Internship Testimonials
Travis Maier
Travis Maier will graduate in December 2005 from Minnesota State University Moorhead with a major in mass communications and an emphasis in public relations. He is also minoring in communications studies and political science. Travis spent the summer of 2004 interning at the MeritCare Public Relations and Communications Department. As an intern, he was involved in a wide variety of different projects, ranging from research –intensive tasks to copy writing, "Many times I was allowed to pick the projects that best fit my interests," Travis said. He was even able to do a little bit of modeling.
"Working at MeritCare allowed me to acquire the real-world knowledge that I was seeking. You can sit in classes all day every day, but internships allow you to fully develop your higher education experience," Travis said about his time spent in the PR Department at MeritCare.
Travis also talks about how wonderful the people were to work with and learn from, "They were very encouraging and always willing to help whenever I had questions." Travis believes his experience at MeritCare will help him in anything he plans to seek out in the future and he would recommend this internship to anyone who was searching for one.
Internship Testimonials
Katie Kava
Katie Kava graduated in 2005 from Minnesota State University Moorhead with a major in mass communications and an emphasis in public relations and integrated advertising. Katie interned with the MeritCare Public Relations and Communications Department during the summer of 2004. She was assigned many projects during her time as an intern.
Katie interned during the summer months when road construction was surrounding the hospital heavily. This was a huge issue to deal with for the PR Department. Weekly meetings were set up to discuss how to inform the public and make it easier for patients to navigate through the mess. Katie says the biggest aspect of public relations that she learned by interning at MeritCare was crisis management, due to the road construction.
Katie says that what she learned from MeritCare is very helpful in her current job, "We are trying to obtain more clients from the health care industry and because of my background with the hospital setting, I feel I know more about what tactics would appeal to them."
"As an intern, you can expect a lot of work; some of it challenging while other work is simple. Setting up interviews with the senior executives and doctors was a challenge, but taught me that being flexible is a must. The experience was amazing and I learned a lot by being at MeritCare," Katie said.
Internship Testimonials
Carrie Elkin
Carrie Elkin graduated in 2005 from Minnesota State University Moorhead with a major in mass communications and an emphasis in pubic relations and integrated advertising. Carrie spent the fall of 2004 interning at the MeritCare Public Relations and Communications Department.
For Carrie, some of the projects were a challenge, while others were more fun than hard work. One thing that surprised Carrie about the public relations internship was how much research is involved in order to complete some of the projects. She learned many PR tactics and strategies, "It really helped me improve my writing skills."
Carrie also talks about how well she is able to apply the objectives learned during her internship to what she is doing now, "All I learned at MeritCare comes in handy with about every class; especially my ad execution class and writing copy for my imaging projects."
Internship Testimonials
Amy Bergman
Amy Bergman is a graduate of the MeritCare Radiology Program and is currently living in Henderson, NV and working in North Las Vegas at North Vista Hospital as the Assistant Director of Radiology and Marketing Manager of Radiology. Amy believes her time spent at MeritCare was well worth all the hours and hard work. Throughout the program, students learn to perform at a professional level because they are expected to balance an extensive workload, while maintaining or exceeding the superior standard of professionalism held by the program and institution. During each term there are 9-13 check points established in the clinical setting that are required for each student to complete as well as collegiate level coursework that ranges from radiological theory to healthcare management. Amy believes the radiology program at MeritCare is superior to many because it provides a technologically advanced environment, a well supervised setting, an environment that fosters learning, and the opportunity to learn not only general radiology, but the multiple modalities that are offered in imaging departments.
"Even though my expectations were set high, this program by far surpassed them," says Amy. "Other radiology programs deal with just the basic course work, but the program at MeritCare provides you with a background in practical business areas along an all encompassing education in imaging services. They provide the opportunity to cross-train in multiple imaging departments and areas throughout the hospital."
Amy says that even the repetitious work was never boring, "The instructors and supervisors are very particular on the product we produced, we were expected to pass only optimal images. As we completed our clinical education we were expected to not just do the exam, but to understand the principle behind what we were doing. It really was a great experience that taught my fellow classmates and myself to not only just "do our jobs," but to think about the principles and details to everything. When I now come across a situation at work that may not have the answer right there, I know how to work my way through it. "
"I chose to venture out and move to Henderson once I completed my education, but my fellow classmates that were interested in staying in the area were all offered jobs at MeritCare," Amy said. "I would recommend this program to any individual interested in radiology. I received a broad education and was promoted at my current job at a faster rate than expected, due to my experience at MeritCare."
Internship Testimonials
Sabrina Bickel
Sabrina Bickel is another graduate of the MeritCare Radiology Program who says that her experience here at MeritCare was a positive one. As a student, there are a number of objectives that have to be completed each term. These objectives include exams and other tasks done throughout the department.
"One of the greatest opportunities the program has to offer is the experience in CT, MRI, mammography, and interventional radiology. Most other programs allow the student to simply observe these modalities," Sabrina said. At the end of her internship with the MeritCare Radiology Program, Sabrina was able to take and pass the mammography boards. This is something other programs cannot claim.
The MeritCare Radiology Program continues to place highly qualified and motivated people into the field of radiology. Due to Sabrina's experience in the MeritCare Radiology Program, she now works as the lead technologist in the clinic.
Internship Testimonials
Nathan Ingebretson
Nathan Ingebretson graduated in May 2005 from North Dakota State University with a major in political science and a minor in English. For the past two years, he has interned in the Public Policy & External Relations Department at MeritCare. During that time, he has worked on numerous federal and state health care issues. "Whether I've been doing research, analysis, or just drafting communication," he says, "my internship at MeritCare has given me extraordinary opportunities to observe and even be involved in the creation of health policy."
Before starting his internship, Nathan admits, he "had no real idea" of the influence that public policy has on health care. "But through my work, I have seen over and over again the tremendous impact that law and regulation have on how health care providers care for patients," he says.
This fall, Nathan will move to Minneapolis and study at the University of Minnesota Law School. His experience at MeritCare, he says, has profoundly shaped his career goals. After he gets his law degree, he hopes to practice health law, and to eventually work as general legal counsel for a hospital or health system. "I know I would find it very rewarding and satisfying to use an understanding of the law to help providers negotiate the complexities of our health care system," he says.
Internship Testimonials
Heather Lee
Heather Lee is unique in the fact that she was provided the opportunity to intern in two different departments for a portion of her tenure at MeritCare. Heather graduated from North Dakota State University in May 2002 with a major in Political Science and a minor in writing. In August of 2003, she graduated from Minnesota State University – Moorhead with a major in paralegal with an emphasis on civil and criminal litigation.
Heather recalls the day her advisor at NDSU told her about the internship opportunity at MeritCare – she thought to herself, " What does political science/public policy have to do with health care?" Apparently much more than she had anticipated! She started interning with the Public Policy & External Relations Department at MeritCare in July 2002. Throughout her internship, she worked with various individuals throughout the health system on public policy issues ranging from professional practice issues to regulatory and payment issues. The wonderful part of working in Public Policy is that you get to be involved in such a wide variety of issues and work with such wonderful individuals.
During the course of her public policy internship, she was faced with the dilemma of looking for another internship for her paralegal program. The Legal Department and the Public Policy Department were working on several issues together and it worked to hire her as an intern part-time for both the Public Policy Department and the Legal Department. There are many issues that overlap in the public policy and legal arenas; especially during the legislative sessions. Working for the Legal Department proved to be a very educational and rewarding experience.
The important thing to take away from completing internships is the hands-on experiences. Having the ability to be in both of these departments allowed me to experience so many different and complex opportunities. Things that you learn in an internship are things you will never be able to learn in the classroom. The people at MeritCare that I worked with made the internship experience – the quality of the people employed at MeritCare make your job enjoyable to come to every day. Being able to internship at MeritCare allowed me to realize the role of government regulations play, both on state and federal levels, in a health care setting and how it affects the patients throughout the communities served.
In August of 2003, Heather went on to become a Public Policy Specialist/Paralegal at MeritCare utilizing both of her skill sets and working for the Public Policy Department and the Legal Department. Combining her internship roles made for a busy schedule, but there was always a variety to the work she did and there was never a dull moment! In July of 2005, Heather moved to the Washington, DC area and is currently employed as a Legal Assistant for the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.