Beginning my practicum placement at the Halton Region with the Public Health Surveillance and Evaluation team was very exciting! The first day consisted of an orientation with all of the summer students from each department to review certain policies and get to know each other. We also went on a tour of the facilities and even visited the Halton Region waste management site and the paramedics station. The building is a bit of a maze, but the tour was really helpful in locating important places within the building like the Health Department and cafeteria. We could meet with our supervisors over the lunch period and I was able to meet a lot of the team members that I will be working with over the summer. They are all so friendly and many are University of Guelph graduates! Since a lot of them have a Masters of Public Health (MPH), they had a real understanding of what I’ve learned so far throughout the MPH program and where my interests might lie. Overall, my first day with Halton Region was very welcoming and I was very excited to start work!
The remainder of the week was a blur of activity! My supervisors gave me a more in depth tour of the Health Department and I met the whole Public Health Surveillance and Evaluation team, which consisted of 10 people who work in three different areas: Epidemiology, Program Evaluation, and Social Determinants of Health/Health Equity. Since it was the first week, I was able to help out with some ongoing projects, while familiarizing myself with the computer system and the structure of the Health Department. I really enjoyed the opportunity to help out with various tasks at the beginning of the placement because it gave me a chance to work alongside many of the team members and get to know them better. The entire team was so welcoming and they were all very willing to help when I had questions or needed support.
Throughout the week the team was extremely helpful in showing me important resources to help navigate the system and understand important ongoing projects. They also showed me more general public health resources like the Ontario Health Promotion e-Bulletin and the Association of Public Health Epidemiologists in Ontario website. Everyone seems very invested in helping me learn and explore my areas of interest. I’ve really loved my experience with Halton Region thus far and look forward to the remainder of the practicum!