Field Placement: The City of Los Angeles Emergency Preparedness Department
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Preceptor: Anna Burton
Student Name: Grace Park
Year: 2002

I had the opportunity to intern for the City of Los Angeles Emergency Preparedness Department under the supervision of Ms. Anna Burton. My interest area in Community Health Science was is in Disaster Preparedness. I had taken courses with Professor Shoaf and thus she was able to set me up with this internship.

I learned the basics of disaster management by taking an on-line course with FEMA. I also got the chance to see how a city government works by attending many board meetings, including budget meetings which allowed me to see the budget process for municipal government.

My main project during the internship was to prepare bioterrorism brochures. The department had numerous brochures on other disastrous events but not enough materials on bioterrorism. I produced three pamphlets on botulism, plague and tularemia that included questions and answers that the public would have about the agents.

My second project involved assessing the City of Los Angeles EPD's emergency plans in order to determine whether the city is ready to respond optimally in case of any type of disaster.

This internship has been a very good learning experience, for I had the opportunity to learn how a municipal government operates, and at the same time doing projects that involved my interests of bioterrorism and disaster preparedness.

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