This past summer, Lupita Ambriz, an MCAH student in the 2-Year MPH program at Berkeley Public Health, had the chance to work with a community that was very close to home. Read more about her summer practicum below and learn how she plans to further explore the takeaways in her current capstone project.
Lupita Ambriz
Summer Practicum Site: Monterey County Health Department
Student Position: MCAH Community Coordinator and Data Analyst
What did your summer practicum focus on?
Being that I was the first non-nursing intern hosted by the Monterey County MCAH department, I had a wide range of responsibilities. The main focuses of my internship included updating recent birth records and assisting in building up the new county MCAH Advisory Board. My responsibilities were evenly split as a Community Coordinator and Data Analyst throughout my practicum. As a Community Coordinator, I focused on connecting with various different organizations within the county to learn about their goals for the advisory board to improve future meetings. As a Data Analyst, I used recent vital records to create a data report, looking at the variability of demographics of birthing people throughout the county. I especially enjoyed working on this project, because I got to breakdown the large county by zip codes, which was very telling of areas that are disproportionately affected by systemic inequities.
Why was this summer practicum meaningful for you? What was it like to do work directly tied to your hometown of Salinas?
My summer practicum was especially meaningful to me, because I got to work with a population that I am highly familiar with, as I was born and raised in King City (South Monterey County). Working in Salinas felt nostalgic, because although a lot has changed since I last lived there, I simultaneously felt like a lot hadn't and there is still a lot of room for improvement. This feeling reminded me of why I chose to pursue a career in public health, because there are certain health disparities that are specific to the community of farmworkers in the area. As someone who is a product of public assistance and low-income programs, it was extremely rewarding to be on the other side of the situation and getting the services to the people that need them most, like my family did when I was growing up.
What was the most valuable aspect of your summer practicum?
The most valuable part of my practicum was getting to attend home visits with the public health nurses who provide services and support to first-time parents. It was a very valuable experience to get to join nurses on their home visits, as I not only got to see how the nurses build relationships with their clients, but I also got to learn more about the living conditions many people face. I really value this experience, as I do not think any other practicum could have offered this to me.
How was lifecourse and social determinants of health addressed/incorporated in the work during your summer practicum?
I saw the life course theory and the social determinants of health (SDOH) framework in majority of my work. The MCAH team I was a part of had endless numbers of conversations regarding creative ways to improve resource allocation for county residents, in efforts to improve SDOH. I learned how valuable it was to collaborate with organizations outside the county to achieve this goal. An example of this was when we connected first-time teen parents who were at risk of not completing high school, to Teen Success. This organization specializes in assisting and mentoring teen parents to earn their GED, as a way to promote protective factors. Literature supports that higher education leads to better health outcomes, which is why encouraging individuals to earn their GED is critical for young parents.
How do you plan to bring what you learned during the summer into your final year of the MCAH MPH program?
I am bringing in a lot of what I learned during this practicum into my capstone question, as I am exploring how Mexican Cultural Values affect adolescent mental health, whether that be positively or negatively. The CHAMACOS dataset I am using for this analysis was collected from members of Salinas Valley. I am not only bringing my personal bias into this, but also what I learned during my summer practicum. Takeaways from my summer practicum are that there is a very high demand for mental health services in the county, and I am hoping that my capstone paper can shed light on creative ways we can support adolescents in this area.