Explore Your Park! Your Health!

Your Park! Your Health! is a community engagement and internship program established in 2016 to reflect our commitment to developing a workforce and visitation base that is welcoming for all and represents the nation. To carry out this program, the Office of Public Health engages talented college-educated young adults who work alongside public health professionals and park staff in the areas of Environmental Health, Epidemiology/One Health and Health Promotion. Interns assist with national programming efforts to support the Office of Public Health and engage with parks by developing community-based activations tailored to specific audience needs in their respective geographic area. Through this experience, interns explore the broad field of applied public health as it relates to national parks and amplify parks as a health resource for all. Overall program efforts focus on holistic health strategies that improve the environment, promote engagement in parks, inspire personal and peer connections, and encourage new pathways for improved wellbeing.

Program Themes

Connecting With Your History | Connecting With Yourself | Connecting With Your Park | Connecting With Your Health

Priorities and Focus Areas

Program efforts help to advance key OPH priorities which include addressing climate and health equity issues. Designed to align with the OPH programmatic structure, opportunities are divided into three focus areas: Environmental Health, Epidemiology/One Health, Health Promotion.

• Environmental Health: United States Public Health Service Officers guide interns through the process of conducting on-site system evaluations and providing consultations and trainings to assist parks in ensuring the health and safety of employees and visitors.
• Epidemiology/One Health: Understanding "One Health", the connection between plants, animals and the environment, is essential to the work of the Office of Public Health. Interns assigned to OPH have an opportunity to work alongside epidemiologists who are responsible for helping to mitigate potential disease risks and exposures in parks.
• Health Promotion: Nature is good medicine. The work of OPH is to ensure that parks are a health resource for every visitor to enjoy. Interns and host sites work together to develop projects and strategies to engage communities in parks and greenspaces. Key audiences include: military families, Young adults, K-12 youth and Golden Age (+55) individuals.