Lorain County Health Department

After finding out that my capstone experience would be taking place at the Lorain County Health Department, I did not know exactly how to react at the time. I had no idea where this was located and I did not really know much about the health department or what exactly it did for the community. It took a very long time to finalize everything with the supervisor here at the health department and receive information about a start date, so I immediately felt like this experience was going to be very unorganized. After starting the experience, I was completely wrong.

Once I learned about all of the different departments within the health department, I have found that the nurse’s role in this setting is much different than what I am accustomed to. I have only been around nurses in the hospital setting so it was very interesting to see how nurses work in different environments. Here at the Lorain Health Department, the nurses actually work in multiple areas. They do work in the office, but they also go out to visit clients at their homes, schools or hold programs at churches or community centers. Nevertheless, as I expected, nurses are still responsible and knowledgeable of the medical perspective of the fieldwork that they are involved with even though they are not in a hospital setting.

Even though I have only been at the health department for a month, I feel that I am already having a great experience. The first exciting experience that I have had was visiting the City of Sheffield Lake. I am from Cleveland and I have never heard of the Sheffield Lake community so I enjoyed doing the windshield survey and community assessment. The next activity was to assist at a blood pressure clinic at a church in Sheffield Lake. The clinic involved elderly people getting their blood pressure checked and they enjoyed lunch afterwards. This was very interesting to see how many people showed up for the clinic and I learned that the Clinic takes place one Friday a month throughout the year. The nurse that I worked with during the clinic was very friendly and I could tell that she has built relationships with these clients over time. I met an amazing resident of Sheffield Lake at this clinic and she made me feel like I was at home. I decided to interview her for my community assessment because I learned that she grew up in Sheffield Lake and she knew a lot of information about the city. I have also experienced a newborn home visit that, was really exciting. The nurse did not do much at this visit with the baby however; she did a lot of teaching with the new mom.

I am really looking forward to the remainder of this capstone semester and I hope that I continue to receive a wonderful public health experience working with the Lorain County Health Department.