Injury Prevention Specialist: Ina Hysi

The National Park Service (NPS) oversees more than 400 unique national parks across the country and US territories, which are visited by more than 318 million people each year. Meet some of the people dedicated to health and safety for visitors and employees and learn more about the various public health careers in or with the NPS.

Ina promoting water safety on Wear a Life Jacket to Work Day by wearing a life jacket to her office

NPS / Ina Hysi

What is your job title?
I am the Injury Prevention Specialist for the NPS Public Risk Management Program, a national-level program that focuses on preventing visitor injuries in national parks.

How did you become involved with NPS public health?
I joined the NPS in 2015 through a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) fellowship. To be honest, when I was first told that I was assigned to the NPS my first thought was, “Park Service as in rangers and bears?!” I knew very little about the agency and couldn’t name more than five parks. I was a bit apprehensive about the work that I would do, but I decided to keep an open mind and embark on an adventure. Four years later, I am still surprised by just how much work NPS does in the field of public health (epidemiology, environmental health, policy, community outreach and education, etc.). And what started as an adventure turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life, professionally and personally.

What does your job involve?
I help park visitors celebrate their birthdays!!! How? Well, I help them plan for a fun and safe adventure in parks so they can return home safe and sound and continue to celebrate their birthday every year.

My work in injury prevention has two main components: educate visitors on how to plan for an injury-free visit to a park and work with parks and regions to help establish and strengthen injury prevention programs. Working at the NPS headquarters in DC has given me the unique opportunity to see public health working at different levels. I work with leadership to craft policies that provide a framework for injury prevention work in the field; I provide technical assistance to regions and parks that varies from data analysis to risk communications; and I conduct park visits to help parks evaluate and strengthen injury prevention efforts.

What is the most rewarding part of your job for you?
One of my proudest accomplishments is translating public health principles into a format that anyone in the field can easily understand and implement. I often work with colleagues who have backgrounds in law enforcement, museum collections, or biology, just to name a few. Asking them to develop evaluation instruments that can measure a data-driven strategy based on the Health Belief Model is the equivalent of an officer telling me that they use IMARS to report all AODs. I love developing tools and resources that use plain language and helpful visuals. Ultimately, the field’s success is my success.

What advice can you give for people interested in your job as a career?
For anyone who is interested in exploring public health careers in the NPS, I would recommend reaching out the program that piques your interest to learn more about their work at the national, regional, and park level. You can identify the setting that works best for you whether it is in an office or field work and learn how your skills can be best utilized.

Health & Safety