In my career, the populations that I would love to work with include HIV/AIDS

patients and at-risk youth or young adults. I grew up in a community where both of
these populations were underserved and often ignored. My goal is to work towards
improving the Florida HIV/AIDS rates, specifically for pregnant woman and vulnerable
populations. I hope to achieve this by focusing on the detection and control of infectious
diseases. Many individuals are afraid to get tested because they fear a positive result.
My hope is to increase the awareness and maintenance of HIV/AIDS, while reducing
the stigma.
This passion came from the intense urge to help people. I grew up surrounded by
professionals in the healthcare industry. My mom worked as a phlebotomist in a
doctor’s office and she always took me to work with her. I admired how well she able to
explain things to a vast array of patients. No matter who the patient was, she made sure
that they were comfortable and knew what she was doing. Early on, I knew that I
wanted to work towards promoting healthy practices and behaviors through health
education. In high school, I often volunteered at my local hospital assisting the
postpartum nurses. I noticed that there was a pattern of young women in low
socioeconomic statuses with multiple pregnancies back to back. I lived in a conservative
county where abstinence was pushed instead of safe-sex practices. I decided that I
wanted to work in a community setting where I could educate young adults on different
safe-sex practices.
Even though I have only recently discovered public health, I feel that it is the right
major for me to be in. I am always trying to educate my friends and family on topics like
infectious diseases, safe-sex, and importance of staying away from tobacco. My
passion brought me to the public health major because this is the perfect field to be in to
advocate for health policies and education for adversely affected communities. My heart
will always be focused on promoting health equality to underserved populations and
communities. I want to bring awareness to how different diseases make themselves
apparent in different genders and races. This is something that I would love to do
research and field work on.
To me, public health means acquiring the information and tools needed to make
strides toward a healthier population. This means that you are able to apply your
knowledge to the greater good of society. Some may choose to work with policy makers
to promote healthy living on a legislative scale. Such as, the laws and regulations
against tobacco products. Or, some people may be like me and would prefer to work
with individuals to reduce their smoking rate. I think that the transtheoretical model that
we learned in class is the best to use when attempting to curve someone’s smoking
habit. They have to be ready to change. My job is to make them feel like they are ready
to move to the next level of the theory. Both the larger scale outlook and smaller scale
outlook are valid and beneficial.
My next step is to get my master’s degree in Public Health. Upon completion, I
look forward to working with vulnerable populations in my community. I think that society
would benefit from this because there is a dire need for health initiatives in these
communities. In the next 4-5 years, I would love to create my own non-profit to assist
young mothers who are HIV/AIDS positive.