ch. 9

This chapter focused specifically on Elders. It pointed out that the Baby Boomers are now starting to turn 65, which means our elderly population is going to rise. Many elderly people are depending on care from their families versus a nursing home. It is very sad to say that there are abusive people that work with elderly and take advantage of their money, are very rude towards their illnessses, and treat them terribly in other ways. This is a fact that many people tend to overlook when learning about the elderly population. I think it is best to try an help our older family members so they don't have to be a part of that. But I also realize they can become very dependant and it is hard to manage them as well as running our younger families. Statistics show that more and more parents are become dependent on help from their children which cause their children to quit their jobs and become a full time care-giver, for both their own children and their parents. Diseases that older people get are harder to deal with because their body isn't abel to fight off the disease as strongly as it once was able to. This puts even more of a burden on elders. As a group, we found it interesting that "old" is broken down into 3 categories. 65 is the age where you are considered an elder, 75-85 is middle old, and 85 is old old. Though, elders don't like to be called"old", they prefer something that isn't so stright-forward. Some elders remain as active as they were 20 years before, but that has to do with family history of disease and how well they care for their bodies. It is important that my generation takes care of our bodies because we need to grow older and healthier.

ch 7

Chapter 7 was all about maternal, infant, and child health. This encompasses the health of women of child bearing age from pre pregnancy- through pregnancy; labor, delivery, post partum period and the health of the child prior to birth through adolescence. There were some causes for concern that were brought up in this chapter.

Along the lines of infant and maternal mortality rates in the U.S., concerning whites and blacks, though the mortality rates of infants has gone down in recent decades.. The statistics of black infants-14.1 deaths per 1000 live births. White infants- 5.8 deaths per 1000 live births. Black women- 31.2 per 1000 births. White women-8.1 per 1000 births. So the statistics add up to show that the U.S. is ranked 28th in infant mortality and 20th in maternal mortality. What’s most important concerning the health of a child is the health status of the mother/her immediate environment because the two correlate together.

Family and reproductive health was a subject that was brought up in this chapter. The U.S. census bureau has defined a family as “a group of 2 or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption and they reside together, subfamily counts as well. Another definition was “two or more persons who are joined together by bonds of sharing and emotional closeness and who identify themselves as being of the family.”

There are some health risks that are brought up when dealing with children/infants who are raised in single parent homes. Some of those risks are: adverse birth outcomes, low birth weight, infant mortality, and more likely to live in poverty.

Teenage pregnancy was a big topic discussed it this chapter, there are a lot of statistic s to show how sexually active adolescents have become in recent years. There are a reported 750,000 pregnancies every year…that’s a huge number. And every year it costs taxpayers at least 7 billion dollars in direct costs associated w/: health care, foster care, criminal justice, public assistance, and lost tax revenues. The younger a mother is the more likely she is to smoke during pregnancy, which can lead to all sorts of health problems towards her and her unborn child. At least 31% of teenage girls get pregnant at least once before they reach 20 yrs of age.

Chapter 6

The main focus of chapter six was the idea of a coordinated school health program, and the effects it can have on a school, and the lives of those surrounding. In small high schools, like most of us experienced, there is usually a major lack in the health department. Many places only require a single semester or year of health classes, and that is hardly enough time to learn all the things a person should know about how to take care of themselves, and prolong their future with quality of life. Health classes, if taught properly, should not focus mainly on things that we all know to be true. Exercise is good, smoking is bad, dont drink and drive. Seems like we were born with that knowledge, right? However, who knows all there is to know about sexuality, depression, healthy eating, warning signs of eating disorders, responding and helping those in crisis, cpr and emergency response, and the thousands of other topics there is to learn about in a health class.

Many families believe that health classes should not be given the right to teach their children about such controversial topics, and that it should be left up to the parents and churches to instill such information. However, a mother most likely does not know all the facts, or is willing and comfortable to tell her child about all important topics. If it is a serious concern of morals, a child could be removed from the class and be given a separate assignment to be worked on in its place.

Adequate skill in the field should be assessed before someone is allowed to teach a health education course. We all discussed our experiences with teachers, and they were not all the same. One school had a great teacher who was full of knowledge, and humor, making class fun and enjoyable. Students were required one semester of health for the first two years of high school, and were full of interesting topics that applied to their lives. On the other hand, another was taught by the physical education teacher, who was uncomfortable talking about sex, and didnt seem to care much about what the students learned.

There needs to be drastic changes when it comes to the way that youth are being taught about health, in order to keep the country going. As cliche as it sounds, todays youth is our future. As college students today, we are young and healthy, and ready to jump in to our futures and live our lives. What happens when we get old, and grow ill and fragile? Who will be the ones ready to start their future? It will be the ones just starting their lives now. If we are not educating them properly on how to care for their bodies, care for others, keep the environment healthy and safe, eat and exercise correctly, stay sexually aware and safe, keep a handle on their mental and emotional well being, and countless more topics, how will they survive? They wont.

Without your health, nothing else can happen.

Community Organizing

This chapter discussed how to create and evaluate Community Organizations. It gave multiple examples and charts. There were some definitions to explain the difference between commonly interchanged words, such as goals and objectives. This chapter had a very sensible flow to it.

Chapter 5 started with information explaining that the need for organizations was now more than ever. With the increase of technology and population, communities are not as connected as they used to be. Organizations help the community come together to solve an issue. There are three main methods that an organization can use. These methods include locality development, social planning, and social action.

Organizations must follow a process in order to get mobilized and running in the community. First, the issue of main concern must be recognized. Once this is recognized, if the organization is not started in the community it must gain entry. People are then organized and assessments are made. Either mapping community capacity or doing a needs assessment must be done to determine the needs of the community. Priorities and goals are then set and the organization must arrive at a solution. Once a solution is selected the intervention strategy must also be chosed. Once the strategy is selected is must be implemented, evaluated and either maintained or reevaluated.

There are different programs that have developed for Health Promotion. Healthy People being one of these programs. To understand programs you need to understand the difference between Health education and Health promotion. To create a health program steps similar to the ones listed above are followed.

There were a few things that caught my attention in this chapter. I was suprised when I read the Assumptions that community organizations must make. One assumption was that people want to change and can change. Not all people want to change. Not everyone that smokes wants to quit. Most of the other assumptions make sense. I can understand how large groups of people need some sort of organizations to get things accomplished.

During class, our group discussed the importance of an evaluation. Without an evaluation a organization doesn't know if their strategy is working. Sometimes, this crucial evaluation can overlooked. Another point the group brought up was how different rural and city neighbors are. In most small towns people know their neighbors. In a large city however, you are very less likely to interact with your neighbors.