Caring for Cooper City Essay

There are many factors affecting the health of this community. I believe lack of health education and access to health care are the primary problems. The problems of pinworms and anemia are most preventable with hygiene education and nutritional education. The high premature births and neonatal death rate can be addressed with pre-natal education and care. The ability for the mothers and care givers to access these services may be impaired because of lack of access to health care related to transportation and economics. A cultural norm in many of Hispanic families is both parents work at minimum pay jobs with no benefits, while a family member takes care of several children. This care giver is often an older person (grand parent or aunt) and often does not understand or speak English or is an adolescent that is not able to drive. Because of the noted issues accessing health care during â€Å"business† hours are impaired. It is difficult for the person that may have access to transportation and one that speaks English to arrange a day off to take the child and/or pregnant woman to their doctor appointments Because a large population of the Hispanics go to the Catholic Church getting the local priest or a trusted community involved may help with accessing the population. Information about the clinic, health education classes, and setting up a clinic in the Catholic Church on the weekend may all be options to improving health care. Health education in the schools is another way to get the message to the public. A school health fair or school projects focused on prevention may be ways to help educate the parents. Education of adolescent about birth control, pre-natal care and support are other methods to improve the health of the community. . The planning group will need to have many members of the community. Having someone from the city council, the local priest and pastor, a representative from the high school, a medical representative such as the local md, or nurse practitioner a cultural community representative and representatives of the local business would be the best task force mix. Having the community leader’s access funds to provide free transportation to the health clinics or having a mobile health clinic to access the outlying population. Another option is to have a clinic at the major employer’s place of business. All of the suggested health options will need the support and commitment of the community. As a community health nurse you can support and encourage that commitment.