This summer, I spent my time as an intern for the St. Joseph County Department of Health. I was privileged to work alongside one of my best friends and fellow Wabash student, Francisco Bibian ’27. Throughout this summer, we experienced the many different facets of public health.
Our time was typically spent working with the Vector Specialists of the SJCDoH, a unit rapidly growing within the Department of Health in St. Joseph County. Our job consisted of setting and retrieving mosquito traps, sorting mosquitoes, and preparing mosquitoes for West Nile virus testing. Francisco and I were also tasked with preparing presentations, posters, and community
outreach projects for the new, free radon testing available in St. Joseph County. Although these were the two major parts of our internship, we were also lucky to spend time with other units of the Health Department. This included septic inspections, wellhead abandonments, food and pool
inspections, shadowing the Public Health Workers, and distributing vaccinations with the free clinic. I had never pictured these units as being so crucial to public health, but upon experiencing them, my perspective shifted. It is not every day that you get to help homeless citizens in your community find food and shelter.

Another extraordinary part of this internship was shadowing Wabash physicians in the area. It is awesome to see how much of an impact Wabash graduates are making in our community. All the Wabash physicians have fostered great relationships with their patients and are dedicated to serving and monitoring the well-being of their community. It is motivating to see how important a Wabash education can be in creating a great physician. We were also privileged to sit in on some didactic lectures offered by the University of Notre Dame regarding Global Health. This gave us some great insight into the real problems our community is facing, and what we are doing to resolve them.

I would like to thank Dr. Purushotham, Dr. Migliore, and Mark Espich. Without these people at the Health Department, this summer wouldn’t have been such a great experience. I would also like to thank Wabash graduates Dr. Oppman, Dr. Brier, Dr. Kurt Gongwer, Dr. Cam Gongwer, and Dr. Cassady. As a collective, these physicians have solidified my goal of pursuing a career in medicine. Lastly, I would like to thank GHI and Wabash College for such an eye-opening opportunity!

Overall, my experience this summer was phenomenal. I am extremely grateful to have had this opportunity, as I know it does not come easily. My perspective has shifted immensely on public health and the difficulties of healing a community. I look forward to growing further connections with all the great people at the St. Joseph County Department of Health and The South Bend Clinic!