With this release of Beyond the Classroom, we discuss with Biological Sciences major, Daniel Cruz Garcia of Cumberland County, and learn more of his summer experience as an intern for the Cumberland County Health Department. In our dialogue with Daniel, we discussed with him some of the different responsibilities that he was given and how this has shaped his path for a future career in the health field.
What was it like finding your internship with Cumberland County Health Department?
I was about to graduate from Rowan College of South Jersey and I had landed this internship. I just heard about it in February and was really looking forward to going to the Office of Career Advancement and talking with them. I remember addressing them and saying “I’m about to get my associate degree, what career options do I have?” It’s a very difficult aspect of the college experience that I feel as if a lot of people don’t really get until you reach that point; what to do with your degree and what can you do. At the time, I didn’t really know intuitively what my options were, but I just saw the opportunity and I knew I wanted to explore the different options that were available to me.
Because of that, I was pointed in the direction of my internship and got to be in the environmental division. The Office of Career Advancement was extremely helpful in the way that they bridged the interaction between myself and the Health Department of Cumberland County.
After our first few conversations, the Cumberland Health Department kept in touch with me and they set up an interview. After all of that they called me back and said, “We’re gonna go with you since you’re interested.” I was really ecstatic.
Did you know at all about the Cumberland County Health Department? Was there anything in particular that really stood out to you?
Back then, I was thinking about signs when I saw the job description. I’m in charge of monitoring and bathing beaches. My job consists of collecting samples from these beaches and then sending it to a lab to get tested to see if it is suitable for swimming. At the time I had thought it was really cool just to do some hands-on work out in the field. Going into my internship I had figured that it’d be a good experience to work in an office and go out into the field to work.
Another cool part about the internship was that I got to take those samples to a lab, I thought it was really cool and thoroughly enjoyed the process of it. This internship was a great opportunity for myself to see if environmental science was something that I had wanted to pursue.
The health department at Cumberland County has several different programs and different services they offer. At one sector of the health department they conduct multiple different clinics for covid, flu and even immunization. Especially for the beginning of the school year, kids need to get their vaccines all in order. During my time at the Cumberland Health Department I had conversations with some of the people from the nursing division. I was curious as to what their day-to-day operations were like and they had discussed with me some of the different roles that they all have such as healthcare as well.
My internship was incredibly diverse. I didn’t just get to see the environmental part of the department, I got to see the many different facets that go along with it. I didn’t think I would ever get to have an experience like this, but I’m forever grateful to be able to absorb so much knowledge and experience.
How has this internship affected your perspective on environmental science?
During my internship I had mainly dealt with the testing of bathing beaches but some of my other responsibilities consisted of investigating private walls. For example, let’s say hypothetically that somebody has a well on their property, our department would then go to that house and offer testing just to make sure that the private well under question is safe. With groundwater there’s always the chance of it being contaminated, whether that be through natural causes and leaks or even in some cases where someone maliciously pours something down it.
There are many different areas that the health department has thought of in order to reduce the chances of people getting sick from infected water. They’re very intricate in the way that they implement their plan and have thought of many different scenarios. For example, if someone were to pour something down a storm drain there is a chance for it to seep into the water that comes from the well.
As I mentioned before, testing fell under my responsibilities as well. I would travel to people’s houses and knock on their doors. I told them about our sampling program, and I offered them testing to investigate their private wells. I also got to be a part of the healthcare side of the department as well.
During my time with the health department I got to shadow some clinics for immunization for kids. I was caught thinking about both sides of the Cumberland County Health Department that I was involved with. I had thought that both sides had their pros and cons, but after a while I decided that healthcare was a better option. For the healthcare side of things, I had considered it to be very rewarding in its own way. They would directly help people. At these clinics you don’t need insurance, and they make it very affordable, but even if you do have insurance they also take it.
In my opinion just being able to help the public and uninsured patients is just really rewarding. During my time with them I had kept on thinking about how cool it was as a career and continued to feel more passionate about it.
What were the one-on-one conversations like when you were knocking on people’s doors and talking with them? What was that type of interaction like for you?
It was hard at first, I’m not going to lie. I remember the time when my supervisor had made me aware of the difficulty of the job. My boss had made it known to me that it was a hard job, but then also reassured me by telling me of how to make it easier. It takes practice, and practice is good for me especially by using my public speaking skills. It was hard because the residents weren’t expecting me to be there. I had to just knock on the door and let the resident know “Hey, I’m from the health department. We are investigating private wells in your area with our heavy sampling program. Would you be interested in checking on your property?” I tried to try to answer as many questions as I could but what I found out was that the more that I had gone up and knocked on the door to local residents, the better I was at communicating with them.
You find the system that works the best for you and create a format. For example, if a resident were to respond in a certain way to a particular question then I would already be thinking of a response that had worked before for someone that behaved in the same way.
Of course, people have different questions. As I went out to different houses there would be instances where somebody would ask me a question and I wouldn’t have the answer. It was those moments where I really felt myself grow and gain experience. I would often reflect on it and think “Ok, I’m gonna better prepare myself for the future in case somebody asks me the same question.” It was an ongoing learning process but right now, I feel really comfortable doing that right now. At first, it was just hard. Going out to people’s houses can be a very daunting task; going up to strangers and getting them to buy into what you’re doing and agree to be a part of your project.
But the work I’ve done I think is extremely important. Working and dealing with the public is great practice, especially if you’re thinking of going into healthcare like I am.
What was your main role with the internship?
As I mentioned earlier, we have six different lakes we monitor in the county. A normal day would be me coming into the office clocking and turning on my computer and checking my emails. Every Tuesday I go out into the field and I sample the lakes. We have county vehicles and I had my own to get to the different sites. Of course, It’s strictly for work purposes only. So I used that vehicle to go to the lakes to grab the samples. It’s very easy to get caught up with everything going on at the lake, I had always found it really cool afterwards to examine the small sample bottle. But there is a lot of groundwork that needs to be done afterwards. For example, I had to make sure to write down the time and location of where it was from and if there were any peculiarities with the scene.
Even with all that it really made my summer a lot more scenic, driving around and visiting all of these different lakes. One of the lakes that I visited was actually in my hometown so I was really familiar with it. But there were also plenty of times where if the Health Department hadn’t told me there was a lake in this specific area that I never would have known it existed. I was also in charge of monitoring and opening up the different lakes and beaches in the area. During Memorial Day Weekend, I tested and opened up the local lake. The lake went from being really empty to being filled with vibrant people within a week. It gave me a sense of pride in the fact that I did all of that.
So that was one of my one of my assignments. The other one was the private well test as I mentioned earlier. Whenever somebody buys a home there’s a real estate transaction. If the property has a private well, we require a mandatory testing just to make sure the private well is pristine and won’t cause complications for the new tenants. Everything is really thorough and keeps it all in check. Even in the case that somebody installs or repairs a well, we also require testing for that. In that process if we determine that a property fails or fails to meet standards, we would then go to nearby properties of the contaminated area to make them aware. Just as we do for knocking on people’s doors to see if they got their water tested, we do the same exact thing. We let nearby residents know that there is a contaminated property nearby that exceeds the maximum contamination level. We then follow up and inquire if they would like a water test completed and also let them know that it’s covered by our free water sampling program.
At the health department, we do a lot of work. We go to food places where we perform food inspections like for County Fair vendors. These vendors come in and sell their food and then we have to go there and perform a food inspection. Another popular place where we have to go is the local Little League because of their snack bar. We also perform inspections at tattoo shops. Tattoo shops need to be inspected by the health department just to make sure they’re using all the right materials and everything’s sanitary and then we can also oversee that process and make sure everything is in regulation. In one of my checks I was with one of my coworkers and when we were in this large development. The property was vast so the homeowners had hired landscapers to come in and do their yard work. With the health department we also have to check small businesses like this to make sure that the type of pesticides and chemicals that they are using is within regulation. We also have to check to make sure that these landscapers also have licenses to spray the pesticides just because of how dangerous it would be if anybody could spray a chemical into someone’s ground.
It’s public health so you deal a lot with the public. Like I previously stated, it’s great practice for developing speech and personable skills; there are plenty of instances where you might approach someone to routinely check their licenses or general wellness of the business and they will not expect to see you. You’ve just got to try your best. Try to explain everything from start to finish, because these people see you coming out of nowhere, and they’re like, “What the heck is going on? Who are you?” I did that a couple of times. For the majority the people are really nice and they give us all the information.
All of the intel that we obtained through our research is confidential, we don’t release it. It’s just for our records. A lot of these businesses and people have never had someone walk directly up to to them and ask them for these type of documents so it’s all about being personable and understanding in the situation.
What was the most important thing that has stuck with you so far in regards to your summer internship?
Definitely the programs they have at the health department. So they have the environmental division, nursing division, health education and the special child health education program. The special child health education program deals with helping kids with disabilities. I think that was pretty progressive and something that I’m glad is incorporated into the department.
Overall, the main goal of the department is just to promote health around the community around Cumberland County, and I just think that’s awesome because I think it’s community service. In a way, you’re helping the people around your community. You have divisions that deal with the beaches and even go as far as special child health education. And it’s anything in between that. You have aspects like clinics and inspections that are all focused on helping the community. You really do feel like you’re trying to keep everybody safe. And I think that’s the overall take-home message of my internship.
How has your experience with your internship set you up for the future?
I think that it definitely has put me in a great position. I’ve talked to different trainers and workers within the health department that have given me some much needed guidance that I wouldn’t get anywhere else. It’s not often where you find an internship that actively sets you out into the field and deliver samples to labs. My internship has also got me prepared if I ever somehow get into an office job. I’ve never worked in an office before, but it was worth the experience.
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Story by:
Lucas Taylor, Rowan Global student in Graduate English Education program
Photos by
Ashley Craven, junior sports and communication major