The Importance of Public Health

NHC has six core competencies that members work to develop during their service term. One that I was very interested in developing, and have had the opportunity to develop at my host site, is a better understanding of and ability to practice the skills pertaining to the public health field.

I majored in biomedical sciences in college, which gave a very specific view of health and the health care system because all my classes focused on the mechanisms of disease instead of their epidemiology. In wanting to pursue a medical degree, I wanted to better understand the concept of public health because it helps providers take into consideration the different aspects that comprise the overall health of a population, as well as an individual.

Through serving with the Respiratory Health Association, I have had the opportunity to work directly in the public health field. I am an asthma educator and one of the front line individuals of the public health initiatives surrounding asthma education. My fellow two NHC members and I are going directly into the schools around Chicago that are disproportionately affected by asthma rates. We have learned how pollution from the highways which run through these areas of the city, as well as higher incidences of asthma triggers such as smoke and mold exposure, contribute to higher rates of asthma and we share this information with staff, students and parents. I am grateful to not only act as educators on how to manage asthma, but as public health educators on how outside environmental and socioeconomic factors affect overall health outcomes.

We have seen barriers to health in regards to asthma at the schools we serve at in that not all health care professionals provide the proper education on how individuals should use their medication. In addition, we try to decrease barriers by directly going to schools versus having individuals come to a clinic in order to gain the information. It has been interesting to see how factors such as school budget cuts and testing days have affected our ability to visit schools and we try hard to find ways to overcome them because these too are factors that affect health.

I have learned many valuable skills from having the opportunity to work in the public health field. I have learned the importance of communication, and how it takes a degree of cultural competency in order to communicate properly about health. I have learned how barriers can greatly affect access to care and some ways to overcome them. Finally, I have learned the importance of taking public health into consideration when looking at the prevalence and causation of disease. There are so many different factors that play into the etiology of disease, and it is not simply due to genetics or biology. It is an intricate interplay of genetics, biology, socioeconomics, health habits, environment and more. These are skills and perspectives that I plan to take with me as I continue to work in the health care field.

This blog post was written by NHC Chicago 2016-17 member Melanie Biegler.

Melanie is an Asthma Educator at Respiratory Health Association.