Self Assessment

I would rate my preventative care ok even though I answered 8 out of 10 questions "yes." I do not eat healthy whatsoever. That needs to change and change quickly! Don't get me wrong I do eat veggies and fruits but not like I should. I need to eat a piece of fruit in between meals. I think that would be good for me. I think water is part of a healthy diet, which I do not drink. I will drink Propel but not regular water. I hate water. That is so sad and bad. I do not exercise on a regular basis. We used to walk every night if not every other night. My excuse is I do not have any time. We have talked about walking in the morning but never went through it. I do get a lot of sleep. I probably get too much. I try to allow myself at least 8 hours of sleep. I do avoid drugs and tobacco period. For the most part, I do not drink. I will occassionally drink with our friends but it is not an every weekend thing. My opinion about drinking is I am over that part in my life. I do use contraceptives when sexually active. I do love to socialize with family and friends. I do practice safe behaviors. I use my selt belt, I hate when people drink and drive so I do not do that! I do use nonviolent methods of conflict resolution. I try to see my doctor on a regular basis. She is in Plano and I live in Burleson.
I think I need to a lot more to improve my health. I use to be healthier. In high school I worked out, played sports and lifted weights. My eating habits still continue which are not great at all. I am just getting older and need to do more about my health. I don't think I am in bad shape BUT it is not like it used to be when I was in school. I would like to get to that point again. We have a bo-flex we are going to set up and use. We will start walking one of these days. I need to change my eating habits as well. It is just so hard because it used to be so easy.

Health care is a right or privilege?

I believe health care is a right and not a privilege. I believe that if health care is provided to everyone across the US, there would be less deaths. If my grandmother could have afforded to see her doctor on a regular basis, she would probably still be here, same for her husband (my grandfather). Medicare, I am sure, does not pay a lot of the costs. OK, it covers up to 80% but you are robbing old people which are living off of social security or disability. Is that what we want? They can barely afford to live off that and now that they need medicine they cannot get them. I think that if the US gave everyone coverage there should be limitations on it, that way people cannot abuse the system. But how the insurance is set up now-Medicare, Medicaid, CHIPS, etc is probably not set up the best way. We can do better. My sister could not get her child insurance through CHIPS due to they said she made too much and both parents work (which to me they do not get paid that much). Their jobs do not have insurance for their employees. On that note, I believe if you work that every job out there should have something to give the employees, whether it be PPO or HMO. Just let us have the option. That would be a great requirement-every business out there needs to offer insurance to their employees. I am sorry if it does cost the business money but it would be a good way to have everyone have insurance, in which this country needs badly. Bottom line is we are a rich enough country to allow everyone to have insurance/coverage. We are stingy with our money I think as a country, let's do something for the people and have that option for everyone.

Health Concerns for Women

My concerns about women's health would be at least these three things: Obesity, HPV, teen pregnancy.
I chose obesity due to there are so many people that are overweight in this country alone. I think there should not be places like McDonald's, Wendy's, and Chick-fil-a unless they serve all healthy food. I know that is impossible probably and would never happen. It is also our fault for not wanting or disciplining ourselves into eating healthy and exercising. I also chose HPV because there is not a lot out in the world to know a lot about it. Half the doctors cannot tell you probably half the things we need to know about it. Maybe they need to do more studies/research about it. The last thing I chose was teen pregnancy because it affects millions of people. Not only does it affect the teens having the kids but also their parents. I think that if the teen is not ready to have the responsibilities of raising the child nor giving it to her parents to raise while still in school, that baby should be put up for adoption. But that is not the only thing I am concerned about when it comes to that, it is also what they do while (partying, drinking, smoking, etc) they are pregnant since half the time they have no idea. Maybe we should teach abstinence sooner in schools.

I spoke with my mother, 46, about issues concerning her as well. She chose HPV, the new cervical cancer. She said that you read the same stories but really never get the same answer. She believes that your own doctor does not know enough about it nor can they really treat it. Women and girls may not even know they are carrying it. Many young women have many sexual partners in which if they have it and have no idea, they are passing it on. Do they know what side effects these young girls will have if they are giving them a shot for this issue? Do they know enough to be doing this? She thinks there needs to be more out there on this subject (i.e. Treatments, how come it could take years to know you have it, can you carry this always)

I also spoke with my cousin, 26, about issues concerning her. She chose two things which were obesity and lack of motivation to exercise. Obesity is a growing concern especially in the states. She says most women in the working world it is just so easy to get some food on the go through the drive thrus. Even with healthy items on the menu, they are expensive so therefore we stay away from that. She believes that fast food is a major contributor to obesity, but it is ultimately our choice for us and our children. She also chose lack of motivation to exercise because there is none of this today. In other countries they ride bicycles or walk to work and what do we have-cars, buses, etc. This issues contributes to the growing rate of obesity, but we must make it a priority, as much as eating dinner. Her as a mother and a caretaker of her family must make the choice for what foods to purchase for the household and making exercise a priority. The rate of obesity is astronomical, even in children, we must make the correct choices and enforce the necessary changes.

I also interview one more person at work about the issues concerning her. She is 26 and choose these three things: Cancer, Weight loss, Drinking. She chose cancer due to she had a family member die of this. There is no cure and should be able to detect it way early. She thinks that majority of the time it should be able to be prevented but the doctors just overlook or puts it to the side because to them right now it is not a concern. She chose weight loss because there is a lot of people overweight and more needs to be done to control this. Her last concern was drinking because she had a relative that was drinking and driving, hit someone and passed away. She believes there needs to be more strict laws and rules surrounding drinking and driving.

All of our concerns are very much alike. We all are concerns about either weight or obesity which to me falls in the same category. The other thing in common would be HPV. These are concerns that need to addressed in this country quickly. If there is nothing to stop or cure this issues then no telling what will happen in the near future and not just with obesity but all of these listed above.