Welcome to the Columbus Public Health Clinic- (The heartbeat of healthcare in Columbus Ohio). Join us as we spend the day at this historic facility in the heart of Columbus OH and learn about the various resources and services that they have to offer.
Upon Arrival, We met up with our other clinical groups from our Community Course alongside the Norwegian students who were very excited to meet everyone from the course and to tour and learn about one of the most important Public Health Facilities in Columbus. This was my first time getting to meet all the students in person and exchanged laughs about some of their experiences on their flight here and their target shopping spree the day before as we were waiting for the staff to finish setting up.
We then gathered at Dr Teresa C Long Auditorium located on the second floor of the facility and were greeted by Beth ransopher and Courtney Daniels and were handed out folders containing information packets about some of the resources that the facility has to offer.
Opening up the presentation was Beth Ransopher who is the workforce development manager and she talked to us about her role at Columbus Public Health. She then introduced us to Courntey Daniels who is the quality assurance nurse at the facility ensuring that staff is following all the policies and procedures in place to ensure that they are giving their patients that best quality care possible. She also explained her journey as a nurse and how she started off as a Pediatric Nurse then went back to school to get her Masters in Education and Leadership which then led her to Quality Assurance which I found very interesting. It really opened my eyes to the various pathways nurses can go into outside of the bedside.
We all then took a 15 minute break and grabbed some snacks from the vending machines and we refilled our water bottle. Courtney than took us on a facility tour allowing us to explore the various clinics and talk to some of the staff and we got to ask questions. Our first stop was the Sexual Health and Wellness Center and we were greeted by one of the staff. She talked to us about the various comprehensive sexual services including STI testing and treatment, partner therapy, and education and even services for young teens as well. What I found very interesting was how teens are allowed to get care here without their parents. CPH has a couple of hours during the day where it is strictly blocked off just for teens. This allows teens to feel more comfortable reaching out and obtaining care without having to feel uncomfortable.
We then shifted over to the Women’s Health and Wellness center and got to learn about what they have to offer and got to see some exam rooms. They offer annual examples, birth control , screening, pregnancy tests and many more! This is amazing especially for people who do not have a primary care doctor or even for those who can afford to pay out of pocket. The Columbus Public Health does not turn ANYONE away and they really strive to care for the people of Columbus.
One of the main focuses of Sustainable goal 5 of the United Nations is Gender Equality and are working to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences. This clinic is funded through city, state, and federal grants which helps them provide care to our community.
Concluding our Tour we got to enter the Tuberculosis Clinic and got an in depth presentation about Tuberculosis and how it is impacting our community. She explained the different between people Latent vs Active and how that can impact them Later on in life. She also talked about contact tracing and how important it is and how important it is to locate the source. Which I found really cool was how the room was a negative pressure room making the pressure in the room lower inside then outside which I found very cool.
After concluding our tour we went back to the auditorium and worked on an Applied Health interactive case study with some of their staff trying to locate the source of an ill person getting E. Coli. We broke up into groups and were given the role of a Mom and nurse and we worked on trying to pinpoint what led to the child getting sick.
After our exercise, Beth and Courntey conclude the presentation and thanked us for coming. I really learned a lot and never been here even though I grew up in Columbus but was never able to get the opportunity to go inside. I appreciate how our instructors took the time to coordinate this and now that I know about the various resources available , I will keep this in mind as I transition from nursing student to working as a nurse!!!
What an amazing, eventful day! Very Excited for the future.