Whole Body Health Internship

For my STEP project, I had an internship at a functional medicine office in Medina, OH called Whole Body Health. For two months, I worked at this functional medicine office at the front desk, at the health food store, or on the rehabilitation floor. I also shadowed the doctors while they had appointments with patients.

While this was my second summer working at Whole Body Health, the office had drastically changed from the last time I worked there. A naturopathic doctor started working there, as well as a new chiropractor and a holistic health coach. Since the office had transformed so much since I lasted worked there, I learned a lot of new information, which transformed me as well. Dr. Monzo, who is the N.D., practices a form of medicine that I had never heard of before called The King Institute Method, or TKM. He studied the bio-electromagnetic systems of the body and uses what he learned in school to holistically treat his patients.

While I have been very intrigued by holistic medicine, I also consider myself somewhat of a sceptic. The first day that I sat in on one of Dr. Monzo’s treatments, I had many questions for him and struggled to understand how his form of medicine, which lacks pharmaceutical treatment, worked. However, as the weeks went by, I saw sick patients becoming stronger and healthier. They would come up to talk to me at the front desk after their treatments and tell me all about how amazed they were that Dr. Monzo was actually helping them. That was when my idea of medicine was transformed. While I knew that I would probably never fully understand the medicine of TKM, I had a new found respect for it. I realized that, as a Physicians Assistant, I may not always fully understand the forms of medicine that are used to treat patients. However, there are many different ways to treat patients, and some forms of medicine may be just as qualified as others.

My favorite part about working at Whole Body Health was the fact that I got to do work in all places of the office. I mostly worked at the front desk. It was here that I would check in patients, file patient paperwork, make new patient portfolios, pull patients charts, and check patients out. While sometimes it was a little discouraging to be stuck up front, away from the doctors where all the magic happens, I slowly developed a liking of it. Although i I didn’t get to sit in on every treatment, I got to be the first friendly face the patients saw when they walked in, and the last friendly face they saw when they left. I often got to hear all about the patients days and was able to form professional friendships with many of them. It was always so refreshing to look at the schedule for the day and be excited to see which one of my new friends were coming in that day.

The health food store at Whole Body Health was connected to the main office and the treatment rooms. It was here that I got to restock items, help customers find what they were looking for, and check patients out. It was working here where I felt most helpful. Because of my interest of “healthy” food, I had tried a lot of the foods or supplements that Whole Body Health sold, and I was often able to give patients good suggestions on what to buy. I loved when a first-time customer would come in simply because they heard about our store and I was able to tell them all about it, acting as if I was an expert.

The rehabilitation floor was the traffic director of the office. It was here where I would shuffle in the patients and keep them busy until the doctors were ready to see them. Often times, the patients knew exactly what to do and where to go on the rehab floor, but I would set them up on the massage chairs, decompression tables, or vibe boards. Although there was a lot of tedious work when running the rehab floor, like billing charts, it served as just another place where I was able to get to know the patients and feel like I had a role as the “intern” at Whole Body Health.

Although my jobs at the office were ever-changing, I was able to see how all parts of a doctors’ office work together. I formed a respect for all of the employees at Whole Body Health, from the front desk girls to the doctors in the back. While some people may consider some roles at a doctors office less significant than others, I was able to observe each and every role and see that each one compliments the other.

The biggest thing that I took away from this internship is that, as a future Physicians Assistant, I now have a better understanding of the harmony that is a doctors’ office. Because I have had this privilege, I think that I will have a unique respect for all employees of the doctors’ office that I may work for one day.

Year in Review

Since coming to OSU, I have seen immense personal growth. The person I am now is definitely different from the person who moved in in August 2016. In August, I expected college to be full of freedom and free time. However, I soon learned that while freedom and free time is definitely optional, a majority of that time had to be spent on school work. While this was a struggle at first, I very quickly learned to manage my time in order to make the most out of every day. Now, I am able to fully appreciate the time I have to relax and hang out with my friends. Another expectation I had about college was that it would be difficult to make friends right away and that it would take time to form a solid friend group. However, through the OWL program, I formed friendships with two girls that I now consider my closest college friends. Ever since OWL, we have been inseparable and we spend almost all of our free time together. Regarding my goals for second year, I am very optimistic and excited to have a fresh start knowing what I do now about college. My number one goal is to have excellent time management, so that I am able to have more free time on the weekends to explore the cool things Columbus has to offer. On top of taking classes, I am on the executive board of an organization called Breathe Hope, and I also am most likely leading a bible study for Cru at OSU. Therefore, I know I will constantly be busy, but I hope to be better at managing my time so that I can fully enjoy my time at OSU.

 

G.O.A.L.S.

Upperclassmen Interview: A:

I got the opportunity to interview Meredith Smith, who is my HSS peer mentor. Meredith just got accepted into the Medical Dietetics program at OSU, and her goal is to become a RD who works in a clinical setting. Meredith expressed that she likes her major for the most part so far, but since she just got accepted into it she will get a better idea of what it is like when she takes her major courses starting in the fall. So far, the Med Diet prereqs have challenged her, however she feels that she has become a better student because of her struggles. When I asked Meredith what her favorite thing about her major was, she said that she liked the fact that it has a coordinated dietetics program. This means that she will not have to find an internship after she graduates, but instead will be assigned one before she graduates by the program’s directors. She likes this about her major because it can be very stressful to find an internship since the national placement rate is low. However, because of the Medical Dietetic program at OSU, she has one less thing to worry about! When I asked Meredith what her least favorite thing about her major was, she said that it was the stress that came along with the competitiveness of getting accepted into her program. However, Meredith’s hard work clearly payed off since she was one of 11 students to get into the Medical Dietetics program! Finally, I asked Meredith on some advice regarding my own major. Since I am currently in the Nutrition In Industry program, I do not have to become a RD, however I asked her if she thought that getting my license would give me way better opportunities in the Nutrition Industry. Meredith explained that a lot of her professors have talked about how RD’s can do a lot with their credentials and can have a lot of different jobs. I was very lucky to be able to interview Meredith and am thankful for all the information she provided me with!

Before the start of my sophomore year, I decided to change my major to Nutrition and take pre-requisite classes for Physicians Assistant school. Over this past Christmas break, I had the opportunity to shadow a friend of mine who is a Physician Assistant. Colleen works in an Emergency Room. Colleen went to Baldwin Wallace, a school that is by my home. From learning more about Baldwin Wallace’s PA program, I have become really interested in the school and would definitely want to apply to their program after my undergrad. I was able to ask Colleen some questions about what it is like being a student in Baldwin Wallace’a PA program. Colleen was able to explain to me all of the pre-requisites and the application process for PA school. I learned about how I will have to take the GRE and fill out the common application, called CASPA, which is sent to all the PA schools I apply to. Colleen also broke down what each year looks like in PA school, since it is a total of 2 years. The first year is all didactic work, and you are constantly sitting in lectures and taking exams. The second year is where you pick specializations you are interested in, and you essentially shadow doctors and other PA’s to learn more about the practice of those certain fields of medicine. Also, by shadowing Colleen in the ER and going in with her to see patients, I was able to see what it would be like to be an ER Physicians Assistant. I was able to ask Colleen questions about the status of the patients and observe how she comes up with a treatment plan. Shadowing her was a great experience and I learned a lot about what Physicians Assistants can do.

 

Service: S:

Overall, I had a very enjoyable experience doing service this year. My first community service event was on HSS Service Saturday and I participated in Community Commitment for 6 hours. During this time, my peer mentor, my HSS group, and I went down streets off campus and picked up trash off the sidewalks. Although that may sound pretty boring, it was actually a fun experience since it was a beautiful day and I was able to get to know my mentor and HSS group while making the campus we love beautiful again. I also did service on MLK day, where I worked at COSI for 4 hours. At this event, I was able to assemble kits that would show students how to perform a knee replacement. Each kit had to have an exact number of parts and I worked with my fellow HSS members to assure every kit was perfect. The next service event I did was Buckeython, which counts as 4 total service hours. I participated in the night shift and got the opportunity to dance for the kids from 7 PM to 7 AM. This was an amazing experience and I felt blessed to be a part of Buckeyethon at OSU. Finally, I worked the Food Bank at St. Peters Church in Dayton, Ohio. I worked for a total of 6 hours and helped underprivileged individuals pick out food items to take home to their families.

The most memorable experience that I was a part of was Buckeyethon. This is because it felt so empowering to participate in bringing an end to childhood cancer! Although it was difficult to stay awake through the night, it was very humbling to remind myself how important this event was for the kids that are affected by cancer. One of my favorite parts of the event was that we were greatly encouraged to stay on our feet the whole night and fight every urge to sit down. Going into the event, I did not think I would struggle with this task at all. However, as the night went on and I participated in more events, such as yoga, cardio hip-hop, and line dancing, my feet were soon begging me to give them rest. By the end of the night I was able to say that I danced through the night for the kids and that was the least I could do for them. Buckeyethon was not only a fun and memorable event because of the exciting activities that I went to throughout the night, but also because I was able to be a part of an event that helped so many beautiful children.

 

Career

After completing certain assignments in my Health Science Scholars class, I can now say that I am more confident about my future. Certain modules that were used, like “Finding Your Focus”, helped point out my most prominent strengths which ultimately helped me realize their convenient connection to my current major, Nutrition in Industry. For example, through the “Finding Your Focus” module I learned that I am predominantly an “enterpriser”, very “social”, and also “artistic”. Learning this about myself helped assure me that I could utilize these skills in my future career. In addition to that, attending the Health Science Major Fair and completing a “Major Exploration” handout also helped assure me that I was on the right track regarding my future. Another module that I found helpful was called “Health and Wellness”. This module made me realize the importance of balancing my own health and well-being with my academic and extracurricular commitments. I was able to construct a plan to make my health a priority in my time at OSU. My plan for my personal health and wellness is centered around the idea that I should strive to make the most of my time in college. Ohio State provides so many resources and activities to get involved with, and I hope to be able to find things that can take away from the constant stress of homework and studying. I find eating healthy and staying in shape very important and challenge myself to make sure this also remains a prominent habit to combat my stress. I have already seen major growth in myself since day one, yet I hope that I can continue to grow and fully enjoy every day at the new place I call home. Go Bucks!

 

About Me

IMG_5625Hello, I am a second-year student from Medina, Ohio and I’m majoring in Nutrition while on the Pre-Physicians Assistant track. Out of the classroom, I like to stay healthy by working out and being active. I developed this type of lifestyle in high school and it has inspired me to pursue a career in helping others how to also live a healthy, balanced life. My favorite experience from my high school years was being able to cheer for my school’s football team, particularly my sophomore year when my older brother helped lead the team to the state semi-finals. I can’t wait to go to all the Ohio State football games this year to cheer on my all-time favorite team. I also like to spend time with my friends and can’t wait to discover nice spots on campus to hang out with them on. I am very excited to start my future at Ohio State and I am looking forward to learn of opportunities about getting involved.