Matt Lundgren
SOC 221
January 26, 2016
Hypertension and Social Ecology Hypertension is a chronic medical condition in which an individual’s blood pressure is too high. This means that the blood is exerting more pressure on the arterial walls than normal as it moves throughout the body. I chose to write about this disease because numerous members of my family suffer from hypertension, or high blood pressure, and it is especially interesting to me because of the fact that hypertension itself does not display symptoms, however the comorbidity of the disease is what should truly grab people’s attention. Hypertension is known to cause various other illnesses such as diabetes, kidney or heart failure, aneurysms, strokes and vision problems. Ecology …show more content…
To many Americans this simply means primary healthcare, or regular checkups with a familiar physician. However, when viewed within the scope of economic stability, it is easy to see why primary health care may fall by the wayside. For example, if you are living paycheck to paycheck and most if not all of your money goes to food and shelter, paying for a checkup, when for all intents and purposes you feel healthy, is not an option. Accommodation represents a service provider’s ability to work around a patient’s schedule or vice versa. However, once again when viewed through the lens of economic stability, a patient may not be able to miss work for a day or leave work early particularly if they are in the aforementioned situation of living paycheck to paycheck. Availability signifies the health care provider’s ability to fulfill the requests or needs of the patient. When compared to the social determinants of health, availability is quite similar to the idea of “Health and Health Care” which deals with access to health care. The most common example of lack of availability as well as access to health care is that of a language barrier. If you were to go to the doctor and you could not understand the language being spoken to you how likely would you be to follow the directions given to you by the doctor or the nurses in order to maintain your own health? The answer is not likely, as can be seen by the current situation within the United States. Accessibility denotes the ability of the patient to travel to the health care provider. Accessibility is interesting because it can relate to all five of the social determinant of health categories. It is common knowledge that many impoverished neighborhoods do not have proper health care providers within the community and thus limits the accessibility of the people within
SOC 221
January 26, 2016
Hypertension and Social Ecology Hypertension is a chronic medical condition in which an individual’s blood pressure is too high. This means that the blood is exerting more pressure on the arterial walls than normal as it moves throughout the body. I chose to write about this disease because numerous members of my family suffer from hypertension, or high blood pressure, and it is especially interesting to me because of the fact that hypertension itself does not display symptoms, however the comorbidity of the disease is what should truly grab people’s attention. Hypertension is known to cause various other illnesses such as diabetes, kidney or heart failure, aneurysms, strokes and vision problems. Ecology …show more content…
To many Americans this simply means primary healthcare, or regular checkups with a familiar physician. However, when viewed within the scope of economic stability, it is easy to see why primary health care may fall by the wayside. For example, if you are living paycheck to paycheck and most if not all of your money goes to food and shelter, paying for a checkup, when for all intents and purposes you feel healthy, is not an option. Accommodation represents a service provider’s ability to work around a patient’s schedule or vice versa. However, once again when viewed through the lens of economic stability, a patient may not be able to miss work for a day or leave work early particularly if they are in the aforementioned situation of living paycheck to paycheck. Availability signifies the health care provider’s ability to fulfill the requests or needs of the patient. When compared to the social determinants of health, availability is quite similar to the idea of “Health and Health Care” which deals with access to health care. The most common example of lack of availability as well as access to health care is that of a language barrier. If you were to go to the doctor and you could not understand the language being spoken to you how likely would you be to follow the directions given to you by the doctor or the nurses in order to maintain your own health? The answer is not likely, as can be seen by the current situation within the United States. Accessibility denotes the ability of the patient to travel to the health care provider. Accessibility is interesting because it can relate to all five of the social determinant of health categories. It is common knowledge that many impoverished neighborhoods do not have proper health care providers within the community and thus limits the accessibility of the people within