1150 15th Street NW
Washington DC 20071
Dear Sir,
Community health is a big issue that needs to be addressed in all the communities. The health of the community contributes to the safety and wellbeing of the society (Daniel, Lisa & Zenobia, 2012). Your well-regarded newspaper is the means through which I would like to voice my opinion about a video that I watched on how to improve community health. I watched a video about one of the health initiatives by Kaiser Permanente community known as Photo-voice. The workers at Kaiser Permanente communities empower people and give them knowledge about community health by advising them to carry cameras and document all the factors that hinder living actively and eating healthy foods. From the video we see that stores are filled with junk food instead of fresh produce. Long consumption of junk food leads to weight issues and can make a person develop heart problems or become obese. Through Photo-voice, people are able to capture instances of poor community health issues and see the need to make changes.
In the video there is an instance where students at Adams City High School in Colorado made a video showing the problems they faced daily while going to school because the road did not have sidewalks. Another problem was that the traffic moved too fast. They named the video they made ‘The long scary walk home’. The students presented this video to their parents and staff of the city. The video had a big impact and changes were made. The changes made include the inclusion of biking areas in road projects. Also the plans to widen the road were cancelled by the city staff. In the video there is a shop that has a sign that says ‘No trespassing’ and has bullet holes on the window. The message being sent out to the children is that the area is unsafe and it would be best to avoid visiting such an area. I find the video very informative because am able to identify an unhealthy community and also identify the need for the society to make corrections on the affected areas. The image of an unhealthy community rouses the need to remedy the situation.
My community and all the other communities need to take a social ecological approach towards addressing the issue of health. This approach is based on systems that help to define problems of research in view of processes and structures and helps in producing results that give understanding towards the ever changing relationship between people and their environment. The social ecological approach is broad and focuses on various research areas (McMurray, 2002). Ecology is the study of the relationship that exists between living things and the environment surrounding them. The social ecology approach focuses on cultural, institutional and social aspects of the relationships between people and their environments.
In my community junk food is more available than healthy food. All the major stores have shelves full of junk food. The drinks available in the stores have high levels of sugars and calories content. The junk food is availed easily and there are people who are obese. It is very sad when you see a teenager struggling with obesity and heart diseases. The areas for exercising are very few, so most people do not exercise at all. Gyms are available, but people are too busy with work to exercise.
The issue of community health is of high concern and everyone needs to be educated about how to contribute towards the community’s good health. Photo-video is one of the ways in which the impact of bad health of a community can be communicated to people or authorities making decisions. Creating awareness of the dangers of bad health of a community will save many lives because the right decisions will be made by the people and the local authorities. Good health improves the quality of life and brings prosperity to people and the society as a whole.
References
Daniel G., Lisa B. & Zenobia B., (2012). Eco-literate: How educators are cultivation emotional, social, and ecological intelligence. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Anne McMurray, (2002). Community health and wellness: A socio-ecological approach. Missouri: Mosby.
