Contraception

The decisions people make in life are influenced by their culture, religion, and practices.  This is the same for one’s chose of birth control.  A person may decide not to use contraceptive if their religion see sexual intercourse as a means for procreation or as a duty (Alexander, Larosa, Bader, Garfield, & Alexander, 2010).

For me, it was a public service announcement (PSA).  As a child, there was a PSA on T.V about family planning.  I cannot recall the images of the commercial but I will never forget the ending statement.  The ending was “Two is better than too many”.  I do not recall at what age I saw this PSA but it influenced my decision of contraception and family size.

References

Alexander, L., Larosa, J., Bader, H., Garfield, S., & Alexander, W. (2010). Reproductive health. In New Dimensions in Women’s Health (p. 92). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

Sex education in Public School

Keisha Mck.

I feel that sex education should be taught in public schools.  Teenager need to be provided lessons in abstinence plus. While, I understand the concerns parent may have about abstinence –plus; we need to take another approach to reduce the teen pregnancies. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services [DSHS], (2009) Medicaid paid for 173,226 in deliveries which cost us approximately $420 million.   Teen mothers age 13-17 account for 10% of these deliveries at a cost of 41 million (DSHS, 2009).   While reviewing the statistics on family planning I was shock to see; “every 10 minutes a teen in Texas gets pregnant, every 10 hours a 14-year-old teen gets pregnant, every 3 hours a 15-year-old teen gets pregnant, and every 10 minutes a teen gives birth”(DSHS, 2009).  Teenager needs to be informed on sexual health and they need to know all their options. I do not see the harm in teaching sex education and I do not see the harm in abstinence plus.  Not everyone have a parent or guardian that is open to this discussion. I would prefer the education come from a trained educator and not another uninformed peer.

References

Texas Department of State Health Services. (2009). Teen Pregnancy Prevention (Fact Sheet). Retrieved from Family Planning: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/famplan/tpp.shtm

Self-assessment

Self-assessment

 Keisha M

Doing a survey on health is always informative.  I was not surprise with my results of my survey.  I had no for # 2 and no for #3.  Although the  results  showed I am better off based  on the amount of  Yes, I need  to make  some  changes to improve my health.  To improve my health, I must participate in more physical activities during the week and I have to get more rest.  Implementing more exercise would be somewhat easy for me.  However, getting more rest will be struggle.  It can be done with a lot of work.  I will have to sit down and come up with a plan.  I should start my behavior change   10/01/10

Not scare to die but scared to live on until death”.

 # 2   Keisha Mckinley
Healthcare is important for a quality life


It is hard to achieve total wellness without healthcare. Our health is extremely important to us, and it is important to our families. The question of whether healthcare is a right or a privileged has been on the rise over the years. I answered this question 4 years ago this month. The appreciation and the importance of quality healthcare became a true reality 09/06/2006. I am a mother and I am grateful to have insurance for both deliveries. However, when my child was diagnosis with a chronic disease, I was never so happy to pull out that insurance card. Although I had no idea how I was going to pay the deductible for the hospital admission, I had comfort that Texas Children’s Hospital was going to provide my child with the best private insurance can provide. I cannot begin to think what I would have done without insurance or no access to quality health care. Currently, most of our illness and deaths are due to preventable diseases. Oftentimes, these deaths and illness can be reduced with proper access to health care. According to Alexander, LaRosa, Bader, Garfield, & Alexander, (2010) over 46 million Americans were uninsured in 2007.

These 46 million individual could extend their lives with access to preventative care. Individuals without insurance are less likely to seek medical care for illness and their more likely to die prematurely (Alexander et al., 2010) Healthcare should be accessible to everyone. Having access to health care will provided educational tools for preventative care and it will help to provide a better quality of life for many. Our health affects the stability of the household, it affects the health of our community, and it affects the health of our nation. The preservation of human life is a Right. We can only do this with proper access to healthcare.    

Reference

Alexander, L. L., LaRosa, J. H., Bader, H., Garfield, S., & Alexander, W. J. (2010). The Economics of Women’s Health. In New Dimensions in Women’s Health (pp. 17-32). Sudbury, Ma: Jones and Bartlett.

The health of our kids, husband, parents and extend families are amongst the daily concern of women in our society. Women oftentimes forget to think about themselves, our dual role in society does put a strain on our health. Women have to learn to think about themselves and their health more often. I had the pleasure of interviewing several women about their health concerns. These interviewees varied in age, cultural and race. I was very surprise that no one listed heart disease as one of her health concerns. Everyone was mostly concern about breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and diabetes. They were concern due to known family history. However, all admit to putting their health concerns on the back burner.
 My biggest concern are diabetes and heart disease. I am concern due to my family history,  my race and  my gender. I will admit that I had to learn to take care of myself better. Sometimes, I still forget about me but I am learning.
 We play a very important role in our  society. It is  time  to realize that  taken CARE of Me  is beneficial
to our families.