Meigs Health Today: Sanitarian in Training

By Daschele Facemyer, SIT

Sanitarian: (san·i·tar·i·an) an official responsible for public health or a person in favor of public health reform.

I have been employed by the Meigs County Health Deptartment as a SIT since March 2020. What is it like to be a sanitarian in training (SIT)? As a sanitarian in training, you take all of the roles of a registered sanitarian, but are under the supervision of a register sanitarian. Before anyone could become a registered sanitarian, they must register to be a sanitarian in training. There is a two-year time period when a sanitarian in training can take the exam issued by the State of Ohio to become a registered sanitarian.

A sanitarian in training needs to learn all of the food codes for food inspections at local grocery stores/delis, restaurants, convenient stores or mobile food trucks. Another inspection a sanitarian in training will need to learn is campground inspections. During campground inspections, there is a list of campground laws and rules provided by the Ohio Department of Health. The big thing to learn while being a sanitarian in training is learning all about the sewage treatment rules provided by the Ohio Department of Health. A sanitarian in training must know these rules for septic system inspections, designing systems, knowing how these systems work, and providing information to the public. Other responsibilities a sanitarian in training is responsible for are dealing with public health nuisances, public swimming pools, health and safety inspections for schools, mosquito surveillance, rabies investigations and animal bites.

The most important thing a sanitarian in training needs to learn is working with public. You must have good communication skills and be able to provide the public with the answers and information they need to know when asking.