Heritage Essay
Ike Gill
Grand Canyon University: NRS-429V
July 27, 2014

Using the heritage assessment I was able to see the differences in religious background, and also how that religious and cultural background influences the health care decisions. The three I choice to use were Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims. The reason being I am Sikh and most of my neighbors are Hindus and Muslims. Even though we all come from different background we are still very close and consult each other when we need to. Along with that being said the views I have don't always align with theirs but that is to be expected because we all come from different backgrounds. But one thing is for certain when it comes to health of our families that we all do what needs to be done in order to make sure they are ok. With the other two families and my own their were similarities, which was to be expected. For example the questions about where our parents grew up all said India so all in the same country. Also with the question “how often do you attend religious institutions”. All of the people responded with at least once a week. My Muslim neighbor was the one who went most, but she did mention it was because they were celebrating Ramadan this month, so her family went at least four times a week. Another was that the adults in the family could read, write and speak their native language, but the kids could only speak it. A few more similarities were that the spouse was the same religion, we all cooked foods from our ethnic backgrounds, and that we all had our original family names. Also that when we were growing up that we lived with our entire families mom, dad, uncles and aunts and their kids as well. Another similarity between all of that wasn't on the assessment is that we all grew up outside of the United States. So we moved here at different ages but our children all are being raised here in the United States. These were the similarities and they didn't really affect the way health protection went on. But other factors did play a role in the different way health was promoted and taken care of. One thing was about where we lived as kids. I lived in a rural environment so it was hard to get immediate care at times. While the other two lived in a urban environment so it was easy for them to get access to healthcare. Also one traditional factor for the Sikhs was that a man generally wouldn't go to the doctor. My family believed that if a male got hurt in some way that they should just rest, not go to a doctor. The times have changed since then and now it is no longer practiced. Also with my Muslim friend she told me that it was considered wrong by some if a male doctor touched a female. Also that direct eye contact between a female and male was also considered wrong. She also added that since she had more brothers that their health came first, that a female was kind of looked down on and wasn't always receiving the best care they needed. The same also went for my Hindu friend she also said that she had not always gotten the best care because she was a girl. Health maintenance for the me as a Sikh was highly practiced. Before going in to temple we washed our hands and feet. Also before we were going to eat we also washed our hands or before serving anything we washed our hands. The same is practiced in the United States except the feet washing. For my Hindu friend if a family member became ill they would put them in their own separate room to prevent others from catching the illness as well. The health maintenance side was different for my Muslim friend and me. If a family member was sick they would be kept in an open room where they could be watched easily. While they were there the rest of the family would get shots or something to prevent if from spreading. Health protection was a factor that was all over the spectrum. Since I grew up in a rural environment the air was a bit cleaner in the sense of pollution. But water wasn't always the safest, it was clean but some times a microbe would be in it and would cause you to become very sick. Where as the other two people lived in a urban environment so the air was more polluted, but their water was a better quality. Another factor was that we lived on a farm so we grew a lot of our food or could get it locally which was fresh. Where as the other two had it to where it was frozen like green peas in bags. Another bad thing for my family and the Sikhs in general was the fear of snakes. I know where we lived everyone was afraid of them because they were so common. That was do to where we lived but it was a constant fear. For all of us the heat was a huge factor. With temperatures getting above 105 Fahrenheit and having no air conditioning it was crucial for us to be in shade or be under a fan of some sort. Also for me their were the constant power outages in rural areas where as the urban areas they had power 24/7. Health restoration also was a picky topic. From all of the data I collected it was usual the bigger the family the longer the person had to recover. That was because some one was their to take over the duties until the other one was fully healed. We also knew that if it was a male that they wanted to be up on their feet and not have any time to recover. In the Hindu and Muslim culture it is generally the male who is bring the food home. Where in a Sikh culture everyone plays an equal roll in make sure things are taken care of. Also if a female were to get sick all three of the cultures would allow her time to get better where as a male you were expected to be fine after a short amount of time. With all this being said it is different in the United States, that is because we all receive the same care. We all did agree that there were certain things that didn't matter like having direct eye contact or if it was a female. Those old ways are still with us but they are also so distant. We all would do what ever it took to make sure our kids and families are healthy and we all did agree that the older ways were obsolete in a way. The traditions are still there like a male is supposed to get better faster than a female, but they are over shadowed, we all just want to be healthy.

Reference
http://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/663/679611/box_6_1.pdf