{"id":59980,"date":"2020-06-09T14:23:52","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T21:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=59980"},"modified":"2020-06-09T14:23:52","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T21:23:52","slug":"ivonne-garber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/ivonne-garber\/","title":{"rendered":"Public health graduate student using her internship time to help in Flagstaff’s COVID-19 response"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ivonne<\/a>When Ivonne Garber<\/strong> attended Northern Arizona University in 2010 for a bachelor\u2019s in public health, she could not have imagined how her hard work and training would have prepared her to assist in Flagstaff\u2019s COVID-19 response.<\/p>\n

Almost 10 years later and a move to San Diego, Garber came back. Armed with her undergraduate degree, she is working part-time at Flagstaff Medical Center (FMC) while finishing a master\u2019s in public health at NAU\u2019s College of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cNAU is lucky to attract excellent students who embody the spirit of public health and have the courage and self-sacrifice to contribute on a very high level in challenging times,\u201d said Samantha Sabo<\/strong>, associate professor in the Department of Health Sciences and the Center for Health Equity Research. \u201cIvonne is one of our many students who is making a difference at this critical time.”<\/p>\n

At FMC, Garber works in the critical care cluster and the intensive care unit where she performs basic care\u2013\u2013documenting patient intake and output, helping them with hygiene and getting them ready for meals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think my education prepared me well for this period of time,\u201d Garber said. \u201cMy public health education is a unique perspective to bring to health care. I pay close attention to my coworkers when they put on or remove personal protective equipment and ensure safe transport of COVID positive patients throughout the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Garber started at NAU in pre-nursing, she changed to public health when she discovered her love for epidemiology and administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter taking epidemiology, I realized it is such a good perspective to have,\u201d Garber said. \u201cYou process health differently. It is like looking at an elephant and in order to determine what it is, you examine it from all its different sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite COVID-19 dangers, Garber tries to work at FMC as much as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love helping people and am very passionate about my job, so I never thought twice about putting myself at risk,\u201d Garber said. \u201cI try to pick up at least one extra shift per week to help out.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to her work at FMC, an internship through her master\u2019s program allows her to work with the Arizona Advisory Council on Indian Health Care (AACIHC) where she examines the emergency responses of tribes in Arizona to COVID-19. The organization advocates for high-quality health care for American Indians in Arizona. Garber also has the opportunity to work directly with American Indian health policy experts.<\/p>\n

To guard against COVID-19, Garber said people should protect themselves against community transmission, which can be prevented by avoiding crowds and staying at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake the precautions seriously or it spreads quickly,\u201d Garber said. \u201cFor every one person who is COVID positive, if they are in the community, they can spread it to 2.3 people.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she navigates her school and work during this time, Garber finds her master\u2019s program has helped her beyond just academics. It has trained her to be a leader, helped her get through her shyness and taught her to speak with clarity and professionalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy master’s in public health prepared me by helping me develop leadership skills, and it challenged me by practicing my presentations and communication skills,\u201d she said. \u201cI have become much more of a go-getter.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Ivonne Garber attended Northern Arizona University in 2010 for a bachelor\u2019s in public health, she could not have imagined how her hard work and training would have prepared her to assist in Flagstaff\u2019s COVID-19 response. Almost 10 years later and a move to San Diego, Garber came back. Armed with her undergraduate degree, she…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}