News

Contact: Maria Ramirez

Four new interns, all students from the Oregon Institute of Technology, joined the staff earlier this month, and will be working closely with various departments within the company.

"We are happy to welcome our 2016 summer interns," said CHA CEO Tayo Akins. "The internship experience provides the students an opportunity to learn core skills and launch their careers in the managed care sector of the health care industry. The ability to attract and retain the next generation of health care leaders from Oregon Tech is important to us and the local economy in Klamath Falls. We will challenge our interns to bring fresh new ideas to the company and our projects aim to give them a true sense of their future careers."

Kyla Patty

Community Advisory Council Intern

Junior at Oregon Tech

Population Health Management Major

From McMinnville, OR

Kyla is a full-time intern this summer working with the Community Advisory Council, or CAC. She will continue as a part-time intern through December.

Kyla will be focusing on outreach and recruitment for the CAC, which will include working at various community events, including a weekly booth at the farmers market.

She will also be planning a caregiver training event through her internship, and participating in other community outreach projects.

Kyla is looking forward to recruiting more members to the CAC.

"I like the idea of getting to reach out to people and help them help themselves in the long-run," she said.

Kyla's work with CHA will be closely related to her career goals upon completing her degree through OIT.

Keoni Roberts

Health Informatics Intern

Senior at Oregon Tech

IT Health Informatics Major

From New Zealand and Tillamook, OR

Keoni is a full-time intern this summer working in Finance and IT. Keoni is also taking classes this summer, and is working on a senior project with Lucas.

Lucas and Keoni will be assisting with several new software implementation projects and streamlining existing data processes.

"It's really the career field that I want to go into," Keoni said of the internship.

Lucas Simmons

Health Informatics Intern

Senior at Oregon Tech

Health Informatics Major

From Elko, NV

Lucas is a full-time intern this summer working in Finance and IT. Lucas is also working on a senior project with Keoni.

Lucas and Keoni will be assisting with several new software implementation projects and streamlining existing data processes.

"I'm excited about taking these reports and making them automated," Lucas said.

This internship is a unique opportunity, Lucas said, and he is happy to be selected for an internship in his chosen career field close to his family.

Cord VanRiper

Quality Management Intern

2016 Oregon Tech Graduate

Population Health Management and Biology-Health Sciences Major

From Cañon City, CO

Cord is a full-time intern this summer working in Quality Management.

Cord will be working on retiring outdated performance improvement projects, or PIPs, and developing new PIPs and initiatives attached to those projects. He'll also be working closely with department director Amanda Blodgett on a variety of other QM projects.

"Amanda has a really good vision for the department and initiatives, and how we can help members," he said.

Cord is excited to be working in a field closely related to his population health management degree, and to work in a position that allows him to bridge health care and health policy, which he hopes to also do later in his career. Cord plans to attend medical school in the future.

Timothy "TJ" Visser

Information Technology Intern

Junior at Oregon Tech

Health Informatics Major

From Silverton, OR

TJ is a full-time intern this summer working in network security administration and maintenance.

TJ will be working on server and directory updates, licensing audits, and other technical requests.

He's looking forward to leaning more about IT and about network systems, he said.

"Just getting hands-on experience is really good," TJ said.

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