Army Vet Uses What She Learned in Purdue’s Online Master of Public Health to Improve Veterans’ Health Outcomes

As an army veteran and health and wellness coach in the federal services, Elizabeth Freitas knows that providing healthcare for veterans is about more than offering life-saving services, it’s also about building community. Organizations that specialize in veterans’ healthcare do more than address veterans’ health needs, they also bring veterans together and help them make valuable connections with one another. The community that veterans find at health centers across the country is what makes Freitas so passionate about her job and so determined to make an impact in veterans’ lives.  

“People come to health centers for health enhancement and specific concerns like that,” Freitas said. “But that’s just one part of it, they also want to be a part of a community, and that’s what I’m trying to support – create a community.” 

Another benefit of Freitas’ job is that she’s encouraged to pursue continuing education opportunities. Since she works in veterans’ healthcare, Freitas thought going back to school for a master’s in a healthcare-related field would be a good way to expand her career opportunities and grow as a healthcare provider. As an army veteran, Freitas can also make use of the Post 9/11 GI Bill, a type of military benefit that helps pay for veterans’ education. But, by the time Freitas started researching programs, she only had two years left to use her benefits before they expired, so she needed to make a decision about a master’s program relatively quickly. 

Though Freitas was not initially sold on the idea of getting a master’s online, as she considered her options, the idea of a flexible, virtual program started to sound more appealing, especially since it meant she wouldn’t have to leave her job or move away from the San Francisco Bay Area, her longtime home. After some research, she came across Purdue University’s online Master of Public Health program – a virtual degree with a concentration in family and community health that’s professionally accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) and recognized by the federal service. 

Freitas was not initially familiar with the Purdue name, but she knew people that were. Her mother had worked for Lockheed Martin putting together equipment for spacesuits in the Gemini and Apollo space programs, including equipment for Neil Armstrong, one of Purdue’s most famous alumni. When Freitas realized Armstrong was a Purdue alum, she started to get more excited about the prospect of becoming a Purdue alum herself.  

“When I researched Purdue, I realized it was this huge school with a huge name and history,” Freitas said. “That’s when it all started to click – I was going to get a degree from this place where all of these big names had studied, and I was pumped.”  

When Freitas started her program, she was commuting a couple of hours to work every day and then coming home to tackle her coursework. She’d been out of school for a long time and the adjustment was challenging, but she credits the program’s strong organization and her built-in support network with helping her chart a path to success. 

“The classes were really well structured, and everything had to be completed in a specific order, so that helped take most of the uncertainty away and kept me on track,” Freitas said. “My advisor signed me up for all the classes I needed, and that was super helpful because it was one less thing I had to worry about.” 

Freitas was also happy to find that the program was exactly as it was advertised – an intensive upskilling opportunity for working professionals who wanted to build career skills. It focused on practical knowledge and giving students the tools they needed to develop, plan and execute public health strategies focused on their area of interest. 

“My professors really focused on teaching us skills we could use,” Freitas said. “Even something like reading academic papers – I had a class where we just hyper-focused on organizing information in academic articles and understanding the main takeaways. It’s a skill I ended up using all the time.” 

One of Freitas favorite parts of the program was getting to focus on veterans’ healthcare. In all her classes, she could customize her projects to fit within her career goals, so she focused on issues important to veterans’ health like preventative healthcare, substance use and other relevant topics. She was also able to add a concentration in family and community health to her degree, which fit perfectly with her goal to create strong veteran communities. 

“Every class I took, there was a way to apply the projects to my field,” Freitas said. “I’m on the preventative side of healthcare, so I was able to research things like smoking cessation, delivering preventative programs, and exploring the social factors that affect veterans’ health, which really helped me expand my understanding of the field.” 

Throughout her program, Freitas looked forward to being able to apply what she was learning in her job as a health and wellness coach. Now that she’s graduated, she’s been able to do just that. Recently, she put together a communication plan for her department focused on increasing feedback from veterans. Her plan has already been successful in improving the quality of feedback from veterans and strengthening existing communication channels.  

“My master’s has really added an extra layer of confidence in my job,” Freitas said. “I have a better way of showing how the program could change, evaluating it from the perspective of patients, and identifying what veterans’ need and want.” 

Getting a master’s has also shown Freitas what she’s capable of. It was a lot of long hours spent doing homework late into the evening, but now her master’s degree is hung behind the desk where she completed all her assignments – a perfect reminder of how far she’s come.  

“It feels good to be in the master’s club,” Freitas said. “Being able to look at that degree on the wall makes it all feel real.”

To learn more about Purdue’s online Master of Public Health, please visit the program’s webpage.