Vulnerable Populations

          My initial reaction to the article “Funding healthy society helps cure health care” was that of astonishment. As we continue learning through the nursing program and of the importance of patient health history, it is hard for me to think of this as a common problem physicians overlook.

           The article discussed multiple diagnostic testing done for a young patient whose “abdominal pain” was nothing more than hunger. We know through the review of systems that nutrition is an essential role that leads to diagnosing a problem. The NY Times piece that discussed the issues of overlooking the social effects of health is a major problem indeed. New ways of teaching must be instilled in both healthcare workers and in turn to members of the community. A point should be stressed that although testing and imaging provides many answers, it is important to look at all aspects that could have brought the patient there to begin with. Physicians are often overworked and primary care doctors have become a shortage, time and money plays a large role for the way things have become. The hundreds and possibly thousands of dollars spent on this one child for testing could have been put to better use to treat the cause and not just the illness. Impoverished and underserved families are not being educated or directed on what they need to support a healthy lifestyle. Health Lead is a great community intervention that involves college students pursing healthcare to volunteer and practice teaching the importance of preventing illness and is a type of upstream thinking instead of simply treating the illness. In this effort, we as nurses can address community health issues before they become a problem.

           Poverty puts individuals and families at a higher health risk. The environment they live in may not be suitable for optimal health. Living in dirty, small, densely populated areas encourages bacterial growth and heightened disease transmission. Due to lower socioeconomic status, people living in poverty are limited in resources which put them at a knowledge deficit about health risks. Education on nutrition, exercise, sanitation and general healthy living choices must become known to families a

nd individuals who have not had the basic understanding of what health can mean to them and to their community. Poverty makes a community vulnerable to health risks. People living in poverty cannot seek healthcare when they are sick and when they can’t receive care, they are risking exposing the community to illness. Children in the community are greatly affected by the health risks poverty can bring. Children who are not raised with healthy decisions are more susceptible to obesity and can have the foreseeable consequences of unprotected sex and STD transmission among other health issues if they are not being taught healthy living choices.

         Two great interventions to educate impoverished communities involve outreach and referral and follow-up. Outreach programs such as food banks and health safety services to low income families and communities can go a long way to a better way of living. Like Health Lead, reaching out to families about basic nutrition and exercise and referring them to places where they can receive the materials they need, will reflect opportunities of healthy living. With more effort put into these types of interventions, we can hope to have fewer health problems and have visits to the doctor be only for checkups to observe improvement.   

Nies, M.S. & McEwen, M. (2011). Community/public health nursing: promoting the health of populations

          (5^th ed.) St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier