Alternative Therapies Analysis

Cultural Use of Alternative Therapies S.D still uses ginger to comfort upset stomachs. She adds it to soups with clear broth when her stomach is feeling upset. Alternatively, she will drink ginger tea or suck on ginger candies when she is feeling nauseated. She still uses turmeric much as her mother did on a daily basis as well. She believes that this helps her to stay healthy and reduces the likely hood that she will become sick.
Furthermore, S.D uses a lot of different types of teas to improve her health. She uses chamomile tea when she feels the need to relax. She also uses valerian root tea on nights when she cannot get herself to sleep. She drinks green tea on a daily basis and she was always told that it helps to fight off and prevent
infections. Often times, S.D will add honey to her tea as well. She believes that this also increases antioxidants in her daily diet and also cures her of sore throats and coughs.
Summary
S.D has had many influences in her cultural and health care beliefs. She grew up in Saigon, but escaped the Vietnam War and came to America to protect and better the lives of her children. Moving to a foreign country was hard for her as she didn’t speak or understand English and they did not know anyone here. Without the help of friends and co-workers, S.D would not have adapted as well culturally to the ideas of the American cultural.
Family was always deemed as the most important aspect of life in Vietnam. This remained true for S.D, but her definition of family changed from blood relatives to those that included neighbors and fellow co-workers. She not only wanted them to be a part of her life, but she wanted them and their families to be a part of hers as well. Ultimately, it was these people that helped her adapted herself from Vietnamese to Vietnamese American. Although, S.D has been open to change over her lifetime in America, she still believes her roots are an important part of who she is. S.D may try to manage her health with remedies she learned about growing up n Vietnam, but she has expanded her viewpoints about healthcare to include modern medicine. By culturally assessing patients, nurses are able to understand what may be important to the patient. Assuming, that S.D is only receptive to either Vietnamese tradition or American traditional is providing a disserve to her as a patient. One must look deeper into the ideas of the patient and realize that there are more to each patient cultural, ethnicity, and health care beliefs in order to provide the standard of care that every patient deserves.
Personal Reflection
I grew up in the small town consisting of 741 people called Sherrard, Illinois and attended school from the 1990’s to 2003.
Growing up, I was not exposed to any type of cultural that we different from mine. The schools that I attended during that time was all white, when I reached high school there was some underclassman of different ethnic backgrounds, but none that was in my inner circle. The church I attend to this day is strictly Caucasian and although we are a non-denominational church, it still remains predominately white.
My first experience with cultural and ethnic diversity was when I started my first job at 17. I worked in a nursing home and worked alongside some amazing people of the African American ethnicity. Although, their culture is not highly varied from mine, there were definitely some key differences. S.D was the first Vietnamese family I had contact with, she was a fellow co-worker of my mom's and immediately took to our family. At the time my mom started her job and befriend S.D, my parents were going through a vicious divorce. We frequented S.D house
frequently.
Hearing her story about Vietnam and her introduction to the United States still amazes me. Growing up lower middle class, we didn’t have a lot, but we lived comfortably from day to day. I could imagine packing up my belongings and moving to a country where I couldn’t speak to anyone nor understand what they were saying to me. This must have been very lonely for S.D and her family as long as frustrating as she still struggles with English from time to time. It must have taken her a long time to learn English. What I admire most about S.D was her capability in letting go of what she was taught to believe and accepting other ideas. I grew up going to the doctor for yearly check-ups, vaccines, and seeing a physician whenever I was sick. S.D grew up knowing nothing about doctors and vaccines and only knew that family was there to take care of you. However, she expanded her viewpoints in order to raise healthy children.
Growing up in a country as diverse as America and having a thirst for knowledge, I have read about many alternative therapies to medicine. S.D increased my knowledge about her use of ginger of turmeric in her ideas about staying healthy. In fact, when I was there she prepared her famous egg rolls and crab Rangoon and stated that each had turmeric in it. For myself, I try to balance my personal life with work and school and try to take time for me. While, in nursing school, I attended night and weekend classes to earn a double degree at Scott, while working full time at Genesis. I can honestly say that my rate of illness increased dramatically. I went from suffering maybe one or two colds a year to going to the doctor at least once ever eight to twelve weeks for respiratory illnesses. I believe that S.D is one to something in her ideas about balancing life.
S.D has taught me a great amount of things that I can relate to my nursing career.
First, one must never believe what meets the eye. Just because some declares themselves as one ethnicity that does not mean that they follow that ethnicity culturally. It is important to find out what is important to your client and ensure that they know you respect their cultural differences so they will be open and honest with you. A cultural assessment provides me with the tools to care for my patients in both the physical, mental, and spiritual areas; while respecting their beliefs. Talking with S.D made me realize how open I am to encouraging my patients to remain true to their beliefs about their health and their health
practices. .