The Coolest Blog Ever

Week 10

2008-12-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

In this first website of WELCOA I clicked on the part that allows you to set a program to raise awareness in wellness around the workplace. They suggested you set up activities for the workplace. Or even they suggested a results-oriented approach. This seems like it has more of an impact on the employee side of the workplace. This just isn't about participating in an activity but also improving your daily life.

I would use this in my future to help educate almost anyone on a healthier lifestyle. This is a great tool to help introduce others to the knowledge that I already have. The process to start these programs are simple and I feel that they could be applied anywhere.

This could easily be used in the future by anyone that wants to improve the health in their workplace. The website allows step-by-step actions that you can take to actually start these programs in your workplace if you see a problem.

In the second part of this assignment it was very easy to find anything that I needed to start a program in your workplace. This was the best place to find out about other companies that work as a healthy workplace. I noticed there were interviews from CEO's in healthy workplaces with such subjects as battling cancer, tobacco use in the workplace, and physical activity. I was also surprised to see that this website has distributed over 2.5 million articles, case studies, and other interviews with top leaders in a company on their healthier work places.

Once again this is a great tool to impact a healthier workplace. Even if my future isn't in health education, this website is very helpful in getting ideas and starting a healthier workplace which is becoming more of a problem across the nation.

I believe that others can use this website to understand health education better and all the work that goes into making a healthier workplace. They can also apply this to different areas of their lives. One could include this in their household or even the classroom. This website is a great tool to further the education everywhere for people, not just in the workplace.

Week 8

2008-12-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

After long hours of looking for the perfect article, I finally found one. It is about teachers who teach the age group of eleven years or older can now get accreditation for the work that they do.

The teachers can now have certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. They have also set up standards for which these teachers must include. These include the subjects of critical thinking of the subject matters of sexual behavior, tobacco and alcohol use, and also a big problem in our nation, diet and exercise. Once the teachers are certified they will be able to teach their students to make better health decisions and this will help them later in their lives. The number of teachers that are certified has almost tripled from 2002 to 2007. They evaluate these teachers by peer review, self-assessment, intensive study, and expert evaluations.

I like the idea that teachers are getting certification for their work with the younger age group. This is the age group where a lot of students are learning life skills. This is also a good age to allow the students to know all the information and make a good choice for themselves. I also think that this will motivate the teachers to teach more to their students.

The National Board for Professional teaching standards has also set up a lot of great areas for these students to be educated about. This just shows that there are so many different jobs in the public health field and they are still trying to prevent the disease. I have also included a works cited so if you would like to see this article for yourself you can!

Works Cited
"Certification offered for student health educators." Nation's Health 38.5 (June 2008): 19-19. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 3 Dec. 2008 .

Week 9

2008-12-03T11:10:00.001-08:00

Biostatistics
When I searched this field the job of monitoring and evaluation director showed up. I almost expected this job because statistics usually entitles the practice of evaluating something. This was also a job for a university but stated that it could be a various sites. This job requires a masters degree in public health, 5 years of professional work in the field, and a doctorate degree in the public health field or related field is preferred. This field of work had not interest to me and what I eventually want to do with my life.

Community Health Jobs
After searching for this subject I learned that there were so many different jobs that I didn’t expect to be part of community health jobs, such as lecturer and chair of behavioral health sciences. These jobs were both at universities and these jobs were posted from all over the United States. For the lecturer job, they wanted requirements such as a doctorate degree or enrolled in the doctoral program. Also they strongly suggested that they have college-level teaching experiences. I could see myself easily doing this job in the future.

Epidemiology
Some jobs that showed up in this field included statistician, health service manager, administrator, coordinator, and assistant commissioner. None of these jobs sounded appealing to me. Most of these jobs required training in the field and at lest a master or doctorate degree, but one only wanted a baccalaureate degree and 5 years work experience.

This was a very great exercise and I enjoyed seeing what all the job titles may include. I know that one day I will possibly be using this website to find a job. It showed all possible jobs that would be included in the respected fields. I thought that this a very good tool to find a job, that is if one is qualified for it.

Text messaging and health

2008-11-17T11:43:00.000-08:00

When I typed in health and text messaging I have realized that they have used this technology tool to help out with a variety of things such as helping the HIV/AIDS in South Africa to helping young teens to quit smoking.

This is a great tool to get out the news about health problems. As far as the HIV/AIDS alerts go, it was said that about 90 percent of people in Africa use some kind of technology and get these text messages when they need more minutes on their prepaid phone. When they send a message that they need more minutes then they get a message back that allows them to get the hotline for HIV/AIDS help. They said in the article that this helped raise phone calls for help about 200 percent. This isn’t the first time that they have used this to spread the word about health care issues, but for some reason this campaign has been more successful than the others. The consequences of using this are that it is most likely to not reach the people that need it the most. Many under privileged people don’t have cell phones in order to get these text messages. I feel like they are the ones that need to be informed the most. However, it does help out majority of the people that do have cell phones. It doesn’t have a lot of information and people must give the effort to call and get help.

The second article I chose was text messaging helping teens quit smoking. This study was put together in New Zealand and showed that the rates for teen smokers with the average age of 25 had an easier time to quit smoking after receiving text messages daily for five months straight. If they quit, the teen received a month of free personal text messaging. This study may have had some miscalculations because it was a self reporting study. They want to start using it in different countries such as China, where there are 50 million young smokers. They also stated that it is going to help further the use of text messages as a popular method for public health interventions.

I really liked looking at these articles but I really want to see more of this use in America. Both of these are in two different countries and they seem to make a difference so why haven’t we tried this sort of promotion in the United States yet? So many people my age right now are using text messages; I think that we are the only generation that fully understands how to use text messaging. It would be a great way to reach the younger population because we are so technology savvy but on the other had I feel like many pare undereducated about health care and where to get help. But then once again you don’t reach everyone, especially the people that really need it.

Whyville

2008-11-04T12:18:00.001-08:00

This is a great way for teens to get educated early about getting vaccinations and a great way to promote good health. If you make a point to educate early on then it can help students to make healthy choices later on in life. This idea of a virtual world definitely reaches out to a different age group. It was easy and fun to explore around this little virtual world.

It was easy and fun to explore the whyville. In the town there were a lot of different houses I could explore and learn a wide variety of information from. But this virtual world may teach something but then it also may just be a game for them to play, not learn anything. I found it hard to actually understand what I was really supposed to do but explore. I wanted more structure through the virtual world. There could’ve been more information available to the audience. This is a great starting point but more attention needs to go towards health care.
Personal health behaviors are best addressed in this manor of the virtual world. These little characters are allowed to go where ever they please but then in real life they can also make their own decisions. Once they make these healthy decisions they can apply these choices to their own lives, not just to their virtual lives.

I got lost in the virtual world. I liked the fact that I could explore freely but I then again saw this as a game, not a learning experience. I wasn’t exactly the target audience, but I could’ve still had more information available to me. I explored the doctor’s house in the whyville and there wasn’t a lot about health at all. It was however a place where students could ask question about the things in the room.

This interactive game most appeals to the younger generation. This is very helpful because most of new information today is portrayed over the internet and this is helping them to understand how to get this information. This is a way for them to learn how to make healthy decisions and at the same time, learn how to safely use the internet. This could be promoted more widely if students of the target age were exposed to this in the classroom. Maybe monitored by a teacher and then they could help guide them towards the health information in this whyville.

LGBT

2008-10-28T10:44:00.001-07:00

The LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. I also noticed that thee was an advertisement for the healthy people 2010 on the bottom of the first webpage. This helps everyone realize that everyone can benefit from this program and it doesn’t matter who you are, if you have health problems or issues, you still can find help from this group.

As I looked at all the websites the top concerns with individuals involved with the LGBT, that can be controlled would include simple things that we all can struggle with. Things such as alcohol abuse, substance abuse, fitness, and depression. We have talked about it in class that it may be hard for those of LGBT to talk to their doctors about their health concerns or the doctor may discriminate against them because of their sexual orientation. Therefore, these simple aspects may be hard to talk to a health care professional about, making this health problem escalade into a big problem.

The content of these websites say that most of their social health problems, including smoking, alcohol abuse, and other substance abuses can be caused by their social surroundings and if they are accepted by others. The panel made it clear that it is hard for many to come out because they feel like it is a huge deal. However to many it is a big deal but I hope that America can keep changing and eventually accept people and it will no longer be a big deal. These problems lead to many LGBT members feel rejected by their society. Just a statistic on these problems is that gay males are three times more likely to commit suicide than heterosexual males. This problem and many other problems need to be talked about to change them.

The primary concerns with people who identify with LGBT would be prostate/breast cancers, AIDS/HIV infection, and other STDs. Some of these, such as the AIDS/HIV and STD’s, can be prevented with healthy practices. However, something such as cancer could be genetic or just not caught in time. That is why it is important for members of the LGBT to talk to their healthcare provider about problems they might be having, and anyone else it may concern.

One possible solution, make it easier for people to talk to their health care provider. I think that the GLBT is helping out with this problem that they may be having. Another would be to really emphasize how important safe sex is for everyone, not just the LGBT. And finally the most important part is to have everyone do their part in the acceptance in people and their personal choices. A doctor shouldn’t discriminate against one person due to their sexual orientation. I hope in the future I can help in this part of the health field.

Week 3 blog, My philosiphy

2008-10-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

The purpose of health education is to keep everyone knowledgeable on how they should treat their body in the purpose of living longer and better. There are certain things that we can control to help our health be better. Part of health education is to reach an understanding in keeping our bodies fit in the areas that include physical, mental, and social health and sometimes health of the environment around us. I believe that everyone has the right to receive the same treatment with or without insurance or judgment from the doctor. I hope that one day there will be a world where the United States will have free health care to the public.

Public health is very important to me and I want it to be an important part of others lives. I want my information that I learn to be passed on so others can use it as a tool in their everyday lives. That is why I choose to pursue the career of public health. There are ways to some what prevent disease and control our own health. How much education one has, has a big impact on how we treat our bodies and receive the information on health. I would also like to see a change in how doctors treat their patients.

Healthy People 2010

2008-10-20T20:33:00.000-07:00

I went on the website and explored a little bit. It was nice to see that they had a mission statement that was clear to me as to what they were trying to achieve. The purpose of the Healthy People 2010 is basically to promote a healthy lifestyle to the people. They want to change the way that people live their lives. This website was reliable on their information and helpful at the same time. I also liked how they showed all the different organizations that helped support this cause.

I choose to explore the topic of Primary Care. I actually wanted to find more information on this for my H210 class. The information was easy to find from there but I was not expecting that there was limited information and I would have to go to a different website to find out more. I found out that primary care is an effort to help people get health care regaurdless if they have insurance or not.

I already knew about healthy people 2010 but didn't really know where to find it, until now. I feel like there should be more advertisements for it at a wide variety of places, such as health care facilities, gyms, restaurants, and anywhere else people could go and just see a simple poster about it. Another good way of getting the news out would be put posters around campus; get the students involved with helping out the organization. There is a mass majority of people out there that if you just give them a little bit of help they will exceed. I think that this website will be a huge part of my life for the next couple of years considering it already helped me with another class and it was somewhat easy to find information on everything to deal with health care.

Government and Healthcare

2008-10-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

I believe that the government has a lot of laws already to help us with our health. They set up laws that help people stay safe. There are laws that prevent us from getting hurt in a car accident by forcing us to wear our seat belts, they have set out a food pyramid to help us eat right, and they have also done programs such as DARE to keep away from harmful drug abuse.

I feel that how someone treats themselves is a personal health decision. However, the government could help the people that don't have health insurance or lower the cost of health care that is avaliable to many. If they set up these laws such as getting certain annual exams, then they would have to make healthcare more affordible for the lower class in America. I don't think that the government neccessarly needs to make sure you are healthy to prevent further illnesses, they just need to make it cheaper and more avaliable. If they place these laws on us it is almost taking away our healthcare freedom.

Utility of Podcasts

2008-10-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

I choose a podcast on traveling overseas and what one can do to help themselves stay healthy. I liked this one because I have recently traveled overseas. The top concerns of this pod casts were the infection of rabies, travelers' diarrhea, and seasonal influenza. They also said that travelers should look out for Hepatitis A, B and typhoid fever. These all can be prevented by shots. I also liked this pod casts because recently in my H 210 class, we had a guest speaker come in and talk about the flu; seasonal and epidemic flu. He said that international travel and airports are the biggest places where people can get sick and bring diseases back into America.

After listening to a couple of the pod casts I thought that they were very helpful. It seems like in every class I have gone to lately, my professors have said that students today are so technologically savvy. So this application might appeal to "the student" generation. Students are constantly trying to obtain more information and like to use the Internet for this information majority of the time. The pod casts are a great way to get information about a variety of different topics and some aren't that long (only lasting about a minute). I think this is a great tool for the students of my generation. It makes information easier to find and you get to listen to it rather than read another article. After finding this tool I hope that day we could use this just as much as we use books. What I also like about this website it that you can look right at the title of the website and see that it says it is a credible source for health care information. I like this, many websites that I have been going to lately have been terrible for the actual creditable.