The Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, through its teaching, research, and service initiatives, generates knowledge about the social and behavioral determinants of health and applies that knowledge to the design, delivery and evaluation of disease prevention and health promotion programs.
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Shannon Hanby is an MPH degree candidate with a concentration in Health Promotion and Behavior from Lilburn, GA. She is completing her degree program in May 2012.
Where was your internship/residency?
My internship was with AIDS Athens.
What was your internship/residency project?
I had two large projects while I was at AIDS Athens. The first was putting together the Athens AIDS Walk to benefit AIDS Athens. This event had occurred in the past, but it had not happened over the past couple of years due to weather and lack of leadership. Mumbi Okundaye, the MPH/DrPH Program Coordinator, had spoken to Tiffany Howard and myself about getting the walk back on track. Throughout the fall semester, and then throughout my internship in the spring, I put together different fundraisers for the walk including the first annual College of Public Health Faculty and Staff and Family Appreciation Dinner and Silent Auction and Clips for a Cause. I also was in charge of getting the permit for the event, getting donations for food and water, contacting the police for assistance, and contacting the Red Cross for first aid. I created a website which allowed people to create teams and webpages to ask for donations. The walk was held on April 7, 2012. We raised over $12,000 and had about 200 participants. It was one of the biggest projects I have ever done, and it was amazing to see it all come together.
The other project I did was a process evaluation of the permanent housing program at AIDS Athens based on the idea of housing as healthcare. Housing as healthcare suggests that by providing housing to those who are homeless and HIV-positive, it will improve their health status as well as being more economically friendly. In the fall, I took Dr. Davis’ evaluation class and created an evaluation proposal. I then conducted the evaluation on-site. I created a survey that was distributed to 25 participants and then conducted interviews with 11 participants. Through my evaluation, I found out that AIDS Athens provides the necessary services to help clients stay stably housed and improve their health status.
What internship/residency achievement or projects are you most proud of?
I am most proud of the Athens AIDS Walk because we were able to raise so much money and have so many people come out and walk. Not only were we able to give AIDS Athens over $12,000 to put towards education/prevention efforts, we were able to raise awareness throughout the community.
In terms of learning about health, what was your favorite part of your internship?
My favorite part of my internship was the interaction I got to have with the clients. I was able to learn about their lives and the struggles they have overcome and are overcoming. During the interviews everyone emphasized how grateful they were for all of the staff at AIDS Athens. It made everything that I had been working on worth all of the time and effort that I had put into it.
