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Food insecurity and low income
Food insecurity and low income
Volunteer experience underserved population essay
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I have volunteered at the UCSD Student-Run Free Clinic as Spanish/English interpreter since July 2014. Most of the patients at this clinic are Spanish-speaking undocumented adults who do not have any other form of access to health care. From this experience, I have been able to learn from the medical students, physicians, pharmacists, and patients about the different obstacles this disadvantaged community has to get access to health care services. I was also able to volunteer at this same clinic as a research assistant at a diabetes study for food insecure patients. This experience opened my eyes to a problem that I knew that existed, food insecurity, but did not know how big and common this problem was. While recruiting participants for this
Food insecurity is one of the major social problems that we have in our world today. The concern about this problem is the increasing number of people that are beginning to experience hunger more often. “While hunger has long been a public health concern in developing countries, it has received varying degrees of attention in the United States, most notable during the 1930s and 1960s” (Poppendieck 1992). In addition to lack of food, there are consequences that follow. People, especially children, who suffer from food deprivation also undergo some health issues such as malnutrition and obesity, which leads to more health care and hospitalizations. “In the early 1980s, most reports of hunger involved families with children, the elderly, the unskilled and unemployed youth, the mentally ill, the homeless and minorities” (Brown 1992; Nestle and Guttmacher 1992). However, a particular ethnic group that is greatly affected by food insecurities are the Hispanic...
My most humbling experience was volunteering as a patient ambassador for the East Harlem Health Outreach Program at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The program allows for Latinos of East Harlem to receive medical services for free or discounted. The duties of a patient ambassador are to help navigate patients to their appointment and answer any questions about their visit. All of the patients that I escorted were Latinos and some were Spanish speaking only. This experience made me think about the barriers of health within the Latino community. The two most common barriers of health that I observed within the Latino population are language and lack of insurance. As a person who does not speak Spanish, communicating effectively with
I will contribute to the mission of the Nurse Corps Scholarship program by continuing to provide care to individuals in underserved communities. Medically underserved communities involve racial minorities, offenders and ex-offenders, crime or abuse victims, LGBTQ citizens, people with AIDS, and those that are economically disadvantaged. I was born in the small town of Monroeville, AL. It is a great town but it does not have the best resources when it comes to health care. Most members of this town, including my family, would bypass the hospital there and go to the one in the next town simply because they feel
“A Place at the Table” is a documentary about the millions of Americans that are on the food stamp program. This group of people has been growing at a depressing rate for the last few decades. The film begins with exterior shots of various big cities in the U.S, before coming to a smaller one, Collbran, Colorado, rural town comprised of humble, needy people who are struggling to find the next meal. We see a church leader recall how when he began giving out warm meals to the public, where anyone can come and get a free meal, on Wednesday night, and an astounding 120 people showed up. It was a sign that a large number of people in Collbran were hungry and needing help. Coming from a community where everyone had what they needed this really shocked me. It made me think about that anyone around me could be struggling with food.
The article “Food Deserts Aren’t the Problem” was written for those involved in initiatives that attempt to improve the health of those living in poverty. This
What is somewhat alarming is that about half the hungry children in Solano County are in families who are 185 percent of the poverty line.This means that parents of these children earn too much money to qualify for most federal nutrition programs, including the school lunch program.Even as the demand for charitable food help increases, federal food programs are failing to serve eligible, hungry families. Bureaucratic hassles and the stigma of receiving assistance prevent people from getting the help they need. Federal food programs—if fully utilized—are essential for fighting hunger in Solano
“Health equity is the attainment of the highest level of health for all people”[1]. Presently in the United States individuals from diverse cultural origins cannot access the highest level of health care available just because of factors outside their control like their socioeconomic status, language, education level and the location of medical centers and availability of health services. As the majority of health care interpreters can testify, these translate among other situations into missed appointments because of the lack of transportation, miscommunications between health care providers and
Limited access to health care for Spanish Speaking populations is due to inability to afford services, difficulty with transportation, dissatisfaction with services, language barriers and inability to understand treatment plans. Health indicators of Spanish Speaking populations suggests that health outcomes continue to be behind other population groups, they also remain below goals established by Healthy People 2010 (Butler, Kim-Godwwin, & Fox, 2008). The US Spanish Speaking population represents a particular vulnerable subset of US Hispanics that have lower-income, less education, poor perceived health status and poor access to the health care System (Dubar & Gizlice, 2008).
I traveled to Lima,Peru, providing primary care services,medication,and preventive health education to low-income areas.I assisted physicians in seeing hundreds of people.Many of the health problems we witnessed were common,such as diabetes and high blood pressure.Without our clinic,these people would go untreated,making their conditions worse.One patient had an old IUD that was infected and embedded into the uterine wall.Unable to receive care to have it removed,she had to live in pain.This experienced showed me the importance that basic health care be provided to
I spent an early part of my life in a developing country called Bangladesh which was a stark contrast to my life in the United States. Despite living in the capital city of Dhaka, which has a busy urban landscape, what always struck me was the sad state of the people struggling with poverty. There were malnourished children and individuals suffering from diseases on the streets. These memories have stuck with me and inspired me to go into a profession that provides service to people in need. People in my family have a diverse range of profession, but my dentist aunt who has done extensive volunteer work through her profession has always been a great role model for me. Last year, my aunt went on a dental service trip to Ecuador and provided free dental care to people who don’t have access to proper healthcare. These
As I said earlier, one of the problem among homeless population is lack of of access to healthcare. Many homeless people were not even aware of their health problems and some of them did not even care. As a public health nurse, being aware of your surrounding and understanding the need of the people is helpful in order to provide better care. Homeless population are very vulnerable and they need a lot support from the people. I had fun doing this volunteer and it made me happy hearing homeless people say thank you for our effort in feeding
In the United States of America, the richest nation of the world, one in six Americans do not have enough food to eat. Have you ever wonder why there are so many food banks and food pantries throughout the country? They are not simply, as you thought, existent to offer emergency food assistance. Indeed, they are the main sources of food to millions of food-insecure Americans. Food insecurity, the state of not having sufficient quantity of affordable and nutritious food, has been very widespread and common in America. It affected millions of Americans and has been increasing dramatically in recent years; in 2012, more than 48 millions of food-insecure Americans rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (McMillan). The depth
Volunteering enables an individual to make a positive impact on his or her community, while empowering the individual to better his or her life. This summer, I had the opportunity to volunteer at many diverse locations. From the hospital to the local library, I truly value my experience and treasure everything it has thought me. Volunteering lets us experience and learn things that we otherwise would not have learned; volunteering opens doors for us that we may not have been able to open before. Volunteering provides us with guidance and tolerance which we may use in the future to aid us in our decisions. At first glance, volunteering may seem to only benefit those who are helped, but on a deeper level, one can realize that volunteering benefits the volunteer as much as, if not more than, those who are helped. Not only does volunteering make a difference in one’s community, but it also helps the volunteer become a smarter, happier, friendlier and more caring individual.
A common misconception about volunteering is that it only helps the cause. Often times that aspect is the only part that is highlighted when the topic of donating time comes up. There is a different side of volunteering though. Many volunteers donate their time to help better the community they live in and the people that live in it. When they choose to do this they not only help others but they are also helping better themselves. Volunteering benefits a person by building connections with peers, improving family life, expanding career skills, overcoming self doubt, having lasting life impressions, and creating new opportunities.
A reflection of my volunteering experience can be summarized in two words: Life-changing. It is hard to explain the feelings that occur when you involve yourself in selfless acts for your community, such as volunteering. There is a feeling in your heart that you cannot ignore, maybe it is the happiness you feel or the overflow of emotions in helping others. In other words, it is a feeling in which you want to share with others. Maybe with a friend, maybe a classmate, maybe a family member, or maybe even a stranger. Either way, spreading how life-changing volunteering can be is a great start to making a positive change in your community by simply by involving others.