Essay Sample on Community Health Promotion Programs

A healthcare system that incorporates the physical, spiritual, mental, and social welfare of everyone is the healthy vision of Nashville. Our health is based on living conditions, available economic opportunities, local environment, education, social situations, and the healthcare system. To improve the health of people living in Nashville, it is essential to take into consideration the above conditions. The Community-based health promotion programs are intended to avert diseases and improve health, and the value of life. Therefore, for healthier communities, it is critical to strike collaborations across various entities and disciplines (Suiter et al. 2015). The partnership should involve everyone ranging from the healthcare workers to the individual patients and all affected by it. All the agencies are required to work hand in hand to prevent replication of effort, ensure that all receive needed services, and strategize together.

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Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of mortality in Tennessee and is because of a lack of access to pre-emptive healthcare. It is, therefore, necessary to have preventive and health promotion programs that are aimed at supporting the aging as well as older adults. The programs should exhibit consistently positive modifications in the measures taken such that the participants improve and mechanisms are available for maintaining access, efficiency, and quality of the program. Funding has been availed to the programs that are approved to be evidence-based.

Chronic Disease Self-Management Education

An education program for individual management regarding chronic diseases has been developed for old adults and those with disabilities. The education provides them with tools for better control of their chronic condition (heart disease). The program runs for six weeks and is offered by non-health professionals with underlying chronic diseases. The group sessions in which collaborative programming is used to aid them in acquiring the necessary confidence required to manage their health issues. The activities in the workshop include techniques of dealing with frustrations and isolation, diet, proper way of the use of medication, suitable exercises, and adequate communication methods (Towne Jr et al. 2015). Participants of this program have shown considerable improvements in training, communication skills, and cognitive symptom management. Decreased cases of social inactivity, fatigue, and health distress have been witnessed among the participants. The attendees have also reduced the number of days spent in hospitals and a positive trend in lower hospitalizations as well as outpatient visits.

Better Choices, Better Health

Trained facilitators facilitate an online program for the management of chronic diseases and with underlying chronic conditions (Royne & Levy, 2015). The online interaction involves a group of about 25 participants. Through the interactions, the participants offer reciprocated support on the topics ranging from how to deal with frustration and pain, medication use, suitable exercise, and nutrition. The program runs for six weeks, for about 2 hours and at least two times a week. The participants of the online intervention have had substantial improvements in their health conditions as compared to the usual care patients.

Chronic Disease Care Management Program

Under this program, a team of nutritionists, social workers, pharmacists, and case managers assist individuals to better the effects of congestive heart conditions (Southerland et al. 2016). Minorities aged 60 and above are the targeted groups in this program. An initial home visit by a registered nurse for assessment followed by monthly follow-up visits by the case manager. Nutritionists evaluate the type of food, and after that, develop a meal plan. The plan puts into consideration the food they like and dislike and ethnicity. Pharmacists help the members navigate through medication and deal with adverse reactions from the physician prescriptions. The team encourages the participants to follow the recommended exercise pans and refer them within and out of the hospital for additional services. The results have been a drastic decrease in the rates of hospital readmission.

Recommendation

It is time to introduce laws and policies that will be fundamental in the fight against heart disease. The policy framework should be entirely based on the prevention programs and management programs of the disease (Beard et al. 2016). The policy framework will be required to tackle the challenges arising from heart disease to reduce the burden exerted on individuals, caregivers, and the health system. The policy goals should be (i) promoting and improving the health of the population while minimizing the resulting risks that facilitate the development of heart disease and (ii) developing and integrating a well-structured care that will help improve the outcomes as well as the value of life for the affected patients. The importance of cross-sectoral collaboration is highlighted in the framework to identify activities that aid in the occurrence of heart disease. The policy also talks about the management of the heart condition at various levels through realignment towards primary care and integrated healthcare services aimed at the prevention and restoration of an individual's health and value of life. Decision-makers and managers across the public health system are the target group because they are involved in the care and prevention of heart disease in Nashville. The policy will supplement the full range of activities being undertaken to improve and promote the healthcare system in the region.

References

Suiter, S. V., Davidson, H. A., McCaw, M., & Fenelon, K. F. (2015). Interprofessional education in community health contexts: Preparing a collaborative practice-ready workforce. Pedagogy in Health Promotion, 1(1), 37-46.

Towne Jr, S. D., Smith, M. L., Ahn, S., & Ory, M. G. (2015). The reach of chronic-disease self-management education programs to rural populations. Frontiers in public health, 2, 172.

Royne, M. B., & Levy, M. (2015). Reaching consumers through effective health messages: A public health imperative.

Southerland, J. H., Webster-Cyriaque, J., Bednarsh, H., & Mouton, C. P. (2016). Interprofessional collaborative practice models in chronic disease management. Dental Clinics, 60(4), 789-809.

Beard, J. R., Officer, A., De Carvalho, I. A., Sadana, R., Pot, A. M., Michel, J. P., & Thiyagarajan, J. A. (2016). The World report on ageing and health: a policy framework for healthy ageing. The lancet, 387(10033), 2145-2154.