Hadassah Hoover – Medical Internship

My name is Hadassah Hoover. I have been privileged to intern at Tel Hai Retirement in Honeybrook, PA. At Tel Hai, I am exploring a career in nursing. During my Internship, I am exploring five different areas of medical care in Tel Hai, so I get to experience many various aspects and perspectives in residential care.  Those five levels of care are Hospitality Aids, Nursing Assistants (NA), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN), Registered Nurses (RN), and Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). It has been a great experience to see the different jobs of each level and how they all work together.

I have been observing in Tel Hai’s skilled care facility. This facility is for residents who cannot care for themselves at all and must have assistance in everything. The tasks of each nurse depend on their training and experience. I have been able to shadow Hospitality Aids and NAs, and I look forward to working with more advanced nurses as the semester goes on. I am unable to help or complete tasks because of HIPAA. HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, and it is a United States legislation that provides data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding medical information. With this legislation, as an intern without training, I can only observe. Either way, I am thankful for the experiences and the tasks I get to learn about just from watching. My time with hospitality aids was a good intro to the field. Some tasks included filling water bottles, changing sheets, making snacks, and cleaning rooms. Currently, I am observing the NAs. Their job is to transport residents. Transporting includes pushing them in their wheelchairs, but it also includes moving them from their chair to their bed. Another job the NAs have is to dress, shower, toilet, and change soiled underclothing. The NAs take care of the very personal care of residents. It takes a lot of patience and body strength to care for handicap residents. I admire them for their care and willingness to work even with grumpy or mentally unstable residents.

This internship has been a wonderful experience for me where I learned a lot about patient care. Besides learning about vocabulary, routines, and tools, I’ve also have been meeting and getting to know the residents. Many of them are kind and enjoy talking to young people. I feel blessed to talk with them, hear their stories, and learn from them. The personal care does not seem as awkward and difficult now that I know the residents and they know me. It has been very special to know some of them.

This internship at Tel Hai skilled care has given me experience and insight into the medical field. I am so blessed to have this internship and learn from it. It has confirmed my desire to be a nurse and go to school for my Bachelor’s in Nursing. There are so many fields and careers in nursing for me to explore aside from geriatrics and I look forward to finding the one that is right for me. I am very thankful for this internship Tel Hai has blessed me with. Because of this experience, I am confident in my future career in nursing.