Public Health major Emma Feeley gets real-world training on keeping communities safe

Dell\u27Agnese, Courtney

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Preparing for Any Emergency: A Student’s Internship at the Providence Emergency Management Agency

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Roger Williams UniversityDOCS@RWUFeatured News Story The Week at Roger11-13-2018Preparing for Any Emergency: A Student’sInternship at the Providence EmergencyManagement AgencyCourtney Dell'AgneseRoger Williams UniversityFollow this and additional works at: https://docs.rwu.edu/weekatroger_featured_newsPart of the Higher Education CommonsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the The Week at Roger at DOCS@RWU. It has been accepted for inclusion in FeaturedNews Story by an authorized administrator of DOCS@RWU. For more information, please contact mwu@rwu.edu.Recommended CitationDell'Agnese, Courtney, "Preparing for Any Emergency: A Student’s Internship at the Providence Emergency Management Agency"(2018). Featured News Story. 321.https://docs.rwu.edu/weekatroger_featured_news/32111/14/2018 Preparing for Any Emergency: A Student’s Internship at the Providence Emergency Management Agency | Roger Williams Universityhttps://www.rwu.edu/newsnews-archive/preparing-any-emergency-students-internship-providence-emergency-management-agency 1/3 HomePreparing for Any Emergency: A Student’s Internship at theProvidence Emergency Management AgencyPublic Health major Emma Feeley gets real-world training on keeping communities safeNovember 13, 2018 By Courtney Dell'Agnese '19PROVIDENCE, R.I.  – No two days at Providence Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) headquarters on CharlesStreet are ever alike, according to senior public health major Emma Feeley.At times Feeley sits at her desk plugging away at preparedness plans, or she’s in the Emergency Operations Centerupdating resources for city personnel to prepare them for when an emergency strikes. Another day  nds herchecking tire pressures on PEMA vehicles and making sure all garage equipment is working properly for when anemergency presses them into service. Some days she’s attending meetings of the Local Emergency PlanningCommittee or assisting in training courses – like one called, “Until Help Arrives” – for both  rst responders andcommunity members.“I’ll go into work one day to get something done, but that’s just not the way life works so you have to be really exible,” Feeley said. “I’m never sitting in one place for too long and it’s always a little something di erent, which isfun.”As part of her public health capstone project, Feeley is interning with PEMA, working with emergency service andcommunity personnel to mitigate against, prepare for, respond to and recover from natural and man-made disasters.While this line of work is critical to the health of communities, it may not be the  rst job to come to mind when peoplepicture public health careers.Prepared for Anything11/14/2018 Preparing for Any Emergency: A Student’s Internship at the Providence Emergency Management Agency | Roger Williams Universityhttps://www.rwu.edu/newsnews-archive/preparing-any-emergency-students-internship-providence-emergency-management-agency 2/3When we think of “public health,” images of doctors and nurses, or perhaps disease outbreaks,  ood our brains. Butthat only brushes the surface of a complex, integrated  eld that promotes health and safety for the general public.According to Professor Marybeth MacPhee, public health’s larger purpose is to keep entire populations healthythrough a multitude of channels including health education, social and behavioral determinants, administration,management and more.“Public health is important because it works to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to live a healthy life,”MacPhee said. “It identi es the forces that threaten human health and works to protect whole populations from thosethreats.”Careers in public health can vary, and at Roger Williams University students like Feeley have the opportunity tochoose from three distinct paths within two majors in public health – a Bachelor of Science in Public Health, or thePublic Health Bachelor of Arts in either Health Policy and Administration or Community and Health Equity.With public health becoming a rapidly growing profession, RWU has created a comprehensive, interdisciplinarypublic health major. Students in the rigorous undergraduate major take graduate-level courses that teach them skillsand knowledge that prepare them for internships, graduate school or to step right into entry-level positions.“It’s a great major for students interested in health but don’t want to be clinical practitioners,” MacPhee said. “Youcan do a lot related to health working with communities, coming more from the policy or community relations side.”Feeley, who selected the Public Health Bachelor of Arts in Health Policy and Administration program,  nds the policyside of the major most interesting. Getting to work behind the scenes to prepare the public is her favorite part of herPEMA internship.“We’re constantly training people, getting them up to speed and informing the public on what they can do to betterprepare for any incident or disaster,” Feeley said. “People think you only see FEMA during a recovery. But themitigation part and the preparedness part is what gets you there and what gets less fatalities, what gets resourcesgoing and gets boots on the ground sooner.”While she’s getting real-world training with PEMA this semester, Feeley has already been active within the localcommunity, both on and o  campus.Through her public health classes, Feely got involved in the Food Recovery Network at RWU and has grown into theclub’s Co-President for her senior year. In partnership with Bon Appétit, Food Recovery Network takes daily le oversfrom RWU’s dining halls and brings it to shelters in the surrounding Bristol community.“It’s good, healthy food that we’re bringing to these shelters and what we bring Monday night, goes in a kid’slunchbox on Tuesday,” Feeley said. “Knowing that kids are not only getting a lunch, but are getting food that’scoming from us that otherwise would have been thrown away is so rewarding.”It’s a simple concept but Feeley says she loves being able to go into the community and provide people in need withnutritious meals. And the club’s data tracking has an even larger scope. It helps Bon Appétit waste less money andfood while also eliminating carbon-dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.This year she became a Hassenfeld Student Leadership Fellow, acting as community partner liaison for FeinsteinCommunity Connections Day and training site leaders and RWU members to contribute a day of service among 33local community organizations. While it’s one day of service, Feeley says, the impact remains within the communityfor a much longer time.Sitting at her desk at PEMA headquarters, armed with a binder full of resources and notes spelled out in a multitude ofacronyms, Feeley is con dent that her time with the agency and her public health studies will prepare her not only foremergency incidents, but also to take care of the community in any way that is needed.11/14/2018 Preparing for Any Emergency: A Student’s Internship at the Providence Emergency Management Agency | Roger Williams Universityhttps://www.rwu.edu/newsnews-archive/preparing-any-emergency-students-internship-providence-emergency-management-agency 3/3“It’s important to recognize why things are going on and how it’s a ecting people,” Feeley said. “And that’s whatpublic health people do. We work with the community and  nd the best way to communicate what they need toknow.”ACADEMICS CIVIC SCHOLARS FEINSTEIN SCHOOL OF SOCIAL AND NATURAL SCIENCES

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Preparing for Any Emergency: A Student’s Internship at the Providence Emergency Management Agency

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