Amy Ringley is pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Health Education and Promotion and is interested in becoming a Health Educator. She outlines the career paths of a Health Educator Specialist and Community Health Worker. Amy discusses graduate programs at the University of South Carolina and Emory University that she is interested in to obtain a Master's degree. She believes her personality and interests are a good fit for the role of a Health Educator and cites statistics on salary and job growth prospects in the field.

1. Amy Ringley
Bachelors of
Science
Health
Education and
Promotion
’16
CAREER OF INTEREST

2. My career I wish to pursue is an Health
Educator.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
There are two types of Health workers; Health
Educator Specialist and Community health
worker.
An Health Educator teaches the public about healthy
behaviors that promote wellness (Bureau of Labor
Statistics, 2015).
CAREERS OF INTEREST

3.  Health Educator Specialist duties are the following
 Develop programs and events to teach people about health
topics
 Teach people how to cope with or manage existing health
conditions.
 Supervise staff who enforce health education programs
 Advocate for improved health resources and policies that
promote health
 Assess the needs of the people and communities they serve.
 Supervise staff who implement health education programs.
 Collect and analyze data to learn about their audience and
improve programs and services.
 Help the public find health services or information of interest.
 Evaluate the effectiveness of programs and educational
materials.
HEALTH EDUCATOR

4.  Health Education and Promotion has became world wide and
developed within the last two decades, but the profession has
roots derived from ancient civilizations and most prudent in
Greek ancient days (Health Promot. Int., 2009).
 Their has been evidence in Medical philosophical documents of
the sixth to fourth centuries B.C., that ancient Greeks were the
very first to break into the supernatural conceptions of health
and human diseases that dominated human societies during that
era (Health Promot. Int., 2009).
 The first physiocratic school of thought was developed by the
ancient Greeks. They realized that to maintain good health and
illness prevention depended on natural causes and that health
and disease could not be detached from specific physical and
social environments nor from human behavior (Health Promot.
Int., 2009).
 General education and health education are molded together and
the educator, the trainer and the physician were very close allies.
The success and/or failure of health education is based not only
on the knowledge and methods of the physician but along with a
large majority on the society to perceive the importance of the
given advice (Health Promot. Int., 2009).
HISTORY

5.  After receiving my Bachelors in Health Science I will work for
3 years and then attend graduate school to receive my
Masters.
 First school of interest is University of South Carolina.
 University of South Carolina has a graduate degree program in Public
Health in Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior.
 HPEB course offers an online Masters degree.
 My second choice of interest is Emory University of Atlanta,
Georgia.
 Emory University has an online graduate program course with a
concentration in Prevention Science.
 The program is based off of the foundations of behavioral theories,
program planning, research design, evaluation and health
communication.
AFTER RECEIVING MY BACHELORS

6.  Requirements for University of South Carolina Graduate
Programs are as followed:
 Evidence of academic performance of a B or better level on
application transcript.
 Satisfactory GRE score
 No minimum guideline for the master’s programs, an average GRE
(verbal and quantitative) for students applying is a range of 1000.
 For an M.S.P.H. an minimum verbal score of 500 is required for
applying.
 Three letter of recommendations
 A letter of intent stating your goals and objectives in your profession.
Along with describing how the applicant became interested in Health
Promotion, Education, and Behavior.
 A current resume or curriculum vitae
http://www.sph.sc.edu/hpeb/default.htm
REQUIREMENTS FOR USC GRADUATE
PROGRAM

7.  Requirements for Admissions of Emory Graduate Program
 Earn undergraduate degree from an accredited United States
institution of higher education
 Have at least a minimum of 3 years of a full-time paid work
experience in the Public Health field or Health-related Experience.
 Have a resume
 Academic Performance of at least a 3.0 GPA
 Special attention paid to quantitative grades for Applied Epidemiology
applicants.
 Standardized test scores: GRE minimum scores
 Applied Epidemiology
 156 Verbal, 148 Quantitative, and 3.5 analytical MCAT is also accepted
 Applied Public Health Informatics and Prevention
 Statement of Purpose
 Professional goals and commitment to public health field
http://www.sph.emory.edu/departments/emph/about/admission-
req/index.html
REQUIREMENTS FOR EMORY UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE PROGRAM

8.  Health Educator Specialist work in health care facilities, colleges,
public health departments, nonprofits, and private businesses
(Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015).
 Health care facilities- work one-on-one with patients and their families.
Teach patients about their diagnosis and about any necessary treatments or
procedures. Also, they help organize health screenings, such as blood
pressure checks, and health classes. Another task they do in health care
facilities are create programs to train medical staff to interact better with
patients.
 Colleges- create programs and materials on topics that affect young adults.
Advocate campus wide policies to promote health. They also train students
to be their peers educators and supervise students delivery of health
information through person or social media.
 Public Health Departments- administer health campaigns on topics of
emergency preparedness, immunizations, proper nutrition or stress
management. Create materials to be used by public health officials. Provide
information to the public during an emergency through the media. Create
public policies that support healthy behaviors and environments, along with
overseeing grant-funded programs.
WORK ENVIRONMENT

9.  Nonprofits- Create programs and materials about health
issues for the community that their organization serves. Help
organizations to obtain funding and other resources they
need. Also, Health Educators will educate policymakers about
ways to provide improvements in public health and work to
secure grant funding for programs to promote health and
disease awareness.
 Private businesses- use Health Educators to identify common
health problems among their employees and create programs
to improve their health. Health Educators work with the
management team to create goals for employees to adopt
healthy behaviors.
 Health Educators who teach health classes in middle and high
school are considered teachers.
WORK ENVIRONMENT

10.  Community Health workers engage in the community they serve. They
address health-related issues that affect a particular community by
collecting data and examining the health concerns within the
community they assist (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015).
 Community Health workers report their findings to Health Educators
and healthcare providers so that the educators can create new
programs or adjust existing programs or events to help improve the
community.
 Duties
 Provide outreach and discuss health care concerns with community
members
 Educate the public about the importance and availability of healthcare
services
 Collect data
 Report findings to Health Educators and other healthcare providers.
 Provide informal counseling and social support
 Conduct outreach programs
 Ensure that people have access to the healthcare services they need
 Advocate for individual and community needs.
COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKER

11. Why am I interested?
I am very passionate about health in general. I solely
believe that health behaviors are most vital during an
individuals childhood. Children watch and learn from
their peers and adapt. Children should be taught
healthy eating behaviors and physical activity. I want
to use my degree and training to become a Health
Educator for the public. I am very interested in
developing health programs for first, children, and
second, to the public, specifically aimed at special
needs or health-compromised children.
INTEREST

12. Compare children with type I and type II
diabetes in 2015 as to 2005.
See the rise in obesity and ADHD in children
compared to the year 2000.
GROWTH POTENTIAL

13.  Social “the helper”
 In the O*Net Profiler my highest score was in the Social category. An
Health Educator has to be social in order to teach people about rising
health concerns.
 Investigative “thinker, why?”
 My second highest score was in the Investigative category. An Health
Educator is an investigator to find out how and why an individual or
the public is being put at risk and how to prevent the spread of
diseases.
 Enterprising “persuader”
 Lastly, my third highest score was in the Enterprising category. An
Health Educator has to persuade the individual that they are working
with or the public about a health risk or disease that they might
contract or develop.
O*NET PROFILER

14.  The median wage for an Health Educator occupation in 2012
according to the bureau of labor and statistics was $48,790
 The top five industries that an Health Educator worked
 Hospitals $60,360
 Government $50,580
 Ambulatory health care services $46,470
 Organizations $45,090
 Social Assistance $36,500
 The Employment of Health Educators is faster than average
growth compared to all occupations. The estimated growth is
21% from 2012 to 2022.
 The growth is powered by the grave efforts to improve health
outcomes and the reduction of health care costs by simply teaching
healthy habits, behaviors and utilizations application of available
health care services (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015).
SALARY AND JOB OUTLOOK

15.  Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor,
Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-15 Edition, Health
Education and Community Health Workers, of the internet at
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and-social-
service/health-educators.htm (visited August 18,2015)
 Health Promot. Int. (2009) 24 (2): 185-192. doi:
10.1093/heapro/dap006
 http://www.sph.sc.edu/hpeb/default.htm
 http://www.sph.emory.edu/departments/emph/about/admiss
ion-req/index.html
RESOURCES