Kirstin Salka

1. Monitor health status to identify and solve community health problems

2. Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the community

   • St. Lukes HIV Clinic: I worked as part of a team of health professionals to combat HIV patients in the community.  I worked with the dietitian, where we offered free counseling to the patients who often struggled with other chronic health issues such as obesity, and diabetes.

3. Inform, educate, and empower people about health issues

   • Second Harvest Food Bank: I educated low-income participants who participated in Cooking Matters classes about nutrition such as reading food labels, whole grains, healthy substitutions in cooking, and MyPlate.  I helped participants develop their cooking skills so they can cook healthier at home. I also developed a cooking video website resource for this site to provide addition recipes with instruction from the comfort of their home.

   • St. Lukes Employee Wellness: The team of Dietitians I worked with developed Plant based nutrition classes offered to employees of St. Lukes.  They also partnered with a local farm through St. Lukes to provide access to fresh and seasonal fruits and vegetables through a CSA program.  We empowered participants with knowledge and education about the benefits of following a plant based diet and its effect on their health.

4. Mobilize community partnerships and action to identify and solve health problems

   • Second Harvest: Through the Cooking Matters program run via Second Harvest, we partnered with Giant grocery stores to have access to ingredients needed for our cooking classes.  These classes served low-income populations and taught them healthy cooking techniques, and provided nutrition education.​

5. Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts

6. Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety

7. Link people to needed personal health services and assure the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable

   • St. Lukes HIV Clinic: Effectively worked in a coordinated system of clinical care, with ongoing care management.  Hosted diabetic and pre-diabetic support groups in low-income Spanish speaking populations. Referred patients to other health services on a case by case basis such as social workers, SLP, therapists, SNAP and other low-income services.

8. Assure competent public and personal health care workforce

9. Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health services

   • Second Harvest:  At each 6 week session of Cooking Matters classes, the nutrition educator handed our survey to participants to fill out the first and last week.  These surveys evaluated the effectiveness of our classes and what participants think could be improved upon, which was how I developed my wellness project idea for the facility.

10. Research for new insights and innovative solutions to health problems

 

Resource: https://www.cdc.gov/publichealthgateway/publichealthservices/pdf/essential-phs.pdf​