Health Promotion And Disease Prevention In The United States

The U.S. Public Health system is still growing, building up on its existing structure, improving and has created acts and organizations which still exist today. During its time, it has helped numerous people such as seamen in its earlier days to the health checks at Ellis Island and to more recent acts such as vaccines and controlling infectious diseases. But even with those contributions and the countless lives saved, it also has many weaknesses due to federal and state level governments. In order for the Public Health service to flourish and gain more momentum, it must keep its strengths and build upon them as times change but in order for that to occur it also must address the numerous weakness.

For second part of reading response, I choose to report on Promoting public understanding of public health article by our professor Stephen Bezruchka. I really enjoyed reading the article he wrote about how people in the America are being less healthy than those people in other rich nations. Promoting public awareness about this topic should be high priority for all Public Health majors. Health is the most important part of human life and it surprising to me that people in America are not really doing anything to change it. Solving this problem need individual supports and public supports.

Discuss the effectiveness of a range of health promotion strategies in relation to young people (6 marks)

David Cutler & Grant Miller, (2004). The Role of Public Health Improvements in Health Advances: The 20th Century United States. Retrieved from http://scholar.harvard.edu/cutler/files/cutler_miller_cities.pdf

Healthcare in early America was not based on scientific medicine and healthcare facilities were limited to “at home” care. The view of health care was focused on epidemics of acute infections related to poor food, water, housing and sanitation resulting limited to untrained physicians an d nurses that were inadequate to provide sustainable life saving care (Williams & Torrens, 2008). Since health care was limited to the home or charity, very little progress was made to on the prevention of diseases. During the early 1800’s towns like North Carolina had no way to combat the spread of diseases like small pox, therefore their only option was to introduce maritime quarantine that would later lay the groundwork for advances in control measures for epidemic diseases (Watson, 2013). These measures helped limit the spread of the disease but failed to address disease management. However the advancement of medical schools such as Harvard

Equality in everything, including health issues, has to be the main feature of the modern world. National health programs of the US operate to ensure adequate and timely treatment of all citizens. Nevertheless, health indicators of some racial and ethnic groups are significantly worse than of the white Americans. It applies to the Hispanic Americans and significantly affects their lives. The current health status of this minority is far from satisfactory and needs improvements through existing programs and the development of new approaches to address

There are three levels of health care prevention in which the American Indians and Alaskan Natives can use to improve their common disparities. The primary level of prevention is used to prevent diseases or conditions from occurring. The second level of prevention is used to reduce the extent of a existing disease within a community or population, and the tertiary level of prevention is used to slow down the impact of a disease or illness that may have lasting effects. For this group of the minorities the primary prevention is most effective by preventive health implementations for individuals and communities through access to healthcare, immunization, nutrition information, tobacco cessation, and substance abuse, among many other preventive measures (Institute for Work,

The United States is one of the richest countries in the world, yet the health care system is not something that the government wants to pay for. The United States has private insurers that pay for health insurance, instead of being a single-payer system like a majority of the world. A single-payer system is when the Government pays for the health insurance without the help of private insurers. Although it is not the best, health care in the United States has improved. An earlier practice of medicine was when anyone could perform medical needs like surgery. You did not need to pass any board exams or need a license. In the 1850s, there was a hospital system that was finally developed, but the only problem was that the care provides were untrained. In 1847 the American Medical Association, AMA, was created to set standards of medical education. Public health also changed in the 1800s with three important events happened. Those events included Edwin Chadwick, who founded one of the most important documents in public health, General Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain. John Snow then did research and founded that the contaminated water in London was the cause of the cholera epidemic in London. And then, based of off Chadwick’s and Snow’s findings, Lemual Shattuck generated a public health law that is now the foundation of the public health movement. In the 1950s, there was government grants that helped support medical schools. In 1970,

The next interview was of an Asian American family. This is a military family, the father meet, married and brought back to the United States a 23 year old Vietnamese woman. Family is vital to this Asian American family and respect is expected. Over the years, the mother has adapted to some western ways but maintains certain culture values and passed them on to her children. Diet plays a huge part in their health maintenance and protection. The diet manly consists of rice, vegetables and fish. Along with diet, exercise and staying fit is a big part of their ethnic background. The mother stated to me “Don’t you see all the Asian ladies at the gym? We take pride in staying fit.” To them their body is a temple and needs to be cared for. Spirituality of mind body and soul is another significant part of their health. Partaking in meditation, massage therapy and acupuncture are ways to rid the body of imbalance and place it back in balance to fight illness and diseases. Illness may be attributed to organic or physical problems an imbalance of yin and yang, an obstruction of chi (life energy), a failure to be in harmony with nature, punishment for immoral behavior (in this or past lives), or a curse placed by an offended spirit ("Vietnamese Cultural Profile — EthnoMed," n.d.). While this family is westernized in some ways, by going to the doctor and

Health promotion and disease prevention is a fairly new trend designed to preserve the health of Americans based on a public-private partnership (Williams & Torrens, 2008). Preventative care must be contemplated ahead of time, even when no symptoms are present (WFR, n.d.). Being educated and actively practicing preventive care is the best way to prevent diseases in the first place.

Decades earlier, Americans biggest threats were infectious diseases. People did not know how they came about or how to treat them. Throughout the 19th century health was defined as the balance

I received lot of information from the last week discussion forum about health promotion and diseases prevention .Even though we know about the healthy life style, diet habits most time it’s hard to follow by simply saying excuses. Practice what we preach is the hard part. An obese health provider advising his or her patients calculating BMI and informing patients that your BMI is above the grid may keep smile on patients face same like health minister asking followers to lead a healthy life style without doing so .As health care providers we try to be model for that setting up realistic goals are essential .Until I read the last week topic I was not familiar with meal plate or salads bar ,as well more conscious about menu plan ,calorie check

Health promotion utilises theories and models to guide practice. A theory is the general principles of a framework of ideas in regards to a particular topic. (Merriam-webster.com, 2016) A model is a set plan of action based on theoretical ideas to achieve a set goal. (Merriam-webster.com, 2016)

Health is defined as a state in which human needs are met in an autonomic way, and is not limited to the absence of disease or disablement (V. Henderson). Optimal health is a lively, self-motivated equilibrium of physical, intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and social well-being. The concept of health promotion delineates the method of empowering people to increase control over, and to advance their own overall health.

“The major goals of health promotion are to help people of all ages stay healthy, optimize health in cases of chronic disease or disability, and create healthy environments” (Pender et al., 2015). This health promotion project is designed to identify and reduce the risk factors associated with several illnesses and disease processes. This project will focus on changing lifestyle behaviors and providing up to date education for the patient to make the best informed decision regarding her environment, health behaviors, and developing a support system with her primary care physician.