Chapter 16

As a group, we feel that environmental health is extremely important for our nation to realize all of the conditions which affects our health and well-being. There are many different problems which all fall under the heading of environmental health while there are still many more which have not been identified yet. Environmental hazards can be classified as biological, chemical, physical, psychological, social, or natural hazards. Even though we, as a nation, can't control many of the natural hazards which occur, it is important there are things implemented which can help control and be ready for a hazard once it comes.
The chapter brought up a great point in stating the worldwide population growth constitutes a potential serious problem and hazard for all. As the populations continue to grow, it becomes more of a hazard because of all the issues surrounding overpopulation. It is important for people to individually do whatever they can to conserve energy and resources. Even though it will not be a direct impact now, it will be beneficial down the road.

Chapter 7

This chapter discusses maternal, infant, and child health. The United States has made a dramatic improvement in decreasing the infant mortality rate; however, we are still one of the countries with the highest rate. Half of the pregnancies are unintended in the United States. This affects the children because some women may not realize they are pregnant so they are not receiving the prenatal health care necessary. This may lead to fetal alcohol syndrome for a lot of children. I found the fact that our country is 28th in infant mortality is outrageous because our medical system is one of the most advanced in the world. We are receiving funding from title nine and the establishment of family planning clinics has started to improve the maternal and child health of our nation.

Chapter 18

As a group, we realized outside of home, people spend the next largest portion of time at work so it's important for the workplaces to be safe. It is scary to realize that every day approximately 16 people die from work related injuries and many more die from work related diseases. Even though it is nice to have a job and we realize some jobs are just not safe (truck drivers, etc), it is important for people to put their safety and health above everything.
Also, it is important for people to follow certain guidelines and apply a variety of injury prevention strategies to ensure workplaces are safe. For example, people could eliminate a dangerous job, change the work environment, use safer machinery, and improve the selection and training of workers. Unsafe workplaces can be prevented or changed to make sure people are safe spending a lot of time at work. Far too often, there are schools leaving chemicals for too long in a room or unmanaged which can cause a lot of harmful effects to people and the surroundings.

Chapter 10 SLAM

This chapter is all about diversity and the strengths in it. The fedreal government has recently categorized the U.S population into five racial groups...American Indian or Alaska Native, Aian, black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacifi Islander, and white...and two ethnic groups (Hispanic or Latino and non-Hispanic or Latino). The reporting of accurate and complete raceand ethnicity data provides esssential information to target and evaluate publi health inventions aimed at minority populations. All cultural and ethnic groups hold concepts related to health and illness and associated practices for maintaining well-being or providing treatment when it is indicated.
Socioeconomic status has been considered the most influential single contributor to premature morbidity and mrotality by many public health researchers. Research in the llast couple of decades indicates that the relationship between SES and health occurs at every socioeconomic level and for a broad range of SES indicators. This relationship between SES and health can be described as a gradient.

Chapter 15

There are both natural and human-made hazards that threaten habitats, climates, and the health of individuals or communities of organisms. As people, we can’t control the natural hazards which happen throughout the world, but we can try to be prepared for them in case something would happen. As a country, during hazards such as Hurricane Katrina, etc, many people and organizations really did all they could to help victims. Even though we can’t control natural hazards, we can control the human-made hazards which are the most disturbing to me as a person. We should want to preserve these areas to keep these animals around as long as possible.
Also, another thing that bothered us is how much pollution happening throughout the world. We need to do a better job of carpooling, not littering, saving water, etc. Like we went over in class on Monday, it takes a little bit of effort from everyone to make a difference. For example, if every single person tries to do their part in the world, our world will be a lot more of a clean place to live. Both of these issues about our environment need to be controlled or some really bad things will happen, if not.

Chapter 14

The first thing that jumped off the page in chapter 14 was the part in the beginning when it talks about the fact that Whites' or Caucasians' actually are more likely to receive health care services at a higher level than those of a minority. It is very racist and it shouldn't be tolerated or accepted as a fact of life. Another interesting part of the chapter seemed to uncover one of the major flaws in the U.S health care structure; the millions of people who have jobs and keep their families barely above the poverty line yet cannot afford to pay for Medicaid and the middle class families who can't afford health care/insurance. One of the steps to improving U.S Health care would be filling these gaps and finding a way to get these people proper health care that can be paid for. Also,m making the payment system a simpler one might entice those who have never sought proper health care to do so. Right now paying for the care one needs comes from to many different levels. The book puts it in perspective pretty well when it says, "Most Americans pay three or four times for health care: 'we pay once through taxes, a second time through insurance premiums and co-payments, a third time through supplemental insurance, and a fourth time through the cost of products we buy.'" This is actually talking about those fortunate enough to possess adequate health insurance; so one can imagine why people like the 'working poor' are unable or uninterested in obtaining proper health care.

Chapter 14

Chapter 14 discusses the health care system here in America. We provide two major health care insurance programs in the United States which are Medicare and Medicaid. The majority of Americans are covered by some form of managed care; however there are issues of concerns that pertain to this system, the cost, access, and quality triangle. This leads to barriers to access health care because there is a lack of health insurance, insufficient insurance, and poverty within our population. The United States is the only developed country without national health insurance. We must reform our Health Care because it has only gotten worse and worse. I am not sure what works for Canada, and other countries will work for us, but we need to do something different because what we are doing is not working well or efficiently. This is a problem many people are afraid to discuss, we just need to get out in the open and start solving it.

Chapter 13

Chapter 13 covered the structure of our Health Care System. Since the health care system has been created, it has evolved tremendously. Back to when it first was present, the primary care was an independent country doctor who made house calls; it has now evolved into a complex trillion dollar industry. The health care system can be broken down into four domains of practice- population-based public health practice, medical practice, long-term practice, and end-of-life practice. These practices correlate appropriately to the severity of the illness. These services are performed in many different settings, including practitioners’ offices, clinics, hospitals, rehab centers, ambulances, and long-term care facilities. Although our health care system provides adequate help for those who need it, I think it might be a little too complex. It could be thought of by some people overwhelming causing them to stay away from these services; however, it is pretty amazing to see how far the health care system has evolved over time.

Chapter 12

The abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs are a major problem in community health, but in my eyes, it’s the most upsetting. Personally, I don’t find any of it necessary to enjoy life which humans have been given. It is extremely important schools have implemented an effective substance abuse prevention plan. Students need to be educated more on these issues because there is a lot of peer pressure in the schools and communities, and students need to know and be willing to say no if they want to. Teachers need to inform students more about these issues, not just on the effects. For example, teachers could bring in guest speakers with a traumatic incident, field trips, and projects can be done, etc. There are many ways students can learn and be moved by information regarding alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. Our group agreed all of issues are extremeley controversial in regards to them being legal or illegal, etc.

In this Chapter they talk

SLAM Chapter 5

In chapter 5 they talk about two things that are needed to make community health successful. Those two things are the skills to organize a community and to plan a health promotion program.
Community organizing is a process through which communities are helped to identify common problems or goals, mobilize resources, and in other ways develop and implement strategies for reaching their goals that they have collectively set.
A point that was brought up throughout our discussion was that many hands make light work. Health organizations need to communicate with each other and work together in order to be successful. The more people who have the same goal and work with eachother to reach that goal, the more likely that goal will be accomplished.
The steps in the program planning process include assessing the needs of the priority population, setting appropriate goals and objectives, creating an intervention that considers the peculiarities of the setting, implementing the intervention, and evaluation the results.

Chapter 3 & 4

Chapter 3 focused primarily on the overview of epidemiology which is the study of the distribution and determinants of disease and injuries in the community. They want to know the details surrounding the sicknesses. This profession encompasses a lot of mathematical data which makes it interesting. We've never fully understood everything an epidemiologist does until we finished reading this chapter. Also, a lot of definitions were provided in these chapters which we never knew which helped us gain knowledge! It definitely seems like a busy and interesting profession. Also, we learned a lot about all the different studies and surveys done to collect data. The purpose of the three different types of studies is to determine the cause of injury, disease, and death in the community and to provide information which will assist in controlling current outbreaks and preventing future ones. These studies are a source of primary prevention as a way of educating people to make the right decisions based on the data provided.
In Chapter 4, we learned there are different types of diseases: acute and chronic. Acute diseases last for less than three months while chronic diseases can last longer than three months. Also, they can be classified as communicable (infectious) or noncommunicable (noninfectious). The noncommunicable diseases are the ones we should be worried about because many of them are some leading causes of death. It is important to realize that diseases can be significantly reduced by using primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. An example of these would be educating people (primary), screening (secondary), and re-educating people (tertiary). It takes both individual and community efforts to reduce diseases though which will end up making deaths not so common from these diseases. The development of knowledge about disease is quite obvious in both of these chapters. With technology and this type of knowledge, we hope people will start finding cures easier and making right choices to eliminate possible diseases.

Chapter 2 Response

Chapter two was more or less describing the different health departments our country has created. The biggest department is the Department of Health and Human Services. Although that is our biggest department, it is unfortunately one of the many our country provides. Most people would think it is a really good thing that we have all of these departments and services that focus on health, well to their disbelief, it has actually been more harm than good. Having a system so array has caused a lack of education to the public of what is offered. We have created a system that is so complex that these departments have not been to our benefit. Perhaps the government should consider combining many of these departments into a larger, more accessible department. People would be more aware of what is offered out there to help them. And maybe, just maybe, they will name this new conduced department of health SLAM. We'll see.

Chapter 1 Response

Chapter one defined four factors that impact a persons overall health: physical, social and cultural, community organizations, and individual behaviors. This chapter depicts the development of health throughout our past centuries. For example, in the eighteenth century the first vaccine was found. Throughout the nineteenth century the idea of public health was formed. Finally, in the twentieth century the idea of health became more concrete through the creation of governmental departments which provided support and health services for the public. One of the main issues our group was concerned about was the fact that we should focus more on putting health facilities in places where it is more necessary. Generally speaking, impoverished areas are the places where health is the worst; however, they do not usually have the funding to have health facilities or services there. It's just an idea that we think our country should focus on and hopefully it can improve as time goes on.