Screening for Poverty: Identifying an Important Social Determinant of Health – Is A Healthy Debate Topic
Healthy Debate is a Canadian-based web site filled with good information. OneWorld Progressive Institute highly recommends blog posts by Naheed Dosani, M.D., and many others. Visit: http://healthydebate.ca/opinions/
BLOG: Screening for Poverty: Identifying an Important Social Determinant of Health by Naheed Dosani http://healthydebate.ca/author/dosanin
“Just as screening is important for other conditions or risk factors, like smoking, high cholesterol or domestic violence, so too is screening for poverty,” says Dr. Bloch, a Family Physician at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital and a founding member of Healthcare Providers Against Poverty (HPAP). Dr. Bloch is an advocate for poverty screening.
Poverty, followed closely by ignorance, is at the root of many of the social ills that ails us as a society. In every type of service provided, but particularly in health care here in the United States, providers need to screen for poverty and they need to provide subject or topic-related education. Unless these two things are done the services provided will be of less value and will not achieve fully the intended purpose/s. One area that immediately comes to mind is dental health. A lack of adequate information and education about the perils of dental abscesses has cost the lives of young people as well as older people. We don’t always hear about them, but they occur. Another area is nutrition and exercise. There needs to be more emphasis of the attending dangers to life and to overall well-being.
Also read: 3 Reasons Why Patients Should Consider Using Social Media | Jan 27, 2012 The Three reasons why patients should consider using social media are based on the Canadian system of health care; this is where Dr. Dosani practices; however, in this world of global media, people in the USA can also benefit from the information provided, and providers in the USA are catching up in using social media to communicate with patients. American web sites are filled with all types of information; not all of them are reliable and not all should be used. However, there are sites with significantly valuable information such as those listed below and many others. We suggest staying away from commercial sites trying to seel you something, or those which are promoting specific health products.
- Your healthcare providers, clinics and hospitals are online and ready to interact with you.
- Equip yourself with knowledge: the latest studies, news and developments in health.
- Patients sharing their stories in ‘virtual support groups’.
Social media has provided an online environment for patients to discuss their health. Possibly the area of greatest potential, more patients are using it to share their stories including their rises and pitfalls, side-effects of therapies and the social and psychological aspects of their illnesses, to name a few. Online chat streams for patients with breast cancer and rheumatoid arthritis are examples of a growing list that are becoming more popular.
Here are some reliable web sites with good medical information. These are only a few of the many available to you. How to Evaluate Health Information on the Internet – FDA www.fda.gov/…/
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WebMD – Better information. Better health www.webmd.com/
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www.genome.gov/11008303
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www.healthfinder.gov/ The National Institutes of Health at: www.nih.gov/
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DukeHealth.org www.dukehealth.org/
- Evaluating Health Information: MedlinePlus
- www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/evaluatinghealthinformation.html