Public Health Educator

The job of a public health educator is to spread the word about healthy lifestyle habits. And just as there are tons of different healthy habits a person can take up, there are a lot of options for where you can work. Schools, government agencies, nonprofits, and hospitals all hire for this position and the programs they support cover health issues of all types. You can focus on a particular disease like Multiple Sclerosis or you can cover a more broad health issue, like binge drinking in college students.

No matter the health issue you attack your job is to bring awareness and educate the public on how to stay healthy. You might give a presentation, lead a class, put on a health fair or even work one on one with a patient to answer their questions. The type of outreach and project you do depends on the population you’re trying to reach. Something that appeals to college students probably wouldn’t work so well with the elderly.

The issue you work on depends on where you work. Some organizations focus on only one health problem whereas others handle multiple. You research what the biggest problem is in your population of choice and then create the program that will best help. Creating a program requires you to raise money (through grant writing or fundraising), put on the event and then keep track of how well the public responded through surveys or participant interviews. This information helps you improve and change programs.