Hello!  My name is Sandra Morrongiello, and I am a junior at Hofstra University. Ever since I was young, I dreamed of working with people who were less fortunate and needed help.  I had a noble desire to change the world.  For me, becoming a doctor was the ideal career path.  Upon entering college, I decided to be a pre-med student, with a Global Studies major.  As a Global Studies major, I study local and global issues and ways to make improvements in our world.  

     I was incredibly lucky to have an opportunity to pursue my passion for working with people.  This spring semester, I will be doing an internship at Nassau University Medical Center with an organization called Health Leads.  Health Leads works with doctors, nurses, and social workers to make changes to healthcare.  Together with health professionals, they seek to address all the patient’s basic needs. My role is to be a Health Advocate.  Essentially, my task is to work with families that lack the basic resources such as food, housing, and health insurance.  Unfortunately, lack of these basic resources can be detrimental and significantly impact a person’s health.  I will be faced with researching and recommending places for these families to go to receive whatever they may need.

     Although I just started this week, I can tell this is going to be an awesome and rewarding experience.  I have been assigned to work with six families in particular.  I have reviewed each family’s background, and I will be in contact with them shortly.  I am anxious to get to know them and to help them in any way that I can.

     The Department of Global Studies has allowed me to apply this internship towards my degree.  As part of my requirements, I will be keeping a blog of my experiences.  This blog will include details about my experiences and related topics.  I am thrilled to spend this semester working in the hospital setting with families who really need me.  I am confident that it will be an unforgettable experience, and I will keep you posted!

http://www.nccu.edu/Academics/sc/artsandsciences/globalstudies/index.cfm