Field Placement: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH)
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Preceptor: Melody Kawamoto MD, MS
Student Name: Berenis Quinones
Year: 2004

This summer I was given the opportunity to intern for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH). While at NIOSH, I worked on the Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance Branch (HETAB) Hispanic Outreach Project under the supervision of Melody Kawamoto MD, MS, Physician Epidemiologist of the Medical Section of the HETAB under the Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluation and Field Studies (DSHEFS) division. I was based in the Cincinnati, Ohio office, one of the few NIOSH offices throughout the country.

The goal of the project was to improve occupational safety and health (OSH) of Spanish speaking workers by increasing awareness about OSH in general and promoting the CDC/NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation (HHE) program as a provider of OSH services. Through this program, NIOSH conducts worksite evaluations, identifies current hazards and recommends practical, scientifically valid solutions for reducing exposures and preventing disease, injury, and disability.

The primary target audience consisted of Hispanic workers. Employers, unions and Hispanic communities comprised the secondary target audience. It is a project that began in response to the growing number of Hispanic work related injury and fatality rates. This ongoing project started in 2002 and activities consisted of identification of community contacts, needs assessments, program development. In 2003 activities included identification and involvement of potential interagency partners. This summer’s activities included the development of an English and Spanish version poster of the Health Hazard Evaluations (HHE) program, a simplified and Spanish translated summary of an HHE report, a canned OSH lesson plan for a presentation, and English-as-a-second-language (ESL) module on OSH. The poster is expected to be used at conferences and will also be distributed to community or employer organizations. The HHE summary reports are expected to be distributed to organizations and programs that have worker or employer audiences. Places for distribution of the OSH lesson plan include local community organizations and employer organizations. The ESL module is expected to be distributed to the Great Oaks Adult Education Center (Princeton). All of these projects are expected to be posted on the NIOSH website.

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