According to (Fitzpatrick, 2006) a vulnerable population is a statement that is used to define the ability of a certain group of people to be at risk of something. This term can be used in both positive and negative situations. Although there are many different situations that a person is vulnerable to, our focus in this context shall be health. There are different environments that make a person be vulnerable to attacks that may risk the well-being of their health. Since different environments have unique risks that can endanger their health, appropriate measures need to be taken according to the risks. For any organization to achieve commendable results in protecting the concerned people, they need to cooperate with them so as to determine the real issues.
Vulnerable Population
The vulnerable group that is chosen for study is the children in the inner city that go to a certain daycare center. The daycare center is located in their home area and the food is provided to them by their parents. The children’s vulnerability comes because the resources and services they need are not available. Since they are children, they are unable to advocate for themselves. They are also at risk because nobody seems to be aware of the situations that they are going through.
The daycare center is committed to providing an interactive education program that is of high quality and good standards. The centers in collaboration with the parents strive for excellence and provide challenging experiences to meet the high standards of performance of the school. The objectives of my study were to find out the benefits of social interaction among these children, the different ways that can encourage the children to participate in social activities at the daycare center, and the importance of balancing the time of sleep and play among the children (Fitzpatrick, 2006).
Education facilities are inadequate for these children as the teaching process is done in the hospital. To be able to feel the situation of these children, one needs to intensively interact with them in their programs which include feeding them during their mealtimes, helping them in their bathroom, and teaching them. Participating in these programs enables one to be part of their conditions which will ultimately help them to find the possible solution.
Factors Affecting Health Conditions in Children
The organizations that are mostly involved in such programs include; the government, nongovernmental organizations, health institutions, and individual organizations. The question of protecting such children against environmental hazards is a personal responsibility that has to be motivated by the desire of the concerned to see them healthy. The children live in environments that do not have good facilities for their health. Unless the local authorities move in to protect them from these hazards, they will continue to suffer ill health. There is however a tendency for them to be ignored due to the fact that the authorities concerned cannot feel their agony and help them. They simply cannot understand the pain because they have not been exposed to such situations. The situation mostly comes to their attention when they discover the adverse effects it has caused to the community (Frances, 2004).
It is however not advisable for the authorities to wait until when the situation is out of hand for them to behave responsibly. When measures are taken to prevent and control the occurrence of these issues, it will save us a lot in terms of expenses and lowering the mortality rate of the children. Some of the efforts that can be employed by the local government are to upgrade the living conditions of the children by ensuring that clean water is available to them, the sewerage system should be well maintained, good housing facilities, and equipped health facilities. The communities also need to be educated on the hygiene measures that they need to employ in order to protect innocent lives from controllable diseases.
Children may be vulnerable to health conditions in relation to their living conditions. If they live in congested areas, they are usually vulnerable to communicable diseases like flu and tuberculosis. It is not always easy to contain such sicknesses in case of an outbreak. The diseases spread so fast that, if controllable measures are not taken in time, the disease will spread rapidly and claim lives. Children in such environments are also vulnerable to certain outbreaks such as cholera and typhoid due to limited sanitation and contaminated water. To protect them from such possible attacks, adequate sanitary facilities should be provided and cleaned on a regular basis. Water tanks should also be sterilized and the water treated to ensure that they are safe for use. In case of a breakout of any communicable disease, the patients should be separated from the rest and given immediate treatment to avoid any other infection (Frances, 2004).
Environmental hazards like improper disposal of waste materials can be a serious risk to children who like playing and touching things. Some of these materials may include plastic bags, old utensils, used batteries, and scrap metals. Children who are mostly not aware of the dangers of using these materials may mistake them to be toys and use them. They are therefore exposed to risks such as suffocation, injuries, and poison. Proper disposal bins that are far from reach by the children need to be placed in the correct places to avoid any misfortune.
Drug and chemical use is another common behavior that makes children vulnerable to some complications. Some of the drugs that are commonly abused include; alcohol and tobacco. With the continuous use of these substances the individuals using them may expose the children around them to risks such as breathing complications. When such substances are used by expectant mothers, the effects may be transferred to the unborn baby who might cause miscarriage and future complications to the baby. Due to the addictive nature of these substances, some children may be influenced into using them which will put them at serious risks. Such children may end up growing in rehabilitation centers where they are canceled and helped to stop their use. (Navarro, 2000).
The eating habits of children may expose them to some health problems like obesity and malnutrition. Parents and guardians are at times unable to control such behaviors in children which expose them to such risks. They may also contribute to the cravings of the children by persistently providing for them foods that may risk their well-being. Sugary confectionaries like sweets and biscuits have been the largest contributors to teeth problems among children. Junk foods have been a major problem among the American population where the consumption of foods such as pizzas, burgers, and hot dogs are the major causes of weight-related complications. The consumption of these foods has negative effects on children who are developing complications such as heart diseases, high blood pressure, and diabetes. It is also a major hindrance to the development of the children making them remain inactive (Navarro, 2000).
Health Vision 2010
In its effort to minimize the rate of vulnerable populations to risk factors that may expose the children to diseases, the government of the united states has put in place some procedures that will enable it to reach its target by the year 2010. Among the stipulated plans of this vision is to ensure that the health services are available to everybody no matter their status and location. The government has also set plans to do more research on major sicknesses that are a threat to the people and provide solutions to ensure that the cases are put under check. It also intends to improve medical facilities by installing modern equipment that will enhance faster diagnosis of the diseases in their earlier stages to protect the masses from diverse effects.
Health-Related Goals
According to (Tierney, 2004), to permanently eradicate these problems, long-term plans need to be made that should be aimed at improving the living condition of people. This may involve a lot of finances yet the results will save a lot. Most people may not be aware of the consequences that may accrue to them by living in certain conditions. For example; it may not be practical to advise a person to stay at a better place to protect them from sicknesses when they opted to stay where they are due to the high living costs in other areas. Instead, it is practical to build them better houses and advice them on how they can take care of themselves in those houses to protect themselves and their children. It is also possible to provide clean water to society and ensure that they do not suffer from water-borne diseases without having to advise them on its importance. Some preventive measures may be theoretical yet others are practical.
Some of the theoretical, measures that are taken to protect the vulnerable population from preventable health hazards include counseling. The organizations that are mostly involved in this activity are the health practitioners who mostly visit the areas that are vulnerable and educate them on their role towards a healthy society. They use the local authorities who assist them by informing them of their visit and in bringing them together. Through their various initiatives, they provide practical hygiene procedures that they should apply in their daily lives for constant safety (Jonsen, 2006).
One of the many challenges that face these initiatives is the inability of the concerned groups to apply the advice given to them. They at times never realize the importance of what they are being told and resort back to their old lifestyles. Another factor that renders these methods unpractical is that the people find them too sophisticated that they cannot stick to them on daily basis. It has thus been the responsibility of the concerned groups to follow up on them until they get used to the routine. They also offer them some guidance on what to do in case they are faced with a certain condition. It has sometimes occurred that most children lose their life simply because they could not be administered the first aid that would have saved their lives. Health facilities may be far away from them and if they are near, the people may not access them due to the high costs that are involved. It is therefore important that they are given tips on what to do in case of burns, fainting, snake bites, and other common ailments (Tierney, 2004).
There are also some uncontrollable conditions that may arise and people should be aware of them. In such situations, the populations are taught methods through which they can prepare themselves to avoid being caught offside. In cases that involve emergency measures to be taken like fires, the parents and guardians may concentrate on rescuing other important things and forget about the children. Children are generally tender and they, therefore, need to be treated with a lot of care. During their earlier stages, they are supposed to be immunized against some illnesses that may cause them a lot of complications when they grow up. Parents are usually advised to take their children for immunization programs so as to get their children out of danger. The vaccines that are administered to them include; whooping cough, tuberculosis, polio and measles.
(Danis, 2002) found that, the psychological well being of children is necessary for their healthy growth. Some of the children are unable to concentrate in activities like studying and playing well like the others due to the trauma that they encounter in their lives. When they are at home with their parents and care takers they may be exposed to some conditions like violence, abuse and the like. Such conditions affect the young children as they try to figure out the events surrounding the ordeal. Although such cases are easy to identify in children through their behavior in the day care centers, helping them out of the problem may not be easy. It thus requires a person who is skilled and experienced to sit with the children and find out exactly what is making them behave in a certain manner. Some of the problems may not be easy to be explained by the children whose mind may be too young to comprehend.
The Personal Goes Political
This is an initiative that is aimed at utilizing the personal for the benefit of all. It is about realizing your personal abilities and strengths for the common good of the masses. Such programs involve soul searching with the intention of exposing the inner person. It has been discovered that some psychological and environmental issues that affect most people is because they have never taken a critical study of their own self to find out the origin of their circumstance. It has been identified that most of the solutions to our problems are not physical but psychological (Gibbs, 2005).
Some of the initiatives that are involved in such programs include making people aware of their bodies and the diseases that they are most vulnerable to. The measures that they can employ in their day to day life to minimize any future risks. People are also encouraged to take good care of their environment and utilize the available resources to remain healthy. They are also discouraged from some habits like smoking and drinking that could expose them to certain risks such as cancer (Danis, 2002).
The Role of Nurses in Education and Advocacy
(Moss, 2000) argues that, nurses who are specialized in the needs of the children can be of great help in advocating for the needs of the children. They have good knowledge of the children’s psychology and health. When the local governments and the non governmental organization are being used to educate the masses on the measures that need to be taken to protect the children against vulnerability, they should be included to provide the necessary advice that can be employed to safeguard the children. These nurses are usually equipped with the tactics that can be employed in counseling a child and offering the necessary help.
Cases that deal with abuse of the children have to take the effort of the guardians and the nurses. With the children’s inability to express themselves, the nurses will have to identify the kind of abuse that the child is going through and the person or persons that are involved in the abuse. Once these factors are involved, the appropriate methods need to be employed to ensure that the problem is not only permanently solved but also that the relationship between the children and their guardians is maintained (Lainie, 2006).
More nurses need to be trained and equipped to deal with such issues that affect the children. They also need to be deployed to the institutions that deal with children so that they can offer specialized care. Different children have unique needs that need to be taken care of on a personal basis. They also need to be monitored closely to identify any issue that may arise. Children are at times left in the hand of the care takers that may not understand the needs of the children. The methods that they use may also be abusive on the children who seem not to corporate with them or the other children. In fact some of the measures that should be taken to completely solve the situation are to let only the qualified staff be with the children to serve as day care guardians.
According to (Conwell, 2004) Nurses also have a role of educating the public on the measures that they can take to ensure that the children are safe from diseases. Through the social groups, they need to frequently visit homes and provided the necessary advice to families. In these efforts they should mostly target the mothers who have the biggest responsibility in taking care of the children. They should advice them on hygiene matters and the general care that they should observe to protect their children.
Conclusion
The health of the children should not just be the concern of the few individuals that are directly involved. As the entire society, we are responsible for the wellbeing of the children. Some of the roles that we can play to are to ensure a good environment for our children by providing them with an environment that should be free from such hazards as scattered scrap and plastic bags. Litter bins should be placed in the correct places and the rubbish well disposed. To the children around us, we need to give them the attention that they need especially psychologically. Their growth should not in any way be interfered with by negligence on our part. We need to give them the assurance and the comfort that they deserve and at the same time not compromising especially on the eating habits that may endanger their health (Lainie, 2006).
References
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