How Public Health System Helps Improve The Quality Of Life And Health Of People

Prevention and wellness is a key focus in public health services. In Title Four of the PPACA, “prevention interventions are of two key types: services provided to individuals in clinical settings (e.g., cancer screenings), and programs and services provided to communities (e.g., ad campaigns about exercise)” (Redhead & Williams, 2010, p. 30). Many programs have formed in the hope of creating a comprehensive approach to prevention.

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.

While both medical care and public health work to improve the lives of many people, there are several distinctions between the two fields. Healthcare providers such as nurses and doctors are responsible for diagnosing and treating illnesses for individual patients. The care ranges from minor injuries to severe and chronic diseases. Meanwhile, public health strives to improve the well-being of a population. Public health advocates for the overall “promotion and prevention” of diseases before it even becomes an issue for healthcare providers. Public health encourages people to adopt healthy lifestyle choices and strives to control the outbreak of diseases. Although public health is often overlooked in the grand scale of medical care, it is undoubtedly the main aspect in ensuring that the overall health of a community is prospering.

There is a high percentage of chronic diseases that could be prevented if the community had more education, or participated in the education in the health department. In this county, there is an 11.9% of families living below the poverty level. These families cannot afford health insurance or access to the health care facilities that are in the surrounding towns, due to lack of transportation or funds. The rate of respiratory rated deaths in Baker County is 75% higher than the average for Florida (Health D. o., 2014). After conducting my interview with this family, I learned that there were several health concerns for this aggregate that were related to their dietary habits, lack of exercise and tobacco use. In Baker County there is a high rate of smoking at 28% and 70% state they have tried to quit at least once (Johns, 2010). The air pollutions ozone days is zero, with daily fine particulate matter @ 9.4% (Health F. D., 2012).

We’ve come to an understanding that the traditional approaches to tackling health issues aren’t very effective due to the varying factors that are embedded in social and economic barriers that certain communities and populations may experience because their sex, gender, race, disabilities etc. A prevention strategy that is focused at the macro/societal level, would be through taking a social determinants of health approach to reducing health inequalities. The social determinants of health influence the health of populations and acknowledges the factors that shape health is by the living conditions they experience. These influencing factors include, income and social status; social support networks; education; employment/working conditions;

This paper focuses on describing the BSPH interdisciplinary and cross-cutting competencies that comprises the frameworks of public health, communication in public health practices, diversity and culture, and professionalism. The frameworks of public health practices focuses on the prevention of diseases and the health of the various communities. Public health officials seek to conduct research to enhance prevention. Officials also focus on investigating the public health problem that allows them to detect and control infectious diseases that may affect the health of a population. Investigating the problems may also aid in determining the magnitude, scope, and the characteristics of a public health threat. Planning, implementing, and

Just like with every program, service, or systems in place, not all is perfect. There are many challenges that can make it an obstacle. For our nation, it is the gaps between the most susceptible citizens in regards to “illness, injury, risk behaviors, use of preventive health services, exposure to environmental hazards, and premature death” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011).

The Community Guide (TCG) is a website offering a plethora of resources useful to community health workers (Truman, Smith-Akin, Hinman, et al., 2000). It is one place in which professionals may seek information on which interventions do and do not work. The literature provided is valid and backed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other supporting organizations, agencies, and researchers. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) established this resource, also known as The Community Preventive Services Task Force, in 1996. As mentioned above, the original goal was to simply provide communities with interventions for disease prevention and health promote on in regards to what does and does not

The CDC Foundation defines public health as the science of protecting and improving the health of families and communities through healthy lifestyles promotion, research for disease and injury prevention and detection and control of infectious diseases (CDC Foundation). Public health focuses on providing healthy conditions for the entire population. The key three main functions of public health are: monitoring the health of at risk populations to identify health problems, formulating public policies to solve national health issues, and assuring that everyone has healthcare equity, quality and accessibility. Currently it is a wide range of public health campaigns such as: clean drinking water, safe job sites, motor-vehicle safety, and safe sex

In public health, as in many fields there are a set of conundrums that practitioners, leaders and law makers have to address in order to provide the most appropriate service to their populations. One of these conundrums is the battle between what is good for the community vs. what is good for the individual. This topic will be broken up to the community vs. the individual, and discussed based on research done by Kass et al, and Oriola, and will be concluded by presenting possible solutions.

These methods can also be used to improve public health in other communities as well. The most important lesson I take away from this examination is the effect that community involvement can have on improving public health. The success of programs in my community will have a much better chance of success if the public is actively involved. Any public health initiatives in my community should use a strategic thought process to ensure that methods are effective in addressing the health issue that they address. These programs should also attempt to educate and empower people to ensure they have the proper tools to be

The promotion of health within communities is just as important as disease prevention within that community, or the work environment, and not just the medical facility. Disease prevention, early intervention, education, communication are all required to help strive for wellness. These endeavors can significantly assist those individuals or communities at risk of or are currently experiencing health problems. Medical facilities already have strict guidelines which they are to follow to aid in the prevention or spread of disease or infection; but none of us live in a bubble or autoclave our eating utensils. We are dependent on our community treatment plants to keep our drinking water safe so that we remain healthy, but not everyone is so lucky, so education is the key to keeping everyone worldwide

Population health is also described as a field of study. The focus of the population health field of study is the thought process of why some populations are healthier than others. The primary goal of the population health model is to analyze social determinants, as well as to maintain and improve the health of the entire population and to reduce inequalities in health between population groups (Esterhay et al., 2014, p.7). Population health involves the formation of innovations and policies in which the health of a group of individuals are influenced. Solutions are determined based on each group to improve the health and wellness of a population. It is essential to understand the population health ecosystem to improve the health of individuals. All of the following components together form a necessary foundation of population health. The first component of the ecosystem looks at an individual’s health. It is crucial for individuals

Public health and disease prevention has been growing concern in this country, beginning with the influx of immigrants in the eighteenth century. Since that time, the policies and areas of concern have evolved and transitioned from quelling outbreaks to individual preventive care.

The 21st Century has seen the healthcare system struggle with challenges such as an increase in chronic conditions, an increase in government spending on public health, and emerging threats such as global health security and antibiotic resistance. On the positive side, more people have gained access to care. To deal with these emerging issues as well as existing challenges, we need an effective public health workforce. The public health has the role of protecting the health of citizens. This could be through health promotion and lobbying for increased access to care. To address the problem of the rise in chronic ailments, public health has a role of creating awareness on chronic conditions, their symptoms and management. This is because these conditions are expensive to treat and drain the resources of patients and their families. Public health should therefore educate the public on the importance of screening and conduct these screening services for early diagnosis and prevention of chronic diseases. Another role of public health in the 21st Century is to provide and use evidence based practice in providing clinical services. This would help in addressing some of the emerging challenges such as antibiotic resistance.