Employer and Community Resources
Student Internship Requirements
Students completing one of our five occupational gerontology degrees must complete three units of work experience. If an internship is unpaid, they must work 60 hours per unit, and if it is paid, they must work 75 hours. Students are expected to prepare a resume and go through an internship application process as rehearsal for job seeking after graduation.
Students are encouraged to find at least one internship placement in a setting that provides experience related to their degree specialization (Administration, Advocacy and Social Policy, Case Management and Social Services, Geriatric Health Care, and Recreation).
The state of California funds community college internship programs and therefore, all internship sites must agree to complete paperwork required by the state and provide interns with adequate supervision. Most of the paperwork is prepared by the student and reviewed and signed by their supervisor such as the internship plan and goals and timesheets. Naturally the intern evaluation is prepared by the supervisor.
Supervision requirements vary based on the setting and type of placement. Interns must have access to their supervisor, in person or by phone, when they are working, and their supervisor must be the same person throughout the internship. Due to liability issues, internships that require students to be placed in client homes must be paid internships.
Becoming an internship site is simple. Click the link below and complete the Google form to tell us about your internship opportunity. Your internship will remain on the list until you ask us to remove it and you can add multiple internship listings.
Once you are on the list, students who are looking for internships like yours in your area will begin reaching out to you. Typically, you will hear from candidates in June and July for internships in the fall semester, October and November for spring semesters, and April and May for summer semester.
REQUEST TO BECOME AN INTERNSHIP SITE
Service learning is an educational strategy that places students in situations where they can apply or practice what they are learning while they in a course. For example, an entire class may meet at a facilities and put on an event for the residents. Because our program is online, we are seeking service-learning partners willing to connect our online students with their residents and clients who might benefit from visiting with a students. We also have a student club that would benefit from having a new ongoing opportunity for service-learning.
If you have an idea for service-learning, complete the Google form below. The gerontology faculty will review your idea and contact you as they plan assignments for future semesters.
REQUEST TO BECOME A SERVICE-LEARNING SITE
As gerontologists, we understand the shortage of workers in residential and nursing care facilities and would be happy to connect you with unpaid internship candidates. We value our students and their time. Becoming an internship and providing the supervision and paperwork the state requires is minimal reciprocity for their time, see the internship information above.
In addition, as gerontologists, we do not support the use of volunteers to fill the workforce gap. Instead, we support an increase in care-worker pay and a reduction of the resident to caregiver ratio in facilities. Changes in these conditions would reduce the profit of large corporations; however, our concern is improving the quality of live and aging outcomes of the residents living in those facilities.
Families Seeking In-home Help
As gerontologists, we understand how hard it can be for families to find affordable help with a family member’s care or supervision. However, we cannot refer students to families seeking in-home help or refer families to students. Being a go between for those connections carries liability and we do not have the staff to facilitate making connections or to do background checks on families, to ensure student safety, or on students, to ensure the safety or your family member.
There are many agencies and organizations online and in the local community that specialize in making connections between caregivers and families. We recommend that you research those options and subscribe to the service that best meets your needs. In addition, families in Sacramento County can explore this directory of services listed by types of support. Becoming familiar with all the public support resources will often reduce the need for paid help.