NEVBD-TEC Summer Internship Program

 Week 9: A Week at the County Fair In order to ensure engagement with a greater amount of the county’s population, Melinda had me spend my evenings this week at the county’s annual agricultural fair, an event that brings out many faces that weren’t necessarily at the birthday bash. I spent several evenings at the fair nearby other local organizations, and shared some of our resources for tick prevention, removal, awareness, etc.  I met a ton of friendly faces that appreciated the information, and several kids that had fun with a tick-themed game I had at the booth. When things weren't busy, I ended up crocheting a female Ixodes and Dermacentor tick to pass the time. Unfortunately, there was a bit of a heat wave coming through during that week, and the barn my booth was in was not air-conditioned. Though the weather was a bit unpleasant, I enjoyed my time conversing with the locals in the area and their experiences with ticks.  As a result of me spending my evenings workin...

 Week 8 at GCHD Things are starting to wind down as my last few weeks are upon me. I mostly completed field work, trying to take advantage of the pleasant weather and completing tick drags throughout the county. Tick populations are still dwindling, though I have noticed an upward trend in the amount of  Ixodes  larvae at many of the locations I’ve been to. I also managed to find one  Dermacentor  adult female (who was looking a little worse for wear), which was unexpected considering how late in the year it was for adults. In the office, I continued compiling our budget report and found some things for us to order for future events. I came across some customizable keychains that had both a flashlight and a magnifying glass on them, and Melinda and I thought it would be a good idea to include those with our tweezers and infographics. I also ended up creating a poster about our research efforts and results that summarizes the data we’ve collected so far.  We...

 Week 7: The Deep Creek Birthday Bash This week was the week of the “Deep Creek Birthday Bash,” and so much of the week was spent in preparation for that. Outside of my regular field work, which I do 3-4 days a week, I spent time in the office gathering and organizing supplies we might need. We decided on a number of materials, including fine-tipped tweezers, our tick-prevention rack card, images of ticks and some of our data, and some of the samples of ticks we use for public events such as this.  In addition to preparations for the fair, I also started on compiling and updating our current budget for tick collection and educational supplies. A lot of our funding comes through an annual grant from the CDC, so Melinda has to prepare a detailed budget for all the things she uses throughout the year. I started researching some materials that may be useful for educational purposes, looking at a number of possible supplies and goodies she can use when presenting at schools and pub...

 Week 6 at GCHD As July progresses, it’s getting closer and closer to my first major public event with the ticks (excluding my brief visit to the elementary school weeks prior). Some local organizations in the area decided to throw a “birthday party” for a local lake, and several offices at the health department are planning to be in attendance, including my own.  I also worked on getting all the  H. longicornis  ticks we had in storage sent over to the state lab for testing. Along with the one we had discovered a few weeks prior, we had some in storage from the previous year, preserved in ethanol at 4C. Our point of contact at the state lab was interested in testing them for pathogens, and we ended up sending all life stages (larva, nymphs, and an adult female) to the lab. Things with our graphic designer and the tick prevention rack card are finishing up. He sent us the finalized version of the card, so it is ready to be sent for printing. The infographic ended up ...

 Week 4 at GCHD The heat wave that took place this week was brutal. I still ended up spending a lot of the week outdoors, but both me and the ticks were feeling the impacts of the heat. Populations were a bit smaller than in weeks past, likely due to both the sweltering heat and the approach of July, a time where the counties’ tick populations tend to dwindle.  Melinda and I also made the decision t o update some more of the Department’s resources, namely an infographic about tick checks/removal that we give out at public events. It works well as it is, with clear, easy to understand information that serves a useful reminder. However, we both felt that we could do more with the space we had. We decided to work on creating a section of the card with information on tick prevention at home (common methods to keep ticks out of the yard, to be specific). We collaborated with each other and consulted some online resources before deciding on a final list.   In order to make the ...

Week 5: Projects in Progress      Week five didn’t end up being very busy, but I still managed to find some things to do. I spent a lot of time in the field, and noticed that in some places, the tick populations have started dwindling and the summer stretches onward. At this point, I rarely, if ever, find any adult   Ixodes   ticks, just the occasional male looking for a mate. For the most part, I’ve mainly been coming across nymphs and some larva (though I’ve yet to find any nests), as well as some interesting bugs.        When I was in the office, I found time to finalize and edit a lot of the things I’ve been working on so far. The graphic designer and I communicated regularly about the content and style of the infographic we’re working on. While Melinda and I focused on curating the most important content for the limited space, he worked on creating drawings and maximizing the space we had.        A challenge I faced w...