The Community Health Field Experience

The year 2017 saw a lot of changes to the landscape in Metcalfe County and one little lady from Center even put us on the national news. Here are a few highlights.

Since 1980, the United States has taken on 10-year plans that outline certain key national health objectives set to be accomplished during a 10-year timeframe (Shi & Singh, 2015). These initiatives are founded on medical care with prevention services, health promotion, education, community health care, and increased access to integrated services. The initiative, Healthy People 2010: Healthy People in Healthy Communities, launched in 2000. The initiative emphasizes the role of community partners such as

As a community health nurse, I would be most interested in a focus group to assist elderly residents in developing emergency and disaster preparedness plans. I choose this population because elderly citizens face great health and safety risks when emergencies and disasters strike (Clark et al., 2003). It is important for health care practitioners to understand the needs of the elderly in the communities they serve (Barratt, 2007). There may be a need to quickly evacuate the local area and elderly residents may lack proper transportation. Some seniors may become confined to their homes in a disaster. Others may not know what to do if they lose services such as water, heat, electricity and basic communication. Proper advance planning can mean the difference between survival and suffering or death.

1. Reflect on how your perspective of the community’s health and the national, state, and local efforts toward a healthier population

The candidate provides an appropriate description, with substantial detail, of the community where the fieldwork was performed by identifying each of the 5 given items. geographical area (e.g., county, city, town)• area size• population size• demographics • physical and social environment

This program will help to bring healthcare education services closer to the people in my community. Personally, I encountered many challenges in my childhood due to poor health care services in the community. The idea of having access to a good healthcare provider was unheard of in the Latino circle because they were unreachable and expensive. Secondly, affordability of the healthcare due to high costs of having health insurance was also popular among the Latino community. For those who could access medical facilities, the challenge was related to the health insurances did not cover all their needs. These challenges were too pronounced. They influence my desire to enroll in this program because I seek to change the situation back at home. Through

As the world evolves the focus on children and their health continues to be placed on the back burner. Child obesity is at an all time high, yet the worlds focus is to come out with another TV show, another computer game, another fast food restaurant. As a physician assistant, it would be my life goal to educate the children and families on the immediate and life long dangers of continuing a life of no exercise and intake of high fat foods. These communities need a physician who understands that the drive thru is a way of life because each parent works two jobs and time together is limited. They need a physician who understands and is able to compile treatment plans that truly work with their situation, not just a plan that would suit any patient. Preventive care will cut down on overall healthcare spending by warding off diseases that strain the economy and work production. PAs believe strongly in patient education for better

Healthy People 2020 is a truly lofty project which seeks to improve the health of the entire nation, in a verifiable and drastic manner over a decade long period. Because it is a multi-year process it has a clear focus on the bigger picture, so as to demonstrate the needs and input from a diverse group of healthcare professionals. The vision of Healthy People 2020 is to create "a society in which all people live long, healthy lives" along with a proactive mission which involves the following steps, to: "Identify nationwide health improvement priorities. Increase public awareness and understanding of the determinants of health, disease, and disability and the opportunities for progress. Provide measurable objectives and goals that are applicable at the national, State, and local levels. Engage multiple sectors to take actions to strengthen policies and improve practices that are driven by the best available evidence and knowledge. Identify critical research, evaluation, and data collection needs" (healthypeople.gov, 2013). These specific missions will help the movement to achieve some of its larger goals of helping Americans to live longer, prevent diseases, disabiliries, injuries and untimely deaths; furthermore accomplishing a greater degree of health equity is also essential, as well as an elimination of disparities and a betterment of all groups who need healthcare (healthypeople.gov, 2013).

I visited Wilmington Health Access for Teens for a field experience observation. Through this experience I observed different types of people seeking care in the clinic. Some people I saw in the clinic were African American females with children and Caucasian females. People who come into the clinic are seeking medical assistance and following up on routine examination appointments. I learned of different barriers when accessing care at the clinic and types of presenting health problems among adolescents and teens. From this field experience, I learned about Wilmington Health Access for Teens health services and how they help teens improve their health and provide preventions, education and outreach services to promote optimal health

The National Institute of Health's article states that the commencement of the 21st century helped with the provision of a preview of the numerous challenges that the US would face in the coming decades. The article's areas of focus that would help change the health of America's population include the adoption of a population health approach that gives consideration to health determinants, the strengthening of the public health infrastructure of the government, the development of accountability systems to enable the assurance of the quality and availability of public health services, and others (Curry, 2005). Furthermore, the report suggests several findings that would help enhance America's public health. For instance, the article suggests that appropriate education and training should be provided to the public health workforce if America's public health is to undergo a significant evolution. Despite NIH article's findings and commitment to change America's public health, no significant efforts have been channeled towards the elimination of the health challenges faced by a huge percentage of America's population. Essentially, America is yet to realize its goals of eliminating incessant health challenges. Today, in the US, the obesity rate has soared from 27.6% to

Health prevention has become more of a focus since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and many different organizations have become involved in the pursuit of healthier lifestyles. Ethnic communities have become involved in supporting a healthier lifestyle because of the disparities that minorities have experienced with healthcare up until this point. Research has shown that minorities experience higher rates of preventable hospital stays, longer stays within healthcare facilities, and experience more medical errors with serious health consequences (Betancourt, 2014). Communities are focusing on social determinants or conditions within the environment that an individual live in to better all aspects of a healthy lifestyle (Healthy People.gov, 2016). One community based initiative that focuses on social determinants to improve health is Healthy People 2020.

A community health assessment is a fundamental instrument of public health practice. Its objective is to depict the health of the community, by presenting information on health standing, community health needs, resources, and epidemiologic and other studies of present local health problems. It seeks to recognize target populations that may be at augmented risk of poor health results and to increase a better understanding of their needs, as well as evaluates the larger community surroundings and how it relate to the health of people. It also identifies those areas where better information is desired, particularly information on health differences amid different subpopulations, quality of health care, and the incidence and severity of disabilities in the population. The Community Health Assessment is the foundation for all local public health development, giving the local health component the instance to recognize and network with key community leaders, businesses and concerned residents about health priorities and concerns. This information shapes the foundation of improving the health status of the community by way of a strategic plan (The Municipal Public Health Services Plan Community Health Assessment Guidance and Format, n.d.).

Of the numerous health disparities in the county, I am choosing to focus on healthy eating and physical fitness, gaps in access to primary care, access to

In the HLTH 305: Community Development and Engagement in Public Health course at the University of Waterloo, the final project consisted of an intervention where we had design and implement a community based activity. With this, my team and I faced a variety of obstacles in order to produce an intervention for students at the University of Waterloo. This project had multiple parts that had to be completed in order for the intervention to be a success; thus demonstrating teamwork skills will allow for successful and smoothly planned intervention in regards to the stigma surrounding homelessness in the KW region and in general. The major parts of this intervention that was focused on by our team was bringing in a guest speaker in from a homelessness

Community health nursing is a diverse discipline that works to provide equitable health care to all residents of Canada. To achieve this goal, nurses, within this discipline, aid community members in identifying public health concerns, planning feasible interventions, implementing appropriate action or policy, and evaluating the intervention process (Community Health Nurses of Canada, 2016). As part of my Nursing 431 Community Nursing course, I was able to participate in a hydration quality improvement project in Parkridge Centre, a long-term care facility operated by the Saskatoon Health Region. Although there are various health care issues within Parkridge, the community identified hydration as a major concern, after learning about the high percentage of long-term care residents that are at risk for dehydration. As a continuation of the Hydration Project that was initiated by the previous nursing students, our group would work with the community to identify an initiative to be implemented on the neighbourhoods of Eastridge 1 and Southridge 1.