The Public Health Model: Lia Lee And The Human Service Model

Introduction The helping professions are designed to exactly that; help people. There are several systems and ways that people can be helped, depending on the situation. In the case of Lia Lee, a curveball of culture was thrown in. Although all of the service delivery systems were used to help her, there were times when not enough was done to help close the cultural divide between Lia’s parents and her doctors. In the case of Lia, although there were many people who worked hard to give her the best care despite the cultural differences and confusion, there were areas that could have been improved to give this girl better care. Every patient deserves the same care and communication, despite what culture and language barriers may be between …show more content…
In a way, the public health model is a combination of the medical model and the human services model. It is concerned with illness, such as the medical model, and with a person’s life problems, such as the human services model, but on a much larger scale. The public health model believes that there may be bigger social problems that are affecting the lives of people personally. Often times, the public health model is used to prevent many problems from happening (Woodside and McClan, 2009). For example, those working public health may advocate for accessibility to condoms and sex education to help prevent the spreading of STDs. In the case of the Lee’s, public health was one of the reasons why they were able to get healthcare for Lia in the first place. The Lee’s were refugees who did not have jobs and did not know English. If they did not have welfare, not only would Lia have never gotten any treatment, but they also would have not been able to get treatment for themselves or their other children. Over the years, not having to pay for medical care, the Lee’s “had cost the United States government about $250, 000,” (Fadiman, 1997, p.254). The Lee’s would not have been able to treat Lia without this care, and Lia would have probably died much sooner, or at least would have suffered …show more content…
They were in a country where they were a minority race, did not speak the language, and their culture was looked down upon. There was little effort to communicate with them, and because of this, the Hmong trusted their own community more than any other. In a group, people tend to notice “that the aspect of identity that is the target of other’s attention, and subsequently our own, often is that which sets us apart,” (Tatum, 1997, p.11). The Lee’s would have noticed this divide, and may have contributed to why they did not trust the American doctors. Their own people, the ones they could identify with, would naturally be the ones that they would trust. This was a place where they would be able to practice their beliefs and not be ridiculed by the dominant