Feature Friday 9/18: Taylor Siebenman

This summer my original internship was cancelled due to Covid-19 so I had to find an alternative way to serve my community. I ended up getting certified as a contact tracer for Covid-19 and landed an internship with the City of St. Louis Department of Health. When an individual tested positive for Covid-19, I would contact them in order to explain the correct procedures to quarantine effectively, obtain information of the symptoms the patient was experiencing, and acquire a list of the individuals and establishments they came in contact with while infectious. I would then call each of the contacts, inform them of their exposure and explain the quarantine procedure to them.

I am extremely grateful for this opportunity as it enabled me to better understand and interact with social determinants of health and the unequal allocation of resources in the St. Louis community. I was able to connect residents of the St. Louis area with local organizations that could help alleviate some of the financial and emotional burdens of Covid-19 and quarantine such as housing payments and grocery deliveries. I enjoyed learning from the other contact tracers and seeing their compassion and dedication for their work. I was especially touched by the hand delivery of thermometers to households under quarantine who needed to monitor their symptoms. I am excited to take this experience of how Covid-19 affects communities forward with me into my thesis and my future career as a physician.