Advocate to Improve Health
Throughout the different activities we have done as a practicum group with Johnston County Health Department, we have learned the barriers and challenges the community members face when it comes to accessing resources and health care. Based on the knowledge we have gained, it becomes apparent the need to advocate for political, social, or economic policies and programs that will improve health in diverse populations (F14).
One of our first tasks was to make a resource guide for the county. While putting this resource guide together, it was interesting to see the resources that were and needed to be included for the community members, ones that don’t seem obvious. The resource guide is split into the following categories: childcare, clothing, domestic violence, education / training, employment, financial assistance, local / county government, medical services, mental health, substance abuse, nutrition, food assistance, rent / utility / housing, support groups, transportation, veterans, and youth services. While some of these services seem necessary and common to include in a resource guide, there are others that we had to include that would not be thought of, unless you’re in that vulnerable situation. Without the experience and challenges of being under resourced and under served in a rural area, you wouldn’t think to add clothing, food assistance, or transportation services. Seeing these resources and services that people are looking for every day, it’s clear to see policies and programs have to be put in place to start making changes to improve health in these rural diverse populations.
Another task we did as a practicum group was perform listening sessions to be able to produce a health assessment for the county. These listening sessions consisted of talking to community members of Johnston County and asking their opinions on the health concerns, reasons, and changes happening in the community. This experience was very insightful because we got to hear first-hand what the community members thought were the problems, instead of the people in charge and making the changes. This is important because by knowing their opinions and what problems actually persist in the community, more accurate and beneficial changes can be made, that will actually make a difference with the individuals in the community. Moreover, that is the point of the Johnston County Health Assessment. They want to hear the opinions from the individuals that live, work and play in the community so that the policies and programs they start to develop will be ones that the community members need, want and will utilize. From doing the listening sessions we learned that the community members want cheaper gym memberships, more community activities, the developments of community gardens, and more affordable healthy foods, just to name a few. With the help of the community members and the output they gave us, it makes it easy to now implement programs and create policies to improve these challenges. Additionally, the individuals gave us ideas and what they think could change these problems. Some examples include lowering the price for gym memberships to induce more exercising, create more activities around the community for them to get involved in, and / or cultivate a community garden. With the help of these listening sessions and the health assessment, it’s easy to see how Johnston County is now able to advocate for political, social or economic policies and programs that will improve the health in this community.
Finally, we had to create a media campaign on the opioid crisis. We learned about the community’s knowledge of opioids, the opioid crisis, and their knowledge about Narcan through our listening sessions. That information we collected let us and the health department know what percent of the population (from our sample) know about opioids in general, how many are aware of the crisis, and how many know about Narcan and how to access it. By finding out this data, the health department can start to make changes. It became obvious that an overwhelming people who knew about opioids and the crisis, did not know about Narcan or how to access it. Due to this, the health department is able to implement policies and programs that can improve these problems. Narcan is very important when dealing with opioids and can save someone’s life, so now knowing it’s not well known within the community, we need to get education out there as wide spread as possible, including all the details like where to get it, how to pay for it, and how to use it. Johnston County Health Department has already started implementing this. They had made brochures and flyers with these details and we also made a media campaign including a poster and newspaper article to help combat the lack of education. Moreover, the Health Department held an Opioid Forum which included a variety of professionals coming together to think of ways to approach and help combat the opioid crisis. This is innovative and a way that Johnston County is taking information from their community members to advocate for political, social, or economic policies and programs that will improve the health in this community.