Maris Behan
Responsibilities
As the corporate wellness intern for UnityPoint Health – Des Moines, I was responsible for assisting with various health screenings throughout the community. I would go off site with the team and perform health screenings on various employees. The screenings consisted of biometric tests which included assessments of blood pressure, body composition, blood profiles, waist circumference then ended with individual consultations. When working in the office, I was either working on some type of wellness project (ex. bulletin board or wellness toolkit) or was taking temperatures at the entry doors of the hospital, to ensure that everyone entering the hospital was had a temperature below 100°F to help limit the exposure to COVID-19.
Accomplishments
My greatest accomplishment during my internship with UPHDM was being able to lead a complete health screening on my own. Because of COVID-19, I was only working in person for a short amount of time, which meant I was only able to go to a few health screenings. By the time we made it to our last health screening, I was proud of myself for being able to confidently take an individual through the whole health screening without questioning myself!
Learning experience
The greatest lesson I learned from my internship the importance of being flexible and a good communicator. Because of COVID-19, the internship did not exactly go as planned, which is why we had to learn to just be able to go with the flow and since the schedules were constantly changing we had to make sure we were communicating with our supervisor as best as we could, in order to make sure we were getting everything done.
What advice would you give?
The biggest advice I have for future students is to go into everything with an open mind and be as flexible as possible. I would recommend applying for multiple internships that vary slightly in terms of responsibilities because although one may not your ideal internship or your first choice, it may turn out to be a great opportunity!