most valuable thing that I have learned through my internship is the ability to recognize the sheer amount of underlying structural support that exists beneath the fabric of a pediatric hospital. Unlike adults, children are at the peak of their developmental potential, and a hospital simply does not provide the appropriate amount of stimulation. So, my hospital has involved child life staff, nutritionists, therapists, behavioral specialists, case workers, social workers, and numerous other individuals whose job it is to ensure that our patients receive the best medicine of all: the ability to have as normal a childhood as possible in the midst of their very abnormal challenges. I’m privileged to know that I am a huge part of this structure, and I am thankful that I am able to make a difference in this way.

Chicago Field Studies has allowed me the opportunity to explore the medical field in a way that I simply would not have had the time to do otherwise, and I am thankful every day to be a part of this experience.