With midterms fast approaching, and the pace of the fall semester picking up, there is no doubt that Iona students are looking back on their summer vacations fondly.  While students likely spent the summer break relaxing and catching up with friends and family, many also chose to study and take part in career-oriented internships.  One internship program in particular was The Research Associates (RA) Program in Emergency Medicine at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, CT.

The St. Vincent’s Program was a 10-week, 4-hour per week summer internship in which four of Iona’s Pre-Professional Science students, Diana Hemlal, Genesis Cabrera, Marcia Correa, and Nousin Haque, got hands-on experience in the medical field.  The four Science students served as “RAs,” Research Associates, where they enrolled large numbers of patients in clinical research studies. 

The RAs’ duties during the internship was to garner statistics concerning the status of patients’ primary care and dental check-ups.  While patients were waiting for Emergency Room services, the RAs would talk to patients and ask about their most recent dental checkups, or ask patients reasons why they did not go to the dentist. 

The Iona students asked patients more general questions about the status of their other cancer screenings – mammograms, colonoscopies, etc.  RAs also provided patients with information about tobacco cessation, and contact information for the Connecticut Tobacco Quit Line.  The goal of the RAs in the program was to enroll as many patients as possible in St. Vincent’s research project so the hospital could compile the statistics concerning patients’ most recent primary care and dental visits.

“The St. Vincent’s RA program was not easy, but I enjoyed it,” Correa said.  “I learned how to approach people, speak with people, and make people feel comfortable and at ease, all things that are not easy to do with a sick person.  The internship also forced me out of my comfort zone and made me learn to deal with rejection from uninterested patients.  I also learned about a hospital’s day-to-day functions, and I found out that I am comfortable working in a hospital.  Overall, the internship was an extremely rewarding experience – I met great people, both hospital staff and patients, I learned a lot about myself, and the medical field.”

At the end of the 10-week internship, Correa, Hemlal, Cabrera and Haque all received detailed evaluations of their performances.  These evaluations were also sent to the Iona Pre-Professional advisor Joseph Stabile, who will use the evaluations to help construct letters of recommendations for the students applying to Medical, Dental, and Professional schools. 

“The internship helps students understand what area of the medical profession, if any, they wish to pursue,” Stabile said. “Our students have done very well and have represented the Iona sciences in a wonderful way.”

The summer internship experience definitely provided the select Iona students with a new outlook towards and more experience with serving and aiding the ailing. 

As The St. Vincent’s Web site succinctly puts it: “Most importantly, being a RA welcomes you into the sorority and fraternity of those in service to the sick, the motivation behind those working in the emergency department.”

Iona students can look towards the future, and  can follow in the footsteps of Iona’s RA interns and look to apply to similar career-related intern programs in the near future.