Field Placement: Hawaii Department of Health -- Planned Parenthood of Hawaii (PPH)
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Preceptor: Ursula Penrose NP, Director of Patient Services
Student Name: Wendy Todd
Year: 2002

I was interested in working on women's health issues among indigenous communities for my fieldwork experience. I explored a few stipend positions Title X offered on Indian reservations and in Hawaii. I decided to apply for a Community Outreach/Health Educator position posted by the Hawaii Department of Health in the Title X Intern Program binder. To my surprise, a "real" position did not correspond to the Title X description. Instead, the Department of Health administrator placed me at an agency he thought would meet my interests, Planned Parenthood of Hawaii (PPH). When I finally spoke to my preceptor, Ursula Penrose NP, Director of Patient Services, it was clear the lack of a structured project may work to my advantage because I would be given the freedom to work on any project I felt suitable.

When I arrived to the PPH clinic in Honolulu, I met with Ursula and the newly hired Director of Education and Training, Jamie Leonard. We discussed the needs of the agency and how I may be able to help. The two pieces of my project, Increasing Cultural Awareness at Planned Parenthood of Hawaii: (1) a data analysis of patient demographics and service utilization based on a three month medical chart review and (2) networking with other family planning providers, educators and youth advocates to assist Jamie in the development of a culturally competent sex education curriculum. These loosely related pieces required me to draw on a variety of skills. I spent part of my time coding, entering data and analyzing statistics and another part of my time communicating with community leaders and health care providers, organizing a community forum and observing current sex education programs in schools. I facilitated two meetings, one for each piece of my project. I presented my data analysis to clinic and administrative staff at Planned Parenthood (and subsequently provided a written report to the staff). I also facilitated a discussion with community leaders regarding the educational needs of youth with regards to sexuality and reproductive health. A summary of this meeting was also distributed to all those interested in this topic.

This summer experience in Hawaii was more personally challenging than professionally challenging. I did not have a mentor at PPH to learn from and continued to use skills I had previously developed at other jobs. Because my daily work life was relatively simple, I found ways to challenge myself socially and athletically. I worked on connecting with strangers, which at times was difficult because I am a haole and wanted to be accepted into local circles. I am grateful for the people I met in Hawaii and am confident this experience increased my personal skills, if not my professional skills.

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