Week 5

Last week, Monday specifically, was the first day that I didn't have supervision in my internship. My direct supervisor, Kathy, was off that day. The week before, I had gone over a whole slew of things that I could do for the next week while she was gone. We discussed possible projects I could begin, and she gave me her password so that I could input information into InDesign and begin to get a feel for it.

When I arrived early on Monday morning, Kathy had left an additional note of other things that had cropped up the two days I was not at the internship. The main project was an article to be released to the Delaware News Journal about the Medical Society's President and his opinions as summarized from an article he wrote in MSD's journal.

To begin this article, I first needed information. I interviewed a co-worker who mainly deals with legislation about the House Bill 195, which the article was about. The House bill 195 or HB 195 was a bill that MSD created to give immunity to doctors who volunteered at free clinics. This was to make sure that no doctors were sued unless there was gross negligence on their part. From my co-worker, I received information about the bill, the creation process, and the process that the bill went through until it was voted down and tabled until January.

Then I went back to begin to write the article. Since I was writing to the general public, I felt I needed to include as much general information as I could, since most would not be familiar with it, unless they were truly following the issue. I began with the background issues, starting with why exactly doctors needed this bill, and what it would mean for the general public. Then I gradually progressed into the bill's creation process, and finally why it was tabled. Then I ended with a small paragraph that tried to persuade the public to voice their opinions on the matter, and where they could do so.

After I had completed this, (it was about 2 pages), I continued on through my work. I have to do an article on a credentialing company that is a subsidiary of MSD. However, I had no idea what this meant, and the little information I could find on CCI didn't tell me much of what I really needed to know, like how many people they credentialed, and what credentialing included. This article was to be another press release to the public, and as one of the public, I felt this background information was important to understanding what CCI did. The co-worker who had the most information on this subject was not available to meet with me, so I had to put that aside for the day, after I wrote a little paragraph on what I could find.

The next task I had to tackle was InDesign. I've never seen InDesign before, let alone worked with it. I was a little scared to even touch it. Kathy had left me the InDesign instruction book, which I flipped through for a little while. I wanted to familiarize myself with at least the basics. When that became a little tedious, I headed for the real thing. I was to be inputting information that we has assembled into our brochure format. The text boxes threw me for a while, and I struggled to align everything correctly. But after an hour, I successfully managed to learn how to use at least the basics of InDesign. I was quite proud of myself.

I was asked today how it was being by myself. I have to say, it was an enlightening experience actually. I felt accomplished when I completed my assigned work, and more over, I felt like I belonged in the atmosphere I was in. It was like I had completely submerged myself in the workplace. It was interesting and I liked being able to simply work through, instead of pausing to ask questions. I was less unsure of myself, and I found I could work in a more efficient way.