Katelyn Fiedler

Major: Kinesiology and health
Company/Organization: UnityPoint Health - Des Moines
Company/Organization website: http://www.unitypoint.org
Destination: Des Moines, Iowa
Timeframe: Summer 2020
Advisor/Coordinator Email: lipsey@iastate.edu

Responsibilities

This internship allows you to work closely with the wellness services staff at UnityPoint as well as the other interns. You get the opportunity to create a wellness bulletin board on a topic of your choice that is posted in the department as well as make an At-Home Wellness Toolkit for the employees to use. Due to COVID-19 and the new hospital protocols, we got to use hand and thermal camera technology to take workers, visitors, and patient temperatures at entrances. Another opportunity you get with this experience is with health screenings in which you get to assist with body composition measurements such as waist circumference, blood pressure, and scale measurements.

Accomplishments

I felt like this experience allowed me to become much more confident in my ability to apply coursework from ISU to the real world of employee wellness. Being able to successfully help out with employee wellness screenings with no assistance was such an accomplishment for me!

Learning experience

The biggest lesson I learned from this experience is that employee wellness is much broader than you think. There are so many opportunities and things you get to do that are expected and some unexpected. Another valuable thing I learned is that there will be things you love and things you dislike to do, but that's just part of the job. It's okay to not love everything you do but still put in your best effort.

What advice would you give?

My advice for future students is don't be afraid to take an internship that requires responsibilities that you haven't had yet. You learn so much more by trying something you haven't done than by repeating things you have. The people at your internship know you are there to learn and are so helpful in making sure you grow professionally in the field. Another piece of advice is to always remember that you won't love everything you do, and that's perfectly okay. Be optimistic to at least trying it and there is nothing wrong if you don't love it!

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