Employability in the Community Sector - Coursework Example

Community Workers Introduction Community workers are very important individuals trained to provide supportive services to governmental social welfareagencies. A decade ago, these community workers were trained to provide medical attention to the injured in the case of road accidents and other similar adversities. However, the role of these community workers transformed with the passage of time, turning this practice a fully developed and respected profession. Therefore, these professionals are providing services in various fields in US and UK economies (Balcazar, Rosenthal, Brownstein, Rush, Matos, & Hernandez 2011). Governments often do not have sufficient resources to train and employ highly skilled people. Therefore, to compensate for the workforce shortage, countries superficially train their youth cross functionally. However, with the passage of time, the concept of community worker became formalized. At the same time, it is important to understand the ideology of community workers; previously they were seemingly trained in health sciences, so that they can provide first aid in a case of emergency. Nevertheless, in the modern era governments came to understand the value of community work (Peacock, Issel, Townsell, Chapple-McGruder, & Handler 2011). This enlightenment led governments to initiate cross training for community workers. Along with this, they are offered excellent remuneration and health insurance, thus compelling increasing number of young individuals to join community work as full time profession. Notably, these community workers are actively participating in various sectors of economy such as financial, emergency and military services. In this way, they are developing cross-industrial skills, which can help them in earning a handsome pay at the later stage of their career. On the other hand, these workers are respected around the globe for their notable contributions in medical practice. Nowadays, these professionals are playing a significant role in spreading the general knowledge about various health issues worldwide. The effectiveness of these awareness programs conducted by social workers is admirable because, they are conducted with the help of limited resources without any formal organizational identity. Female social workers are also prominent in their respective field due to their heightened commitment towards benefiting humanity. This paper in addition, to the general description of social work, will provide few essential skills necessary for the successfulness of a social worker in the coming paragraph. The major responsibility of community workers is to serve humanity with best of their ability. However, in order to accomplish this goal, they ought to develop effective skills of empathy, disaster management, technological management and much more. On the other hand, community workers often expose to the significant trauma through seeing humanity in various sorts of incidents. Therefore, it is imperative for them to develop stronger degree of emotional intelligence, so that they can cope with emotionally charged situations with objectivity. In America, educational institutions are training their pupils in social fieldwork (Nespoli, Lam, & Farbman 2004). The objective of this decision is to develop a practical sense of social work in the students, which will prove handy for them in the later stage of their careers. Additionally, this exercise will give them the opportunity to identify their competitive skill set, which they can use to attain excellence in their life. On legal front, these community moments are going to play a significant role through raising voice for public rights (Cox, 2001); therefore, will transform American society into justice oriented one, in near future. However, to attain the difficult objective, social workers should pay close attention to the prevailing legal environment in the country, so that they can use this knowledge against those who are violating human rights. At the same time, societal medical workers are working day and night for the betterment of public health in developing nations. This fact is a relief to know because; these social workers are counteracting deteriorating health standards in struggling economies (Liu, Sullivan, Khan, Sachs, & Singh, 2011). These national health oriented moments are inspiring other countries to initiate similar campaigns. Therefore, increasing health awareness in public, that is resulting in development of better health behavior in people. Additionally, health care workers are assisting diabetes patients in managing their medicine (Hunt, Grant, & Appel, 2011), thus educating these patients that will enable them live a healthier life. On the other hand, role of social health workers in health research is proving to be effective because, they can provide in depth understanding of the practical issues of their profession (Peacock, Issel, Townsell, Chapple-McGruder, & Handler 2011). Health workers’ opinion can provide realistic base for policy makers to develop future action plans. In parallel, the organizational identity of these health care firms is strengthening; therefore, their importance is appreciated with each passing year. At the same time, social workers are compensating the shortage of professionals in every field worldwide. In medical practice, community workers are working as management staff in various medical facilities across America (Martinez, Villa, Powell, & Knickman, 2011). In the light of this argument, governments are suggested to invest ample amount of funds in training social workers in advanced fields of medical, engineering and other important fields. However, it is interesting to note, that social workers are getting famous for their deeds in terms of community service. Therefore, these community establishers will have a massive political impact in the future (Balcazar, Rosenthal, Brownstein, Rush, Matos, & Hernandez, 2011). Based on their strength, they can guide the result of future elections through influencing voters’ choice. In this way, it can be expected that politicians will pay close attention towards these social practitioners during elections. Nevertheless, social workers are well aware of their importance in terms of medical care. Based on this fact, they are demanding for better pay packages, leave structure and insurances. However, Government is now offering enhanced benefits to health care professionals because; it cannot afford strikes in this period of increasing unemployment (Mason, et al 2011). However, effective conflict management from government prevented hospitals from witnessing major strikes from social health workers. At the same time, proficient medical training of social workers prevented cholera from unleashing in under developed countries of Africa (Rajasingham, et al. 2011). It can be implied from the observation that commitment and dedication towards work can lead towards achievement of excellence in worst possible conditions. However, it is imperative to highlight that cholera is very difficult to diagnose without proper medical facility. But, African social workers identified this disease without appropriate technology and then prevented it from spreading. Therefore, these community workers are the role model for their colleagues in other countries. However, in China social workers’ occupation contentment is above average (Ge, Fu, Chang, & Wang, 2011). Therefore, it can be presumed that, they are working in a friendly environment, along with this are well compensated also. Thus, China is providing an effective social work mechanism for the world to follow. Nevertheless, due to national prejudice, Americans are reluctant to borrow this efficient social and health care model from Chinese. Interestingly, people are found to be attracted towards socio-medical centers in order to, fulfill their health needs. The major reason of this trend is stemming from these centers’ friendly and family oriented environment, characterized with free social interaction among patients and doctors, which facilities patients’ recovery significantly. (Mukanga, et al. 2012). Various research articles are highlighting the role of community health workers as catalyst in uprooting common illnesses in society (Peretz, Matiz, Findley, Lizardo, Evans, & McCord 2012). But, literature on this topic however, failed to identify the characteristics of an ideal social worker, which this paper intends to fulfill in the coming section. In the light of above literature, an ideal social worker should be empathic, so that he or she can understand the mental and physical condition of his or her patient. In this way, he or she can use his or her knowledge about patient’s condition in devising an effective treatment. On the other hand, community workers should be trained in such a way that, they should develop a ability to control their emotions, which will help them in keeping their objectivity intact, under worst conditions. In parallel, social workers are required to make a sincere effort in order to save a life. But, they should keep this in mind that humans cannot save everyone. Therefore, they should learn an art of forgetting failures. At the same time, health workers should learn to diagnose a potentially lethal disease in the field without any help from technology. This competency will help them in saving lives effieciently and effectively. Community workers are also supposed to mold their practices according to the culture of the area in which they are conducting operations. Because, often people are unwilling to accept a social event. therefore, a community worker should have strong communication and presentational skills, so that he or she can persuade people for going through with a particular event. Conclusion This paper viewed the participation of community workers in changing the societal dynamics of the country. Training community workers in providing first aid is an ancient practice. But, the role of these individuals grew significantly during the last two decades spreading across various occupations. However, the social organizations are playing a significant role in spreading public awareness about danagerous diseases around the world. This trend caused an upgradation in the health behavior of people living in under developed countries. Community work was taken as a part time job in its early days. But, with the passage of time, it developed into an established and respected profession. On the other hand, socialists are growing in terms of political power, which will allow them to guide voters towards selecting a particular representative.At the same time, China developed an effective communty work mechanism. However, social workers are respected because of their contributions in transforming societies. This admiration is resulting community workers’ polilitical influence to increase. Therefore, politicians are taking these individuals as an important sector of public. On the other hand, American government is attempting to provide suitable work environment for its community workers in order to, increase their productivity. This paper identified empathy, strong communication and technical training as essential skills for an ideal community worker. At the same time, these above mentioned skills are not simple to develop, they require years of practice in the field to adequately understand the difference betrween various personality traits and their response in a particular situation. This paper viewed leadership skill as the most important for any social worker because, this is the only ability, which will integrate communication, confidence, logic and personality in order to influence people. therefore, the best method to train community workers is fieldwork because, it will assist them in experimenting with their beliefs in a practical scenario. In parallel, community workers should also be trained in the art of life saving because; still it is the prime objective of their job. However, history witnessed many community leaders to grow into legitimate ones later in their life because of this reason, this paper assumed that may be few of current community worker develop into significant personalities in coming days. References Balcazar, H., Rosenthal, L., Brownstein, J., Rush, C., Matos, S., & Hernandez, L. 2011. Community Health Workers Can Be a Public Health Force for Change in the United States: Three Actions for a New Paradigm. American Journal of Public Health 101(12), pp. 2199-2203. Cox, E. 2001. Community Practice Issues in the 21st Century: Questions and Challenges for Empowerment-Oriented Practitioners. Journal of Community Practice 9(1) , pp. 37-57. Ge, C., Fu, J., Chang, Y., & Wang, L. 2011. Factors associated with job satisfaction among Chinese community health workers: a crosssectional Study. BMC Public Health 11(884) . Hunt, C., Grant, J., & Appel, S. 2011. An Integrative Review of Community Health Advisors in Type 2 Diabetes. Journal of Community Health 36 , pp. 883-893. Liu, A., Sullivan, S., Khan, ,., Sachs, S., & Singh, P. 2011. Community Health Workers in Global Health: Scale and Scalability. Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine , pp. 419–435. Martinez, J., Villa, N., Powell, W., & Knickman, J. 2011. Transforming the Delivery of Care in the Post–Health Reform Era: What Role Will Community Health Workers Play? American Journal of Public Health 101(12) , pp.1-5. Mason, T., Geoffrey, M., Nannini, A., Martin, C., Fox, D., & Hirsch, G. 2011. Winning Policy Change to Promote Community Health Workers: Lessons From Massachusetts in The Health Reform Era. American Journal of Public Health 101(12) , pp. 2211-2216. Mukanga, D., Tibenderana, J., Peterson, S., Pariyo, G., Kiguli, J., Waiswa, P. 2012. Access, acceptability and utilization of community health workers using diagnostics for case management of fever in Ugandan children: a cross-sectional study. Malaria Journal 11(121) , pp. 1-10. Nespoli, L., Lam, L., & Farbman, J. 2004. Community College Compact: A Strategie Blueprint for Workforce Development Programs. Community College Journal , pp. 26-28. Peacock, N., Issel, M., Townsell, S., Chapple-McGruder, T., & Handler, A. 2011. An Innovative Method to Involve Community Health Workers as Partners in Evaluation Research. American Journal of Public Health 101(12) , pp.2275-2280. Peretz, P., Matiz, L., Findley, S., Lizardo, M., Evans, D., & McCord, M. 2012. Community Health Workers as Drivers of a Successful Community-Based Disease Management Initiative. American Journal of Public Health 102(8) , pp. 1443-1446. Rajasingham, A., Bowen, A., O’Reilly, C., Sholtes, K., Schilling, K., Hough, C. (2011). Cholera Prevention Training Materials for Community Health Workers, Haiti, 2010–2011. Emerging Infectious Diseases 17(11) , pp. 2162-2165. Read More