Public Health At Campbell University

My interest in public health was piqued in the midst of my adolescence. The idea germinated with fearsome speed; after a series of fainting spells, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor and entered surgery one week later. As I lay bandaged and recuperating, I began to ponder my great fortune: I was alive, thanks to the skilled hands of the Chief of Neurosurgery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Even as a young teenager, I could appreciate the scale of my privilege, and that many others would suffer tumors worse than mine thanks to carcinogenic environmental factors and a lack of access to quality healthcare. In a most unlikely way, my residence in this particular hospital setting was the catalyst for falling in love with this environment.

Public Health is an interesting topic. Many people may not understand the purpose of Public health, it is a fairly new field although it has been around since the 1800’s. Before being introduced to the the field, I was clueless and never knew such a subject existed. Going into college with dubious decisions on my major within the pre-med program I knew I wanted to help people and the society, but was unsure what to major in.

During my undergraduate career at Florida A&M University, I discovered the Public Health graduate school program and I knew this would be a perfect way to make health and diseases, infectious and otherwise, fit into my future plans while expanding my horizons. I have the desire to be one of the movers in the healthcare field, finding answers to the never-ending questions as to why certain diseases are prevalent and others are not. I want to be the person that researches, plans, and executes healthcare programs and policies that will ultimately improve the healthcare field in America. I naturally see myself as a leader and I know that the field of Public Health will help me sharpen my skills as well as bring out the leader that I know I am.

In the state of Louisiana there are a great deal of health care concerns. These health care concerns need to be brought up and discussed because the future of Louisiana’s health care system depends on it. It is essential that there is something done for the prevention and quality of care for these health care concerns. Having a healthy lifestyle will help to prevent short life spans and increase longevity of ones life. The health care concerns of Louisiana are asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, infant mortality, and obesity. A lot of residents seem unaware of the health concerns Louisianans face on a daily basis. Which cause high number of deaths due to health concerns.

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).

According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2015), the social determinants of health are conditions in the environments that affect the lifestyles of people. For people living in rural America, typically experience a life of farming or country life. The health care accessibility in rural areas of the United States are face with some difficulties such as sparsely populated areas that are isolated from main health care facilities in inner cities in order to receive emergency treatment. The federal funding to enhance quality of life can have a significant influence rural population health outcome. The availability of local emergency and health services are key in

Considerably public health has developed over many years and changes occurred over time reflecting concerns on the health of the nation during each period. This changes have produced the public health system that is in place till this present time. The early reformers of social and economic conditions played a huge impact in balancing the health status of the nation in a way that, every individual will benefit from it. Health professionals increase their medical knowledge greatly relative to how diseases where spread and also various progress where made in helping to decrease the incidence of the contagious disease which killed several people.

I am concerned with preventive health-care policies and how a proactive approach to disease can alleviate the disparities and prevalence of disease distributions. Furthermore, I want to effect change at the community level as opposed to the individual. I believe that a Master's of Public Health degree is a natural fit for me, one that will provide me with the big picture of health-care that I seek. Additionally, I believe that my interests and career aspirations will be best suited for the Epidemiology focus of Public Health. This advanced degree will give me the tools to strive for my career

I have had the unique opportunity to learn about the healthcare experiences of medically underserved communities. When I volunteered at free clinics, I noticed that rural populations did not have access to appropriate healthcare services. Our patients were primarily from the local Latino and African American community, and I saw how certain health conditions (e.g., diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, etc.) disproportionately impacted these patients. The lack of appropriate medical care was what contributed to these disparities, but I realized that we could promote health and wellness through patient education and community outreach. As a medical student at Saint Louis University, I hope to volunteer at the Health Resource Center, where I can provide medical care to local residents. I also wish to educate people about healthy lifestyle behaviors. From my perspective, empowering patients through health education is especially important because it encourages them to actively participate in their health care. These efforts would ultimately help bridge the gap between healthcare and health

Part of my duties as a fellow was developing curriculum and serve as the Community Health Main Faculty for a summer program called “Student/Resident Experience and Rotations in Community Health (SEARCH)”. The program created under the direction of one of my mentors Dr. Barbara Richardson provided an opportunity for first year medical and graduate students to intern and live in diverse communities throughout the state of Florida. The internship focused on different chronic health conditions and was located at a variety of health clinics. I served as the lead Community Health Faculty member and helped create the public health component to increase students’ awareness of community health needs. Interns were placed into a group I the clinics and worked together on the community needs assessment. It would have been simple to have the students write a short paper but we thought this task would not be interactive. For this essay, I’m going to focus on one portion of the internship related to the health needs

However, I came to realize that while public health research promoted specific guidelines, in the end, it was the people on the ground, mainly physicians, who had the greatest impact on people’s lives. It was then that I began thinking about serving as a translator of information, as a physician, rather than an author of public health policies. Therefore, when applying to medical school, I specifically chose schools that promoted preventative healthcare with a strong emphasis on teaching the biopsychosocial aspect of medicine in underserved areas.

Sixty million people or 19% of the total US population reside in rural communities that continually face numerous challenges to health care that remains too fragmented, making the healthcare system too costly, less effective and less accessible (Enthoven, 2009). One of the approaches to address the fragmentation (Enthoven, 2009) is creating healthcare delivery system that is organized, coordinated, and working in a collaborative network linking various healthcare providers to addresses behavioral, social, economic, and environmental determinants of health. The residents in the rural communities face what some refer to as “double disparities”: they tend to exhibit risky health behaviors, and are characterized by limited resources, which in turn lead to poor health outcomes, (Harris, JK, et al. 2016). In addition, deficits in infrastructures and capacities mean many have limited access to the available opportunities in terms of funding through private, federal, or state grants (Berkowitz, 2004); this in turn increases the gaps in public health capacities between rural and urban communities. Even after accounting for differences in poverty and health care supply, compared to urban residents, residents in rural areas are also less likely to have access to preventive care measures such as cholesterol, cervical cancer, and dental screening (Caldwell JT, et al., 2016). Access to high quality population health services is further limited to residents in rural

Chapter 6 discusses how public health is important work and how the people who carry out that work contribute substantially to the health status and quality of life of the individuals, families and communities they serve (Turnock, 2016). When most people think of public health, they equate it with emergencies like natural disasters or the response to acute disease outbreaks. The declining mortality rates and subsequent increase life spans, due in large part to public health efforts, goes unnoticed to the general population (Turnock, 2016). Without the contributions of dedicated public health workers, the state of general community health, would be far from what we enjoy today. The progression of public health is evident, even if ambiguous in description; public health workers are real and tangible (Turnock, 2016). This brings an interesting point to the

Though not presently practicing, my long term goal is to provide primary care to the underserved rural population in my home state of West Virginia. Due to health disparities, this population is plagued by preventable disease. West Virginia is commonly referred to as the fattest state in the country. Along with Mississippi, it ranks number one for obesity prevalence in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2013). Along with obesity comes commonly associated comorbidities. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, and various cancers contribute to increased rates of mortality which are also significantly higher than those of the United States as a whole (West Virginia Bureau of Public Health, West Virginia Health and Human Resources, 2012). Rates of preventable disease among the state’s minorities as well as reported cases of obesity among youth are higher than national prevalence (West Virginia Bureau of Public Health, West Virginia Health and Human Resources, 2012).

I certify that the attached assignment is my own work and that any material drawn from other sources has been acknowledged. This work has not previously been submitted for assessment in any other unit or course.