Hi! My name is Kayla Richwine, and I am a Sodexo intern with the Allentown campus. I decided to select the diabetes concentration and during my internship have had various opportunities to share my knowledge of diabetes with others. I was fortunate enough to be placed with Pinnacle Health in the Harrisburg, PA area where they have many outpatient and community-based diabetes opportunities. One event that I participated in was the Diabetes Mall Walk held at the Harrisburg Mall. This event brought a multidisciplinary group from Pinnacle Health to the mall to offer resources and information to those in the community with and without diabetes. On the morning of the event, health professionals and community members gathered to walk a few laps inside the mall to promote awareness of diabetes. Afterwards, everyone was encouraged to attend the health fair going on inside the mall. This health fair offered free health screenings, including blood glucose checks. I was in charge of the nutrition table where I had many handouts on managing diabetes and prediabetes. I also set up a display on the sugar content of many popular beverages. This included bottles of juice, Gatorade, and energy drinks, as well as various specialty coffees. Each beverage container was filled with the amount of sugar found in that particular drink. This was a very eye-opening display that I got a lot of comments on as people were very surprised by how much sugar is in the beverages they habitually consume.
I set up this same display at another diabetes health fair in Enola, PA. During this event I also sat on a question and answer panel with an endocrinologist, a podiatrist, and a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) nurse. It was very nerve-wracking for me to sit on a panel with these experienced health professionals, but I found that I was able to answer the questions that were asked of me. This was a great experience in public speaking for me and helped prepare me for future community experiences. While I have had many experiences so far in my internship related to diabetes, the ones that have meant the most to me are the ones where I was able to personally share my knowledge of diabetes with others. I am very grateful to my internship preceptors for teaching me everything I know about diabetes and its management and hope to use this knowledge to someday gain my CDE credential.
I set up this same display at another diabetes health fair in Enola, PA. During this event I also sat on a question and answer panel with an endocrinologist, a podiatrist, and a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) nurse. It was very nerve-wracking for me to sit on a panel with these experienced health professionals, but I found that I was able to answer the questions that were asked of me. This was a great experience in public speaking for me and helped prepare me for future community experiences. While I have had many experiences so far in my internship related to diabetes, the ones that have meant the most to me are the ones where I was able to personally share my knowledge of diabetes with others. I am very grateful to my internship preceptors for teaching me everything I know about diabetes and its management and hope to use this knowledge to someday gain my CDE credential.
