Health educators make the world a healthier place and wage war on all kinds
of nasty habits.
"It's an exciting time to be in the profession," says Dr. Michelle Kegler.
She's an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences
Center. "There's a lot happening, for example, with tobacco. I also like seeing
people come together in their communities to solve social or public health
problems."
Kegler has a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master's in public health
and a doctorate in public health. She stumbled across a description of health
education while looking through a school of public health bulletin.
"I'd never heard of the field before, but it sounded perfect. It worked
with healthy, or near healthy, populations rather than sick individuals, which
appealed to me because I'd rather prevent disease than take care of it once
it's happened."
Kegler says the hardest part of being a health educator is working with
so many different kinds of people and addressing so many issues.
"In a typical day, you may work with people who have a wide variety of
education levels -- from medical doctors to teenage mothers who dropped out
of school. You may work with people who have a variety of health problems
or who represent many organizations.
"One of the things health educators often do is bring people together and
facilitate them through a planning process to identify needs and develop programs
to address those needs. The more different people are, the more difficult
it can be to bring them together," says Kegler
Health educator Bev Powell-Vindon moved into health education from nursing.
"I was at the right place at the right time. I was a staff nurse and had taken
educational classes."
Powell-Vindon says success in health education depends on many things,
but she recommends students concentrate on a couple of aspects to give them
a good start.
"First, get a solid background and a solid foundation of credibility. If
you're coming from a nursing background, build your foundation and credibility
from there. And a degree is a key element. Go back to school and while you're
there, take classes in public speaking, problem solving or facilitation. This
might mean you'll pursue a master of education, which is what I did."
Kegler does teaching and research -- which is different than doing health
education for a clinic -- so she usually works nine-hour days.
"Sometimes I work longer days, particularly when there's a big project I need
to get finished. I also work some on most weekends."
Dr. Roy Oman is an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma Health
Sciences Center. He has other reasons for being happy with his career choice.
"I like research and the multiple skills [reading, writing, statistics and
organization] that you need to do good research. I also enjoy the freedom
and autonomy you have.
"There are two aspects of the profession that are difficult. First, the
health education field now realizes people need more than knowledge to change
behavior. Many causes of poor health are due to factors that are very difficult
to address or change. Very few negative health behaviors can be changed just
by imparting knowledge."
But despite the extensive education required and the hard work involved,
Oman insists being a health educator is fun, too.
"It's interesting and it seldom turns into a grind. You can study and research
and become an expert in what interests you. Who knows, you may be the one
to discover one of the keys to improving the health and quality of our lives."