Many people are unaware of organizations that exist within their own communities to support the citizens. It is important to be informed so that when a person is in need others can point them to the help that is available. Organizations exist to support citizens in all aspects of their health (physical, mental, social, environmental, and so on). The School and Community Health class experienced first hand one of the many activities available at the Senior Center in Stephenville - wow! Stephenville has some fantastic, healthy and active senior citizens! Additionally the class visited the WIC center and will hear an additional speaker on mental health.
Based upon your experiences with these community organizations, how has your perspective grown or changed in regards to community organizations? What did you gain through these interactions?
The experience at the Senior Center showed me that the elderly are still active and can definitely move. This is something that I did not really know took place in Stephenville and now I realize that there are other organizations like it. The WIC experience just helped me to get a better understanding of what that program really is, going in all I thought of when I heard of WIC was a welfare organization, which is mainly what it is, however, now I know more about it. According to the American Journal of Community Psychology the experience of community as a responsibility which appears to be a stronger predictor in explaining higher order engagement requiring greater investment of time and resources.
ReplyDeleteAmerican Journal of Community Psychology, Sense of Community Responsibility in Community Collaboratives: Advancing a Theory of Community as Resource and Responsibility1. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA 2. Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, USA. Springer.1573-2770
Getting the chance to visit the Senior Center is an expierence I will not forget any time soon, and not just because the Seniors out danced our whole class!! There is a growing number of seniors due to life expectancy rising. Becuase of this there has to be programs in place to help seniors physically, emotionally, and socially. Seeing the Senior Center and the programs they have made me proud of Stephenville and the fact that they are trying to provide a positive enviroment for seniors. The line dancers were a close group and I have no doubt that meeting for line dancing keeps some of them going!
ReplyDeleteIt was nice to see that it wasn't just a line dancing group. They quite obviously had formed a social support group, which helps with several aspects of a person's health. This in turn can lead back to a stronger and healthier community overall.
DeleteWhen we all started this course Dr. Lancaster explaned the community and facility assessment project, to do an analysis of a facility and its service to the community. Being unaware of facilities int he area this was difficult at first to find a facility who provides service to the community involving health. However, after visiting the senior center and witnising health eighty and ninty year olds line dancing like dancing with the stars it started to become apparent that there are services geared toward health in the community. If that wasn't enough visiting with the WIC organization and learning the importance of pre and post natal health and the benefits of breast feeding as apposed to formula, our unfamiliar minds had seem to have taken a full circle. To take it even a step farther listening to molly mayberry from pecan valley center present the importance of mental health and the help they provide to mentally unstable individuals was astounding. It was shocking to learn how prevalent mental disabilities are, one in four people have a mental disability in America. This seems shocking however, with the help of pecan valley center mental disability causes less hendedrance and suicidal actions than for those that don't seek help. The video Molly showed of Kevin Hines was an extremely powerful testimony on how mental disability can push people to do things they don't really want to do such as suicide. Kevin is very blessed to be alive today and glorifies God for sparing his life, hopefully Kevins testimony will reach others in need of help and prevent dreadful actions such as suicide. Don't ignore the warning signs seek help such as Pecan Valley and know your community and the services offered so that when you come into contact with another Kevin Hines situation, you will know just what to do.
ReplyDeleteBefore taking part in the Dr. Lancaster's class, I was completely unaware of some of the programs Stephenville had to offer its community. Having grown up in Stephenville, I thought I would have known about these community programs, but I was surprised to find what all we have discovered through this class. I had never heard of the Senior Center we attended, yet when we arrived there were over 20 people there partaking in the activities. In fact, I knew one of these ladies since I was a young kid. She had been coming up to line dance for a few years. By learning about these programs, I realized how much they mean to the people attending. WIC has over 1200 people just in Stephenville they provide services for which was also shocking. There really is help and places for people to be part of in the community if people are willing to seek these places. Whelan, E. The Importance of Community Health Centers. Aug 9 2010. http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/healthcare/report/2010/08/09/8195/the-importance-of-community-health-centers/
ReplyDeleteThe Importance of Community Health Centers
www.americanprogress.org
It is interesting how much we (myself included) can miss "seeing" in the communities where we live and work. By making ourselves more aware of what the community offers, we can then point others in the right direction when they need assistance. Most of us in the area of Kinesiology will interact with many people on a daily basis in our career fields. In order to best promote health, we should try to have all possible options in our back pocket as tools for assisting others when we don't have the means ourselves.
DeleteBefore going to the senior center, I knew very little about what they did. I thought it was a nursing home type of setting. Going to the senior center changed my whole out look on the center. I enjoyed going and joining them in their line dancing class. It showed me how active they really are and how much fun they have. Going to the WIC center I knew a little bit about but not all the details, I thought it was very informative. I liked learning about how much we need to feed babies and how most mothers over feed their babies from day one. Pecan Valley, learning and listening about what they do and who they help. Hearing the story of Kevin Hines was eye opening, you hear about people who commit suicide and leave a note. But you never hear why, to hear his story and what he was thinking, and that if someone just asked if he was ok could have made a difference. Learning about how serious these illnesses go is important to know so we can see and know the signs, we could help someone in need one day.
ReplyDeleteI was definitely part of the ones that were unaware of organizations that existed in my community and Stephenville’s. I was not prepared to experience anything like this in Dr. Lancaster’s class. I knew some information about the WIC organization, but being able to walk in and have the employees give us a better understanding of health care they provide was very educational. My experience with Stephenville’s Senior Center had me in awe. I had no idea at that age the citizens could still be so active. Even just line dancing, no matter what the activity, I could see this organization was doing great things for the community. I enjoyed dancing with the members and it is a memory I will cherish for life.
ReplyDeleteI knew that senior center existed and I believe that they just played bingo and chess, but they were extremely active. Some of them even had more energy than I did and were moving. I was breaking a sweat line dancing while they were just having fun. The WIC center was very educational and letting you know who can benefit from the services. I knew it was more than just women and children but I never really needed the information so I never looked into it. More information is never a bad thing, so I am happy to have it. I loved having the mental health speaker come to the class. I learned so much about the help that is out there for the mentally ill and that it can be easily accessed. Knowing that the information is just a call away and the process is easier than you would think gives me the information that I may need in the future to help someone. Overall I enjoyed all the events and learned a lot.
ReplyDeleteThrough just this short amount of class time of school and community health I discovered programs that i was not aware of prior to this class. I knew that there was a senior citizens center but I had no idea how involved they were with the community and how many activities were available to them at the center. Being able to take part in line dancing, an activity I did not know they had or even did, was such a great experience. In that time i was exercising, laughing, and smiling without even realizing the benefits it was actually doing not just for me but for all the elderly as well. This showed me that the elderly community is still staying active through a fun and exciting way. Beforehand, I did not know what WIC even was and that we had it in our community. I found it very beneficial because with individuals having children at such a young age these days it gives them a source of information and care for their child. Not only with young teenagers does it help but with mothers who are not educated in breastfeeding and may have a low income and can not afford everything they need to give the baby the right amount of nutrients. I really found the Pecan Valley health speaker to be very informative and helpful. I knew the general idea of what the program was about but I had no idea all of the other multiple services they also offer to the community and those who are in need. The Kevin Hines story was incredible and definitely an awakening. By being knowledgeable about these kind of mental health problems is something that comes in handy in everyday life and in our careers of being a coach. All in all I really enjoyed every program we visited, learned things I had not previous known, and I had a really fun time being a part of the line dancing.
ReplyDeleteThrough the experiences from the senior citizen center, WIC program, and the mental health talk; my eyes are a little more open to how important health service programs actually are. When we visited the senior citizen center, I had no idea what we were going to be doing that day. My thoughts were that, in a center for senior citizens, we would just be talking to some of the people that go there and also maybe play chess or cards. It's truly amazing how active these individuals are. When they said we were going to be doing come line dancing, I figured it would not be at a very fast pace. I soon learned that these individuals move pretty quickly. It was quite hard to learn the movements and then put them all together to form a dance routine.
ReplyDeleteWhen going to the WIC program, I had no idea what it actually was. All I was told was that it was a program that helped mothers and infant children. I soon found out the extent at which the program helps mothers and children. I learned some things that I did not even know, such as how big a baby's stomach is. If I had a child, I would have definitely overfed him/her. Little did I know, a baby's stomach is a little smaller than a golf ball. This program provides food for the mother and the baby up until a certain age and they also educate mothers on the importance of breast feeding. Apparently breast feeding is positively correlated with higher IQs.
The mental health talk really opened my eyes to how individuals with mental illnesses can be helped. I was unaware of the many types of mental illnesses and the prevalence of individuals actually having one. This program seems to be very effective in helping these individuals function to their maximal potential.
The bottom line is that health organizations, such as these, are vital to the community. If these organizations were not there I believe serious problems would occur. These programs help boost individuals quality of life and allow them to have something to look forward to every day when they wake up in the morning.
Great point Jake! These programs are absolutely vital to the health of communities and their citizens.
DeleteThrough the experience of going to these community organizations I learned a lot. First I learned at the senior organization that just because you're older doesn't mean you still can't have fun. The individuals at this senior organization use
ReplyDeleteline stepping to relieve tension stress. Furthermore I learned a lot from the WIC program also. They showed the breast-feeding was actually better than formula feeding. They also have statistics showing that breast-fed babies actually have higher IQ than formula fed babies. Also I learned that the WIC program does a lot to help women with getting formula and food for their babies but a lot of people don't use the program because either they don't know about it or they feel ashamed about being on the program. As far as the public speaker she really taught me a lot about individuals with mental illness. One of the things I learned is that the individuals with mental illness is not something they just got all of a sudden, but is something that is shown at early stages at life. Also I learned that most with a mental illness got it from a family member which means is hereditary. Furthermore if you catch these mental illness early you should really suggest to that person that he or she should go to counseling, also inform them that going to the counseling is something that can really help them.