Reflection: Money Buys You Health

Kebora Weir

Health Promotions

Reflection

Describe what the topic or issue is that you learned in class

-          The video that showcased how an individual’s economic status can impact their health really made an impression on me. Statistics and personal stories of people from different economic statuses really presented how someone’s salary can lead to them living in a certain neighborhood, which leads to stress and health related problems.

Describe why this topic or issue interested you (can include specific aspects)

-          This topic interested me because how much of the information correlated to health overall. The video was split into different stories of people from different districts that range from a rich neighborhood to a poor. What stood out to me majority of the people in the video worked under in the same hospital. However, they had different positions with income that ranged from the highest to the lowest. For example, one guy had a very high salary for he had the highest position of the hospital. He explained that he was wealthy and addition stated that he was not as stressed. On the other hand, an elderly woman, in another district,  lived off of a couple of hundred dollars. She was not as stress, but she had no job or medical insurance and had numerous health problems. 

Critically reflect how this topic impacts your life (social, religious, familial, etc)

-          This topic made me reevaluate my health since I come from a neighborhood where there are fast food restaurants, rundown shelters, and little healthy options. However, my saving grace was coming to a college where I did have the opportunity to be healthy and will obtain a job that pays well. In the future, I will take account this video and really assess the neighborhood I plan on living in, so my own family will have that option of being healthy. 

Critically reflect how this topic is important to public health

-          Public health takes into account the environment people live in. Sometimes people do not have the ultimate choice of being healthy. For example, certain jobs in a poor neighborhood won’t pay as much as jobs in a wealthy community, where corporations are thriving. In a low neighborhood, people have to live within their means, which may mean living off fast foods everyday or anticipating the next paycheck.This lack of control stresses people out, especially since money makes the world go around. I appreciated how the video really gives a wider perspective of public health and that it opened my eyes to how fortunate I am to be in college right now since I come from a similar poor neighborhood. It focuses on the health of a community in different living situations and economic statuses.

 What remaining questions do you have regarding this topic or issue?

-          How can we change how the neighborhoods are set up? What plans or laws can the government implement that would provide people in underprivileged neighborhoods opportunity to be healthy? Unfortunately, people can't help being brought up into a neighborhood where healthy resources and high paying jobs are limited. I believe it should not be this way.