Name: Evelyn Fort
Class Year: 2023
Major: Sociology
Hometown: Atlanta, Ga.
Internship Organization: TurningPoint Breast Cancer Rehabilitation
Job Title: Summer Intern
Location: Atlanta, Ga.
Award: Otto and Gertrude Pollak Fund
What’s happening at your internship?
For the past few weeks, one of my main tasks has been entering data about the patients from TurningPoint into a web system, specifically the type of appointments and treatments they have received here. TurningPoint offers everything from physical therapy to counseling for breast cancer patients and survivors. In the next few weeks, I will help do more of a qualitative analysis on this patient data to determine patient demographics and more. I have also been learning more about the rehabilitation process generally and will be meeting with a social worker here next week to learn more about the counseling aspect of rehab. Another thing I did recently was going through HIPPPA training to learn about patient confidentiality and the ethics of healthcare which was interesting and essential to working in a clinic like this.
Why did you apply for this internship?
I applied for this internship because I am interested in healthcare work from the social work/counseling side, especially for healthcare issues that primarily affect women. I knew TurningPoint’s mission and work environment aligned with my interests, and I’m glad I could help here this summer.
What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect?
Something I have learned at my internship that I didn’t expect or know before is how highly specialized and specific breast cancer rehabilitation is. The physical therapists, counselors, and other staff members here help create individualized plans for patients, and even things such as certain exercises or diets can help pain, help patients recover more efficiently, or even prevent other health issues down the road. I was unfamiliar with the breast cancer rehab process and have learned a lot about why it is so essential for patients to follow through with extensive care after their surgeries, and how the importance of this care is often overlooked. Even if I don’t continue working in the realm of breast cancer treatment, I will be walking away with a new, more holistic understanding of this rehab process.
Was this internship what you expected it to be?
Going into this internship, I hoped to learn more about the social work/ counseling/education side of healthcare, in this context breast cancer rehabilitation and recovery. While I have gotten a sense of this work and will continue to do so over the next several weeks, I feel like I have mostly gathered a better understanding of the “big picture” of the rehab process which is definitely beneficial for me. As an intern without a lot of experience in a setting like this, there are understandable limitations on my interactions with patients, but I still have been able to get a sense of what a non-profit healthcare clinic looks like and how it runs, this has been a good jumping off place for future work.
Visit the Summer Internship Stories page to read more about student internship experiences.