Stephaney Wilson

To Whom it may concern,

According to the Association of Schools of Public Health, public health is focused on
improving and maintaining community health, as a whole, through various methods of education and
health promotion. However, I personally define public health as the physical, mental/emotional, and
spiritual well-being of a community and the individuals residing in a community. A community is
composed of various demographics and individual personalities; therefore, to improve the well-being
of a community one can gear his or her efforts from a unique perspective within a community.
Furthermore, I aspire to serve underserved neighborhoods and populations; I plan to strive to
improve the overall well-being of these individuals with emphasis on behavioral and environmental
influences. My passion for public health is at the heart of underserved populations; these
communities deserve the opportunity to improve their well-being regardless of socioeconomic,
demographic, or environmental factors.
My passion for public health has been fueled throughout my life by a plethora of experiences.
However, during my childhood I grew up in a food desert and the neighborhoods surrounding mine
were vastly underserved. I knew what it was like to have to travel the extra mile to have access to
healthy food options; yet, there were multiple families without the option to drive to a destination
serving healthy, affordable food. As I matured, I began providing childcare to multiple families. For
one family, I cared for two deaf children and one hearing child all of whom were adopted from
China. The middle child was an eight-year-old male who spent six years of his life in a Chinese
orphanage without the most basic human ability, the ability to communicate. Only when he was
adopted and brought to the U.S. did he finally have the opportunity to express himself with sign
language. It is evident in his behavior and expressions that he lived majority of his young life without
communicating. However, his three-year-old adopted sister was deaf as well; she did not display the
aggression and frustration as her older brother, for she had the desire to thrive regardless of
circumstance. For another family, I provided care for a fourteen-year-old girl with severe mental
handicap; due to the vast resources provided to this family she is learning basic communication and
life skills. These experiences have built the foundation for my passion and appreciation of the public
health field, for without public health initiatives the nation would be flooded with unmet needs as far
as the east is from the west.
My experiences with the community have lead me to pursue a Bachelors degree with a focus
in public health. This major serves as the sturdy foundation for my desire to become a general
practitioner. The concepts I have learned from the major curriculum such as behavioral theories,
philosophical foundations, and ethics will better prepare me for the world of medicine. Public health
emphasizes prevention: primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. Prevention is achieved through
various methods, such as behavioral theory applications and the constructs associated with them.
Furthermore, prevention methods are closely associated with ethical boundaries of health personnel
and individuals. Improving and maintaining healthy communities requires ethical living; ethics is
quite significant for the public health field due to majority of the professions requiring direct and
indirect human interaction. This field requires professionals to serve individuals, neighborhoods,
schools, communities, nations, and the world! I aspire to continue my education to further expand my
capabilities to best serve the needs of any population in the world. The public health field is
constantly evolving to better serve the needs of different populations, and I will continue to grow and
learn how to satisfy my responsibilities to the public and profession as a health professional.