Analysis of Health Care Campaign - Article Example

Health Care Campaign Part 2 Health Care Campaign Part 2 There are 23.6 million Americans afflicted with diabetes and the disease ranks seventh amongthe major causes of death in the US. The debilitating effects of the disease both short term and long term are devastating in terms of the patient and in terms of the community in which they live. The effects extend the eyes, kidneys, nerves and then promote stroke, heart disease, and gangrenous limbs. In the state of Florida, 7 out of 100 adults have diabetes and this makes Florida the 14th ranking state in percentage of diabetes suffers (Callahan, et.al., 2008). This paper will analyze the population and the resources available for the campaign that has been developed. At the national level diabetes, being the 7th leading cause of death, becomes the underlying cause of over 195,000 deaths per year and contributes to over 95,000 more. It is the principle or secondary diagnosis in over 26.8 million hospitalizations each year and is believed to be a major cause of blindness, renal failure, lower extremity amputations, and congenital malformations. Cardiovascular and peripheral vascular conditions appear to be about twice as common in diabetics as in nondiabetics. It is the most significant disease as to morbidity and mortality from a single disease. In the State of Florida, 7 out of every 100 adults is diabetic and deaths credited to diabetes are approximately 21.4 deaths per 1,112,000 adults (Callahan, et.al. 2008). At the national and local level there is a desire to create programs that will control the diabetic incidence in this country both childhood and adult. In order to do that the realization is clear that those programs have to be at the grass roots level, allowing for the education to be local. Diabetes in FLorida affects all age and racial groups. It is estimated that 9,000 Floridans die each year due to complications of diabetes. 55% of those die from coronary heart disease and the risk of stroke is 2-4 times higher in these diabetics. 39% of the dialysis patients in Florida have diabetes and one year of dialysis costs approximately $20,000 per person. 60-70% have mild to severe nerve damage due to complication which leaves that at risk for limb disease (doh.state.fl) Community based planning for diabetes is happening all over the country. It is realized at this stage that diabetes is one of the largest health risks ever dealt with in this country and it becomes that much worse when the other health risk that everyone is trying to deal with is obesity which is one of the risk factors for diabetes in adults and children. The state of Florida as well as nationally, there are some well functioning community based programs. Florida has the Diabetes Advisory Council which sets and facilitates strategic objectives. The goals of the council are to assure that there is diverse representation that involves geographic, ethnic, age, professional health care, diabetes community, and payor. They promote public and private partnerships to help achieve the mission, advocate and educate as well as advise the government, academic centers, healthcare providers, and voluntary agencies on diabetes issues. Finally they assist in the implementation of the Florida Diabetes Control Program. As well as these functions, they also serve as a forum for the discussion and study of issues related to the public health approach for the delivery of health care services to persons with diabetes and by June 30 each year they meet with Secretary of the Department of Health to make specific recommendations regarding the public health aspects of the prevention and control of diabetes. The Diabetes Advisory Council of Florida has identified the following issues that affect residents, related to diabetes. There is a need for education to increase overall awareness of diabetes, school system awareness and health care professional awareness. There is a need for reimbursement of education and care to impact the number of health care professionals who will enter and remain in the field. A vision screening criteria needs to be developed for those that are uninsured as well as a need to increase attention to pregnancy issues, gestational and diabetes-complicated pregnancy. This involves DAC representation, professional education, overall awareness of risks, screening, community education, referrals, standards of care and medicinal therapy as it related to pregnancy issues. There is a need for community outreach to those that are undiagnosed and promotion of detection for earlier detection (floridadiabetes.org). This program works closely with the Public Health Department, hospitals in the state and counties, as well as county health departments and primary care practitioners. Strategically, their objectives are to educate and advise government, academic center, healthcare provider, voluntary organization, people with diabetes, and other organizations They propose to do this by supporting national health observances and provide guidance to the Diabetics Control Program on recognition strategies, bring to together national diabetes associations coordinate awareness of the disease. They provide support for statewide education coordination and sponsor summits for education and gathering of information. They also provide assistance in the development of education programs directed to school system staff, recommend healthy eating programs and get involved with parent teacher groups. Hospital discharge trend data is reviewed by them and data is provided to those community departments that need or want it. They develop diabetes hospitalization criteria, recommend criteria for comprehensive inpatient care, review the American Diabetes Association guidance and guide the development of position papers for statewide use. Community based action plans address disproportionately high rates of diabetes morbidity and mortality under circumstances similar to those in Florida. Chicago also has a Community Action Coalition. They help to guide any community based activities related to diabetes or the prevention of diabetes by helping with the planning and research. They conduct surveys, collect data, handle focus groups and do community inventory of needs. They help to move social action ahead. They are beginning to see social action that is aimed at community and systems changes very much like that of Florida (Giachell, et.al. 2003). Much of the funding for community based programs comes from grants. In the state of Florida there is some unique funding available. The Florida Diabetes Association collects donated funds and the response for them is usually quite good. They provide scholarships to help defray the cost of diabetes management education courses, support for people with diabetes through grants in conjunction with local healthcare agencies, scholarships for children with diabetes to attend special summer camps, diabetes education for the community and health care professionals, as assistance to purchase informational books, films, and videos about diabetes for local public libraries. Their mission is to establish sources of funds and administer these funds to benefit people with diabetes in the Florida Gulf Coast Region. Grants are provided to healthcare providers, organizations and community based programs for supplies, services, education and research . Communication is a central part of any health promotion. The use of mass communication to get the word out about diabetes has begun to become quite popular with healthcare. Deliberately designed media can be used in this context, in effect reaching many more people. There have been a number of disciplines use this kind of media promotion in the past, including education, medicine, social psychology and communities. To begin to use it in health promotion only makes sense. There are many health promotion campaigns now using social marketing to better accomplish their goals. Examples of good social marketing might include the CDC marketing that is done to the Hispanic population. The campaign is targeted to Hispanics with diabetes and was launched with the objective of empowering Hispanics to take control of their diabetes and how to do that. The CDC worked with people from the Hispanic community in an attempt to understand what kinds of things got their attention. In doing that, they discovered ways to better communicate in the media and used that knowledge to devise their campaign. Once the concept was put together, national media outlets for Hispanics were used. When feedback from the program was gathered it was noted to be a great success. It indicated that there were 95 radio placements and 485 airings reaching a total of 5.5 million listeners. There were 16 television placements with 87 airing and that reached 3.3 million viewers and over 29 newspapers and magazines carried the information (social. marketing). This shows that social marketing reaches many people and allows for education and information to make a much bigger difference. In conclusion, diabetes continues to grow and devastate. It leads to early death and debilitation that leaves the patient unable to work or support themselves, taking away their independence in every way. Without a thorough understanding of how to self manage in a disease like this one, the patient is bound to continue to be ill. Finding ways to develop programs that are communicated in such a way that they make a difference on a large scale is difficult in itself. As healthcare workers, however, we have begun to understand how to design programs that work as well as communicate them in a way to reach a larger audience. Resources http://www.floridadiabetes.org/DAC/strategic.html http://www.doh.state.fl.us/family/dcp/factsheet.html http://www.social-marketing.org/success/cs-ndephispanic.html. Callahan, R, Gjertsen, A., Herb, J., Kreinbrook, L., (2008). Florida diabetes statistics and death rates and Florida donors and corporate sponsors. retrieved from http://www.ipump.org/org/map/donors-florida.html Read More