Healthy People In My Community - Essay Example

Healthy People in my community Prepared by Healthy People in my community - Asthma as an Indicator Over the years, it has been proved that the overall health of community is closely linked with the community members. Only healthy individuals can make up a healthy and safe environment to live, work and play. The behavior, collective beliefs, attitude, and health of the individuals make up for a healthy community. The mission" Healthy People 2010" focus and establish the fact that the health of individual cannot be separated from the health of the overall community and the country. That is why the vision for Healthy People 2010 is "Healthy People in Healthy Communities". The overall health of people in society or a community is an indicator of health of the community or nation as a whole. The declining rate of health problems and general wellness of people leads to the overall growth of nation. If the society works together towards meeting the vision of healthy society, than achieving mission "Healthy People 2010" would not be a distant dream. In the beginning of the year, the health department of the United States released health goals for the overall country both at the local community and at state level, to be met by year 2010. The health people 2010 is a comprehensive report of key focus areas, our goals and objectives, as well as roadmap for promoting health and wellness and preventing diseases, disability, and premature death. Healthy People 2010 challenge individuals, communities, and professionals-indeed, all of us- to take specific steps to ensure that good health, as well as long life, is enjoyed by all1. Healthy People 2010 is designed to achieve two overarching goals: Increase quality and years of healthy life Eliminate health disparities between different segments of the population, including those relating to gender, race and ethnicity, education, income, disability, living in rural localities, and sexual orientation2 Unless we as individuals take up our responsibility, it is not possible to meet the goals of a disease free society by 2010. As members of community, it becomes our responsibility to ensure that we work towards meeting the objectives of a healthy people community. As a community, our commitment to work towards the key focus areas and meeting of health objectives can be an indicator of a society moving towards its goal of healthy people 2010. Surgeon General David Satcher describes Healthy People 2010as "an encyclopedic compilation of health improvement opportunities for the next decade."3 The 467 target objectives of mission Healthy People 2010 have been broadly divided into 28 focus areas4: Access Arthritis, Osteoporosis, Chronic Back Conditions Cancer Chronic Kidney Disease Diabetes Disability and Secondary Conditions Environmental Health Educational and Community-Based Programs Family Planning Food Safety Health Communication Heart Disease and Stroke HIV/AIDS Immunization and Infectious Diseases Injury/Violence Prevention Maternal, Infant, Child Health Medical Product Safety Mental Health and Mental Disorders Nutrition and Overweight Occupational Safety and Health Oral Health Physical Activity and Fitness Asthma/Respiratory Diseases Public Health Infrastructure Sexually Transmitted Diseases Substance Abuse (including alcohol) Tobacco Use Vision and Hearing In the paper, I will be focusing on Asthma as an indicator of Healthy People 2010 in my community. Herein I will talk about: The prevalence of Asthma cases Its impact on the society The measures taken by us to make our community Asthma free by 2010 The measures taken for handling this problem successfully and overall access to quality healthy services for fighting this problem along with education awareness against causes and cure of Asthma will be instrumental in indicating the success of Healthy People 2010 mission. In the earlier times, only old aged people were known to suffer from respiratory problems like Asthma. But now-a-days, this problem is increasingly seen in kids and teenage thanks to modernization. The foremost reason for increasing problem of asthma cases in the community is exposure to pollution, inadequate facilities, and high smoking rates. Despite active awareness against usage of tobacco, the hard fact is that the problem continues to haunt us. Another area of concern is that despite rapid technological advancement and sophisticated tools of health care available, more and more Americans have to face uncontrolled expenses, inconsistent services, and limited access to services. As a result, underprivileged and lower economic groups do not have access to proper health care facilities if they are suffering from a serious problem like asthma. This has been a major reason for asthma deaths in the country, Rising smoking rates among children and teenagers have added to the problem. This is the prime reason why teenagers and children are getting affected by deadly disease called asthma. Despite statutory warning printed on the cigarette cover, more and more teenagers are getting addicted to it. Result is raising cases of asthma patients in the country. Mission "Healthy People 2010" for our community aims to create awareness among all the community members, particularly children and teenagers against the use of tobacco. We aim to make a tobacco and asthma free community by 2010. Active measures have been taken to make people aware of the serious affects of asthma and how it can spoil a person's life and career. By presenting real time experiences of people who suffered from asthma and its evil consequences, we have been able to bring in the subconciousness of our community members, how serious can be this problem to affect your whole life. Asthma not only affects your life but even of your next generations to come. It is a hereditary problem which can even make your children suffer. Stressing on this fact has created a huge impact on our anti-asthma mission. Also we arrange community programs to create awareness among people on the initial symptom of Asthma, its prevention, and cure. If asthma is diagnosed at an initial stage, it is still possible to get it treated. By creating awareness about the symptoms and cure, it is possible to prevent large number of asthma deaths. If people are aware of the symptoms and preventive measures, it will be easy for them to get themselves treated at the right time before the problem gets any worse. This is our Healthy People 2010 mission for our community. We are constantly working towards it and I am sure that by 2010 we will be able to eradicate the problem of asthma from our community. I believe that small steps ultimately lead us to our destination and by making our community free of Asthma we are definitely moving towards making society free of this deadly devil. A rising consciousness against Asthma and its side effects, stress on physical activity and fitness, active participation of individuals in health awareness programs is the mission of Healthy People 2010. We as members of our community have to make sure that we actively participate towards meeting of this mission. It is not only the responsibility of State or Federal Government to achieve a disease free society but we as citizens are also responsible to help our Government archive this mission. A heath society will provide a better infrastructure and place for us to live healthy and happily. Our community is continuously striving to achieve this mission. We hope to be joined by more and more communities and individuals to eradicate the problem of asthma at not only national but global level. References and Sources 1- Reference not Plagrisim. Retrieved on 25 June 2007 from http://www.healthypeople.gov/ 2- Reference not Plagrisim. Retrieved on 25 June 2007 from http://www.healthypeople.gov/Document/Word/uih/uih_bw.doc 3- Surgeon David General Satcher, US Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, January, 2000. www.health.gov/healthypeople/ 4- Reference not Plagrisim. Retrieved on 25 June 2007 from http://www.dsf.health.state.pa.us/health/cwp/view.aspa=186&q=237135 5- Reference not Plagrisim. Retrieved on 25 June 2007 from http://www.epigee.org/health/sexuality.html Read More