Healthcare Advocacy

Create a 300 words Discussion about: 
Contact your local health department; administrator of your local hospital, nursing home, or clinic; or other local public health entity. Discuss two to three issues facing the population of the general community or their patient population. Discuss your findings with the class, detailing the specific issues and effective ways that you could possibly advocate for the aforementioned issues and/or population.
On two different paragraph give your own opinion to: 
 Deziree Riverasalas-adonay 
Two major health issues that are affecting my community (Solano County, California) is diabetes and obesity. In my county, 2 in 5 youth are obese and 44.0% of 5th, 7th, and 9th graders are physically inactive in comparison to the overall California percentage of 35.9%. The number of obese and physically inactive youth exceeds the state’s average. Following suit, 2 in 3 adults are obese with 18.2% of adults with no leisure time for physical activity, exceeding the state’s average of 16.6%. I believe the high rates of obesity can be attributed to two major factors: 1) rapidly growing fast-food chains, and 2) the increasing cost of healthy food alternatives. Since Solano county is wedged between two major commuter cities (San Francisco and Sacramento), many families relocate to the area in an effort to reduce their commute in which they also seek quick, convenient and less healthy food options for meals. 
Solano County diabetes indicators show that 1 in 10 adults over the age of 20 have diabetes, with an average of 9.8% in comparison to the state’s average of 9.9%. Again, I believe that the increasing diabetes rates are attributed to the growing amount of fast-food chains, but also because comparatively, calorie and sugar dense food items are exceedingly cheaper than healthier options such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables. 
Aside from food consumption, both youth and adults live more sedentary lifestyles than they have ever lived in years prior. Communal dining has been replaced with TV watching while eating, where people can sit for hours at a time. Cell phones, tablets, computers and video games have dulled the desire to ride a bike or play on a playground. 
Some effective ways to target these issues is to create community outreach programs for families that advocate healthier living. In an effort to combat obesity rates amongst youth, school nurses possess the training and skills to bridge the gap between school, parents and doctors by providing education and resources to help families adopt healthier practices. 
References
Solano County Public Health, (2016). Solano County Diabetes Indicators. Retrieved from 
http://www.solanocounty.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=26176
Solano County Public Health, (2016). Solano County Overweight, Obesity, and Physical Inactivity Rates. Retrieved from
http://www.solanocounty.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=26174
and 

Breanne Munday 
The life of a Skilled Nursing Home Administrator is not always an easy one. Some issues I personally see our administrator deal with is our census is lower than the budget projections, difficult residents not wanting to follow rules, and issues with our kitchen is a huge problem right now. Census is an official count or survey of a population, typically recording various details of individuals. Our census is broken down into Medicare, Insurance, Medicaid Pending, Medicaid, and Private residents. Our facility has a budget for each of those categories, if this budget is not met, we have corporate breathing down our necks asking why? Some ways to make sure census is always meeting budget would be to send the admissions director out to the hospitals to meet with the social worker to build a relationship, since the social workers are the ones who choose where the individual goes after discharge. Another issue I see constantly is when we have a younger resident at our facility who wants to smoke even though we are a no smoking facility. This issue can be addressed by admission, they should have a letter stating the no smoking rule as well as have them sign this understanding the will be given a discharge date to another facility if they do not follow this rule.
A Day In The Life Of A Nursing Facility Administrator. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.providermagazine.com/archives/2008/Pages/0508/A-Day-In-The-Life.aspx