Summary and Reflection of Leadership
All topics discussed in the Health Policy (HP) course are somewhat provoking and that is a good thing. They open the door to discussions that otherwise will not be conducted. Along my career, I have held leadership positions that have allowed me to identify with the HP topics in more than one way. I initiated my professional life as a Rehab Director in an oncology hospital. The topic of prevention was always in the forefront when I was treating my patients battling cancer. Although, many cancer conditions are of unknown etiology, others are developed as the result of lifestyle choices. For example, many years ago, smoking was catalogued as “glamorous”,
…show more content…
I wonder how our society will be if prevention strategies were exercised not only at community centers, dispensaries, and public hospitals, but at all private practices and hospitals too. Public health has been associated to the low-income population. We all need to support the third revolution aim where well-being is seeing as a resource for everyday life, surpassing disease as the only focus of global health (Breslow, …show more content…
Every day, I see parents struggling to coordinate all the services receiving by their children and many times also facilitating communication among providers. For children with mental conditions, the parents’ struggle is even bigger because they are confronted with the stigma of the condition (i.e. negative attribute, sign of weakness) in many occasions keeping the information in secrecy from their support system: other family members and /or relatives. In my director position, I regularly have the great opportunity to educate parents about services in the community where they could access help, although I must admit mental health resources are still very limited, more so for the younger population. As reported by Sultz and Young (2014), neuropsychiatric disorders are considered the leading cause of disability in the U.S. based on disability life years, therefore, we need to develop more alternatives to treat mental conditions.
Outside the professional arena, I participated in a local community vision leadership program for 12 weeks. Participants came from all sectors of life, allowing me to expose them to my career and the position of physical therapy not only as a remediated service but as a preventive tool. One of the areas that got their immediate attention is when I shared
Ever since I was little I have alway been very intrigued about physical therapy. Just the aspect of working with other people, and knowing I’m doing something to help them, interests me. This year on November 21st, I job shadowed with Rotert Physical Therapy, and it turned out to be everything I expected. Working with the children was the highlight of my shadow; it was everything I expected and more.
For as long as I could remember, I always knew that I wanted to pursue a career in the field of physical therapy. Everything about the human body is captivating from the way it works to its powerful ability to heal itself. To many people, the field of physical therapy involves using exercise to aid in the restoration of physical function in patients, but to me, it means so much more. One reason as to why the field of physical therapy peeked my interests is because it combines my keen curiosity for the human body and all its fascinating capabilities, physical exercise and the compassion to help others. In recent years, several events occurred that have helped inspire me to become a physical therapist.
When a child is diagnosed with a mental illness, parents and families have to adapt and adjust to a new lifestyle.
Imagine you are married with children; your child has been acting different lately, so you take them to the doctor. Once there you find out that they have a mental illness. What do you do? Over the years, it has been estimated that around twenty percent of children worldwide are suffering from a form of mental illness such as Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Schizophrenia, and Anxiety Disorders. Ultimately, parents of these children end up struggling with their own psychological, emotional, social, and economic challenges while providing for their child with the mental illness. Raising a child with mental illness can be a challenge, but through increased knowledge and adjusted attitudes parents can be more prepared.
With the help of my family and employers, I resign from my job and enrolled into the University of Houston-Clear Lake. They motivated me into taking the first step into my professional career in where I achieved my bachelor’s degree in Fitness & Human Performance. It was there that I was given the opportunity to do my internship at Proactive Physical Therapy (PPT) and see hands on what to expect in a PT setting. To be a part of someone’s rehabilitation journey, from the moment you first see them at their initial evaluation, to when they are graduating and being discharged, is an incredible feeling to be a part of. A Physical Therapist often encounter patients that are at the lowest point in their life in which they would have to teach, coach, listen and motivate the patient to rehabilitate them. When TW came in for PT, he was down on himself because he had
To begin with, a “Parent and Child Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Mental Illness: A Pilot Study.” is an article about a case study between parents and children who suffer from a mental illness. Each person interprets what a mental illness is in their own way. This article deals with how parents and children
Public health may be defined as “a social and political concept aimed at the improving the quality of life among the whole population through health promotion, disease prevention and other forms of health intervention”.(1) The purpose of public health practice is to improve the health of society rather than individuals and reduce health disparities between individuals, groups, and communities through organized effort of the communities, individuals and organizations. As Marmot points out: “creating a fairer society is fundamental to improving the health of the population and ensuring a fairer distribution of good health”.(2) Besides this, the public health field is expanding to tackling new and contemporary risks: obesity, sexually transmitted
An estimated 61.5 million American Lives, or one in four, suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in any given year, and it takes a decade, on average for them to make contact with a health care professional (Pending). One in 17 Americans currently live with chronic mental illness disorders such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder (pending). Despite the new discoveries and advances in science and technology, the social stigma of mental illness prevails. Why is mental illness an issue? Why should healthy people be concerned if their neighbor suffers from acute depression? Those are the questions that the average American faces. Yet, our society remains naïve when it comes to mental health. The roots of this issue are found in the lack of information and lack of mental health accessibility.
The development of mental health policy has gone through many changes in the course of the twentieth century. Today, mental health policy is totally different from the policy hundreds of years ago. Because of this, it is important to emphasize the fact that mental health policy has shifted from the indifference and isolation of people with mental illness, to the delivery of social services and community integration. In other words, mental health policy has experienced a serious change that has changed the attitude of policy makers, health care professionals, ordinary people, and also to people with a mental illness. Today, people with mental health problems are no longer outsiders as they used to be. Instead they are seen as people who have different needs and social geared towards their integration into the community. The federal government now has a policy that addresses the problems faced by people with mental illness, gives the community a chance to understand these people, and sets a standard in providing mental health services. There are over seventy actions in The Federal Mental Health Action Agenda. “It offers an unprecedented opportunity to fundamentally alter the form and function of the mental health service delivery system in this country to one that puts individuals-adults with mental illnesses, children with emotional disturbances, and family members-at its very core” (The Federal Action Agenda: First Steps. Web. 24 Mar. 2014).
Children are a crucial part of society. They participate in almost all aspects of a society whether it is in schools, community activities, or in the workforce. However, not all children develop the same skills and are granted the same opportunities as others because of a mental illness. Mental illnesses are as serious as physical illnesses and they negatively affect a child’s life. There are a variety of mental illnesses children may have with different levels of severity; mental illnesses hinder childhood development, and they affect a child’s social and home life.
Physical therapists play an integral role in health care. The vision statement for the physical therapy career is: “Transforming society by optimizing movement to improve the human experience”. 1 Through my prior volunteer and work experiences, I discovered that physical therapy was the perfect career choice and vision for my future. As a current student and future physical therapist, I will play an important role for society and within the health care profession. The vision statement will serve as my reminder to always strive for more knowledge and feedback as a student, uphold pertinent values that will improve the practice of physical therapy, and to always provide quality care to all patients.
Although his methods were flawed, McKeown’s assertion helps ground (and sometimes re-ground) public health as a discipline of social justice, not a branch of medicine. Thanks in part to McKeown, major institutions like the CDC take seriously socioeconomic factors that impact population-level health outcomes (Friedan, 2015). 4) Link and Phelan (1995) define a “fundamental cause” as a social condition that determines disease risk or access to resources that mitigate risk. Fundamental causes are not linked to any specific medical condition; instead, they impact an individual’s ability to maintain health and avoid unhealthy behaviors. For example, education is a fundamental cause because it equips an individual with resources - knowledge, money, and empowerment - needed to live well and prevent disease.
The five principles of HP include building healthy public policy, creating supportive environments, strengthening community action, developing personal skills, and reorienting health services (McMurray & Clendon 2015). The first principle aims to incorporate health into all public policy decisions beyond the health system so that living and working conditions become conducive to health and equity (Germov, Freij & Richmond 2015). According to McMurray & Clendon (2015), multi-sectoral collaboration is required among different sectors, such as education, industry and social welfare, with the reciprocally influential policies that guide the community health. The second principle emphasises the socio-ecological approach to health that promotes sustainable environment and broader social support systems that encourage a safe and satisfying life (Germov, Freij & Richmond 2015; McMurray & Clendon 2015). This principle requires to acknowledge the significance of conserving the physical or social resources that allow people to maintain health (McMurray & Clendon 2015). The third principle focuses on information and learning opportunities that enable communities to make knowledgeable choices for better health (McMurray & Clendon
The importance of family and friends is critical in for mentally ill patients. This is especially true for women with low income (Ichiro Kawachi, Lisa F. Berkman, 2001). Promoting more counseling and support group can increase the quality of mental health because individuals are able to talk their problems and express themselves without any restraints. Home counseling for families with children under the age of five can help train parent to become more efficient parents by enhancing their interaction with their children to increase mental health for their children and by improving family and work balance. Senior also benefit from social interaction. Seniors are at risk for many mental illness because of social isolation, death of family member and loss of some rights like driving. So being able to talk to someone decreases their chances of developing
The brain is the most unchartered organ in the human body, so it is not surprising that many of the psychological illnesses have been misdiagnosed. Dementia is a biological disease, not a mental disease and right now there are up to 5.3 million citizens with Alzheimer’s (Hebert). This creates a growing demand for treatment in a mental health facility, for issues that are not even mentally related. There is a copious amount of false placement because disorders like Dementia, ADHD, and many others are not mental, but biological. What the United States has is a fractured system that has made convenient treatment nearly unattainable for sick people in need. People of all ages suffer from mental illnesses but because of the misconceptions of what is a mental illness, social and legal pressures thwart victims from seeking help. Mental illness is not the “result of weak will or misguided parenting” as once thought, but it has been discovered that “most ‘mental’ illnesses are biologically based, just like physical illnesses are” (Carter). Because...