Summer Internship: Veteran's Health Administration

By: Jess Shreeves

I began my administrative internship at the Veteran's Health Administration (VHA) in late May of 2020 and since then I have worked from home or from within the walls of the VHA facilities, located here in Iowa City, Iowa. In terms of how I became connected to my preceptor for the internship, Dr. Broderick, Director of Palliative Care and Hospice Services at the VHA, agreed to become my sponsor after our shared Iyengar Yoga instructor continued to persuade me to reach out to her (my instructor knew that Dr. Broderick and I shared similar perspectives related to global health studies). Dr. Broderick and I do share some perspectives which we have individually gained in global health environments. In fact, Dr. Broderick usually leads a group of fellows to Southern India, for the month of December, to gain perspectives on effective community-led health care.

On a different note, I do work with very sensitive data and a very unique, vulnerable health population; I think anyone would agree to that. Although I have previous experience in palliative care and hospice service funding management I had never had projects related to a population composed only of Veterans. It is a humbling experience to have been given the privilege to work here; I feel a sense of duty that is heavier than that of any past experience at a health care organization. During my onboarding process at the VHA I found that the VA has four missions. The fourth mission of the VA is "to improve the Nation's preparedness for response to war, terrorism, national emergencies, nature disasters by developing plans and taking actions to ensure continued service to veterans, as well as to support national, state, and local emergency management, public health, safety, and homeless security efforts" (www.va.gov).

"The price of freedom is visible here." -The United States Department of Veterans Affairs