Hi everyone! My name is John Shusko, and I am a Master of Public Health candidate on a Global Health track at the Gillings School of Global Public Health. I wrote a blog post at the beginning of my practicum, and now I wanted to discuss the closeout of my practicum and how the experience has benefitted my overall MPH.
I am completing my practicum at the UNC Office of Emergency Management and Planning (OEMP). I have had two main projects and a few smaller projects during my internship. My main project this summer has been to research frameworks for an end-of-year emergency management report that UNC-Chapel Hill can adopt in the future. I recently presented these findings via an oral presentation to the entire office, as well as representatives from Orange County Office of Emergency Management, and a few UNC officials.
My other main project has been looking at other partner institutions’ experiences with conducting a hazard assessment. I reached out to these schools via a Qualtrics survey I created and produced a report with my findings.
My two deliverables that I will present to the MPH Practicum team at Gillings will be the presentation from my first main project and the report/survey for my second main project.
Over the past 10 weeks, I have had the opportunity to shadow experienced emergency managers and other professionals in the field to understand how emergency management works at the University level. (The short answer: lots of teamwork, collaboration across departments, and ample training and planning during “blue sky” days). I have visited facilities both on and off campus that are essential to effective emergency management at our university and got to meet the essential personnel that staff these facilities. I was fortunate to tour the State of North Carolina’s Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh, and chatted with emergency managers for Orange County, among many people I met.
These relationships will continue well beyond my summer internship, and having this internship has introduced me to the field of emergency management that goes beyond the classroom. I am immensely grateful for the opportunity I have had and the people I have met and look forward to returning to my last year at Gillings in the fall!
– John Shusko