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Rekina Daniels, Contact Tracer Case Investigator, County of Marin

The COVID-19 crisis impeded Rekina Daniels of a summer internship with Kaiser Permanente, but thanks to a recommendation from a professor it led to another summer internship with the County of Marin as a case investigator and contact tracer for COVID-19.

“My roles are to call individuals and trace who they have come in contact with in order to notify those contacts on what to do in hopes to slow the spread of COVID-19,” says Rekina, a Global Public Health major. “I document the phone interviews with cases and contacts and also educate patients about isolation and quarantine and provide resources to help.”

Rekina, who has worked in Marin as a medical assistant for 10 years, joined the GPH program at Dominican because, she says, “it allows me to study the health of communities we live in, instead of the health of one individual like traditional medicine and nursing.”

Ultimately, Rekina aims to become a nurse practitioner and run her own mobile clinic. The summer internship has her heading in the right direction.

“I truly think this internship will allow me to network and build relationships that can possibly provide me with employment opportunities after graduation in my local county public health department,” she says.

Rekina is grateful to Rochelle Ereman, who is the GPH internship coordinator in Dominican’s School of Health and Natural Sciences and also works as an epidemiologist for Marin County. She supported Rekina in her Kaiser internship focused on diabetes awareness and recommended her for the internship as a contact tracer with the County of Marin.

“My Dominican experience has been nothing short of amazing,” she says. “I am very happy I chose this school. Dominican has the most beautiful campus to be on. I have learned so much and I have definitely learned to look at the medical perspective and the public health perspective when doing health care.”