Neighborhood News Articles
The terms public health and community health have been interchanged when referring to community-based or community-oriented nursing. Public health can be defined as measures taken by a society to ensure healthy conditions of the people (Lancaster & Stanhope, 2008). Public health focuses on the community or population as a whole and includes people who are “free-living” and institutionalized. Public health also works closely with the government, which creates scientific-based regulations and policies, gather information or data and generate reports of the public, and provide such reports to the public for review. Community health focuses on individuals or families within a community, both “free-living” and in institutions, without government involvement.
The article, Officials confirm population worries, is about a community health issue. The community has been criticized by environmental activists about the cleanliness of the Neighborhood’s Lake. As a result of the high pollutants in the lake, the community is concerned about their healthy water supply diminishing (Apollo Group, Inc, 2010). This is a community health issue because it is focused on the health of the community that surrounds the Neighborhood’s Lake. The article did not conclude that other areas farther away from the Neighborhood Lake were being affected by the pollutants found in the lake.
The article, Smoking breaks a thing of the past?, is about a public health issue. The article addresses the new policies companies are enforcing regarding smoking. Companies have threatened to fire employees who refuse to quit smoking (Apollo Group, Inc, 2010).. Those who support the new policies view the act of smoking as polluting the air quality of those individuals in their environment as well as increasing medical insurance costs. Those opposed to the new policies indicated the policies go against individual rights as companies do not have control of what their employees do outside of work. The article is a public health issue because it addresses companies throughout the United States. State and federal governments regulate health insurances so the government would be involved in some way if insurance costs were increased if the individual’s are known smokers. The articles both discuss environmental pollutants that can cause harm to the public or community. One article focuses on the local community surrounding the Neighborhood’s Lake and the other focuses on the population, as a whole, in respect to air quality and unnecessary exposure to cigarette smoking. Public health will collaborate with the government to improve or create regulations that pertain to smoking and the exposure of cigarettes to the public. In the past, government has collected data and information that has shown exposure to cigarette smoking can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and lung cancer (Burnett, Cohen, Gapstur, Jerrett, Krewski, Pope, Thun, & Turner, 2011). Community health is focused on the elevated pollutants discovered in the Neighborhood’s Lake and monitor the effects those pollutants have on the water supply to that community and the community’s health. References
Apollo Group, Inc. (2010). The Neighborhood. Neighborhood news; episode 3. Retrieved from NUR 440- Health Assessment and Promotion for Vulnerable Populations course website.
Apollo Group, Inc. (2010). The Neighborhood. Neighborhood news; episode 9. Retrieved from NUR 440- Health Assessment and Promotion for Vulnerable Populations course website.
Burnett, R., Cohen, A., Gapstur, S., Jerrett, M., Krewski, D., Pope, III, A., Thun, M., & Turner, M. (2011). Lung cancer and cardiovascular disease mortality associated with ambient air pollution and cigarette smoke: Shape of the exposure-response relationships. Environmental Health Perspectives, 119(11), 1616-1621.
Lancaster, J., & Stanhope, M. (2008). Public health nursing: Population-centered health care in the community (7th ed.). St. Louis, MI: Mosby Elsevier.