Cruisin’ Through Work
Talsma Works For Cruise Line
Mariah Talsma has a job that many people dream about! She is working for a cruise line – which means, yes, she gets to go on cruise after cruise around the world aboard a luxury ocean liner.
Mariah is a 2016 graduate of Southwest MN Christian High School.
When Mariah started college at Winona State University, she didn’t know that public health was a field of study either. She was not enjoying her business classes so she started to look into the health field. “I didn’t want to be a nurse but I enjoyed health and wellness,” she said. “Then I stumbled upon public health. There were three emphasis options at my college – health education and promotion, epidemiology, and health administration. Once I dug a bit deeper into the potential jobs options, I finally decided on health education and promotion.” For the last two years of college, Mariah worked with in-home care for disabled adults. When she graduated last May, she started to look for a full time job. What does the public health officer do? Mariah’s job is to ensure that the employees on the ship are compliant with all the rules and regulations that govern the health and safety areas of the cruise ship. She is in charge of training, oversight, implementation, and oversight of the pubic health programs. All the employees on the ship need to follow the rules and guidelines in two programs– the Global Health, Environment, Safety, and Security Program (HESS), and the Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP). They have a biannual inspection to confirm whether these rules are being followed on each individual ship. 
Some examples of how they lose points would be improper cleaning practices, too high of chlorine levels found in pools, lack of pest management, broken equipment that has not been reported, etc.
After the inspection is done the ship is given a score that determines whether they passed or failed the inspection. If they fail the inspection three times in a row, the ship would be forced to stop operation.
Throughout her work week, Mariah is busy inspecting the ship herself. “I use my knowledge of proper procedure to identify any discrepancies,” she said. “Once I have thoroughly observed the area, I take any findings and create a Public Health Report.” This report details all her findings, the proper procedures for fixing the problem, and any recommendations she has for corrective action.
She is also in charge of disease prevention on the ship – which can be a really big job when there are 4,000 people on the ship at one time. Each day’s tasks are completely different. Throughout the week, she has a list of tasks that need to be completed throughout the ship’s voyage. If there are deficiencies that are discovered, she needs to address those and make sure that everyone is brought back into compliance. The scope of her oversight includes the entire ship – from the pool and deck area, to food and beverage, medical, housekeeping, pest control, and even within the engine room.
COVID-19 has changed things a lot on cruise ships. All the procedures that were already in place have been enhanced to accommodate the pandemic including increased sanitation, mask wearing for the crew at all times, constant social distancing, and a decrease in the number and size of social events.
