Neighborhood News Report

Neighborhood News

Community health affects everyone and when the population is undereducated, problems can arise. The writer will discuss two community or public health articles related to the Neighborhood News and propose possible ways the health community can help in health preventative maintenance and education of the population.
Critical Capacities According to the article “ED sees critical capacities”, Dr. Gordon suggests “that people need to be educated on particular symptoms because most of the time injuries or sickness can be treated at home”. One way the healthcare community can assist in the education of the indigent and low income patients is by initially tracking the common chief complaints of patients in the ER. By doing so, a consensus can be made as to what education the
population is needing. If patients are coming into the ER for the common cold, then we educate on what causes it and treatments the patient can do for themselves such as hand washing, rest, and liquids. If it is for a toothache, then we educate them on dental services available in the community. We also need to educate them on other means of receiving medical care, walk in clinics, after hours care and health fairs for preventative health measures. Critical capacities are not just limited to the neighborhood. The usage of media can help spread the word by utilizing public service announcement advertisements to educate the public about the strain it causes on the emergency room and the staff.
Flu Deaths Every flu season, the public is educated on the importance of receiving the flu vaccine, yet year after year many die from the flu.
As a health care community, we need to ask ourselves if everything is being done to educate on the direness of the problem. We have continually educated on the importance of hand washing, yet physicians continue to not wash their hands. Hand sanitizers and sanitizing cloths can be seen in every public area from shopping malls to grocery stores and people are sneezing and coughing into their elbows. What more can be done? Should we make it more accessible and at a low cost for the public to receive the flu vaccine? Should we single out just the population at risk, infants and people with chronic diseases? Should health care businesses mandate healthcare workers receive the vaccine or wear a mask when at work? The answer is all of these. As a healthcare community, we need to find out the reasons why people do not receive the flu vaccine. One reason could be fear of getting the flu from the vaccine, another could be cost. Again, we cannot educate without finding out what the deficiency of knowledge
is.
Conclusion
The beginning to healthier living starts with education. Our duty as health care providers is to make the public informed of services, treatments and options available to them, whether it is finding an after hours dentist or where to receive a flu vaccine. We need to constantly reevaluate our effectiveness on relaying that information and make changes when necessary.

Reference
Johnson, G. (n.d.). ED sees critical capacities. Neighborhood News.
McKinney, N (n.d.). Flu deaths expected to rise. Neighborhood News.