Public Health paper

Public Health paper

Question 1: Mission of Public Health

Health is the state of having total physical, social, and mental well-being. A healthy person can satisfy his own needs as well as realize set ambitions. In general terms, health entails the process of maximizing one’s social and personal resources as well as physical capabilities. Public health, on the other hand, implies the primary goal of ensuring that the health of the community is preserved in as much as the health of the surrounding communities. According to Nies and McEwen (2019), the mission of public health is to promote social justice that entitles all members of the community to have access to primary health care treatment and bear the burden of providing the best healthcare outcomes.   The Henry Street Settlement in the early 1800s created avenues for the provision of healthcare services to the poor population. The settlement is congruent to the Nies and McEwen (2019) mission for healthcare as it sought to address all health issues affecting the community. The type of works at the Henry Street Settlement was predominantly philanthropic in providing non-profit care to the poor settlers in the community.

 Question 2: Prevention

In healthcare, prevention refers to the process of avoiding disease contraction before its occurrence. Prevention includes the measures and plans undertaken to prevent the occurrence of a disease. There are three levels in disease prevention, including primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. Primary prevention entails the avoidance of the onset of a disease before the process sets such as immunization. Secondary prevention measures imply the steps undertaken in the diagnosis and treatment as a means of avoiding escalation of the disease.

Measures of secondary prevention include ailment screening or self-examination. The final level is the tertiary prevention measure, which seeks to restore a healthy status. For instance, this process includes treatment for injury and hospitalization.

The Henry Street Settlement project managed primary issues affecting the community through the provision of subsidized medical care. School-based nurses aimed at managing acute and infectious diseases that afflicted residents. The settlement practiced primary prevention through the provision of ice, sterilized milk, and meals, secondary prevention through making diagnoses, and writing referrals under tertiary prevention, where they dispensed medications and managed ailments such as bowel syndrome and tuberculosis.

Question 3: Upstream Thinking

In healthcare, upstream thinking refers to the clinical care processes that are considerate of the social, economic, and environmental causes of a health issue in a given setting.  According to (Butterfield, 2017) the application of upstream thinking in healthcare seeks to identify the environmental issues that contribute to the development of a certain health issue within a locality, and the citizen options in coping with the health issue. The process targets putting in place key interventions that improve both the social and economic structures of the people in a bid to attain the highest levels of health.

The Henry Street Settlement worked within the framework of upstream thinking as it provided a safer environment and practices for managing acute ailments and infectious diseases.

Addressing the political, economic, social, and cultural issues is key to the provision of quality healthcare service. The economic analysis considers the available financial resources; the political issues include policy and regulation services; social influences include the way people live and work. During their initial stages, the Henry Street Settlement collectively overcame the possible political, social, and economic issues on healthcare by focusing on the immediate needs of the community through philanthropic.

Question 4: Determinants of Health

Determinants of health involve the interplay of personal, social, economic, and environmental factors that affect health outcomes or impact the health status of an individual or community. The determinants of health described in the Health 2020 include biological and genetic make-up, individual behavior, social interactions and norms, the physical environment, and access to health services.

The physical determinants of health include aspects such as safe water for drinking and domestic use, health and secure workplaces and residential areas, proper road connection, clean air, and safer communities. Management of the physical environment determinants of health is key to the prevention of disease in the community. In the period between the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Henry Street Settlement addressed the physical determinants of health through the provision of housing (299, 301, and 303) to improve the safety of the community residential area. The settlement also created a safer playground for children who had been pushed to playing in crowded and unsafe playgrounds.

Today, the settlement provides temporary housing for the homeless and permanent shelter for the chronically homeless. Residents are also supported in rebuilding their lives, as well as offering advanced sports and creation centers for the youth and adults.

 

 

References.

Butterfield, P. G. (2017). Thinking upstream: A 25-year retrospective and conceptual model aimed at reducing health inequities. Advances in Nursing Science, 40(1), 2-11. Doi: https://10.1097/ANS.0000000000000161

Determinants of Health: A Framework for Reaching Healthy People 2010 Goals. (Video). Accessed from https://youtu.be/5Lul6KNIw_8

Henry Street Settlement. Accessed from https://www.henrystreet.org.

Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2018). Community/Public Health Nursing-E-Book: Promoting the Health of Populations. Elsevier Health Sciences.