INTRODUCTION

In community health, the major role of professional nurses is to identify health risks and develop programs aimed at preventing or reducing the chances of injury or illness as a result of the hazard identified. Managing current needs or illness with the community is also part of community health, and a professional nurse should work in collaboration with the society to empower the people. This paper will focus on the Seneca community and identify health risks in the community. The paper will focus on childhood obesity as the major health concern in the community. Furthermore; the paper will contemplate and develop an intervention plan guided by a goal and evaluate the outcomes expected from the intervention action.

SENECA

Seneca is a community located in Oconee County, South Carolina. As per the latest census in 2010, the community had a population of 8, 102 and was estimated to be around 8,479 by July 2018. 55.4% of this population was female with the rest 44.6% being male. Young people under the age of 18 years make up 21.2% of the population. The population is ethnically diverse with the largest ethnic group being whites with 63.5% followed by blacks with 29.5%, and two or more races with 2.4%. Other races have a low representation including Asians, Native Hawaiian and Hispanics. Individuals under 65 years and living with a disability make up 14.6% of the population (Census Bureau, 2018). There is one hospital that serves the whole of Oconee County. In South Carolina, the infant mortality rate was 6.5. The major leading cause of death in 2017 for the county included heart diseases, cancer, accidents and respiratory disease (CDC, 2017). On average, Physicians in Seneca see 1483 patients per year while dentists see 1891 and mental health providers 639.

HEALTH RISK/HAZARD

As per the windshield survey, the major health risk in this community is obesity among young people. Data from the CDC suggests that obesity among young people is a serious problem among youth. The major causes of obesity among young people include genetics but this need to be coupled with other factors to contribute to obesity.  Another major cause is metabolism. Metabolism account for more than 60% of energy use in the body (Sahoo et al., 2015). Obese individuals are hypothesized to have a lower base metabolic rate. Another major cause of obesity among young people is their eating behaviours. The type of food young people eat affect their health and coupled with the failure to exercise and the tendency to eat while watching TV or playing video games contribute to young people consuming a lot of fats. The effect of obesity in young people is that it can affect one’s physical, social and emotional health. Childhood obesity, asthma, diabetes, liver diseases, hepatic steatosis, glucose intolerance and is also linked to a diverse range of medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease among others. Childhood obesity also has the potential to affect school performance as a result of missing school and other problems at school (Branigan, 2017).

GOAL FOR THE COMMUNITY

My goal for the community is to lower the prevalence of childhood obesity. Given the widespread effects of childhood obesity, there is a need to protect the younger generation and empower them to be productive in the future. As a professional nurse, it is my responsibility to identify hazards within the community and work to reduce or prevent them. Given the high occurrence of childhood obesity in this community, my major goal is to reduce the high prevalence and ensure that young people are able to lead normal and healthy lives. The short-term goal is to reduce the occurrence of obesity while the long term goal is to eradicate childhood obesity from this community. This will ensure that young people are able to concentrate on their education as well as lead healthy and productive lives for the benefit of the community as a whole. The best way to empower a community is to empower the younger generation.

INTERVENTION PLAN AND ACTIONS

In the case of this community, there is a need to prevent the occurrence of childhood obesity and help those already suffering from childhood obesity recover. Preventing the occurrence of childhood obesity will be done through widespread sensitization of the issues through education. To help those already affected, education, counselling and follow-ups will be done. For this plan of action to work effectively, I will partner with the elementary schools nearby and specifically Northside Elementary, Ravenel Elementary and Keowee Elementary.

Prevention

Education will be used as a major tool for the prevention of childhood obesity. In partnership with the elementary schools mentioned above, an education manual will be developed that will focus on informing the students on what is obesity, the effects of childhood obesity and how to prevent childhood obesity. To ensure that parents are in line with the program, parental seminar will be held at the schools to also educate them on how to support their children avoid obesity through healthy eating and healthy lifestyles.

Treating

For students already affected by childhood obesity, they will undergo the training together with other students as planned above. However, to avoid low esteem issues, they will first undergo counselling through the school counselling departments. After the training, the students will be put on a diet and exercising schedule as well as a medication schedule for those who require medication. Period follow-ups with the children as well as parents will be done to ensure they are on track with the prescribed intervention.  All this will be done in collaboration with the school and parents to avoid any ethical issues.

OUTCOME EXPECTED FROM INTERVENTION

From the above interventions, several outcomes are expected that will minimize the effects of childhood obesity in this community. First, the general expectation is that children will lead healthy lives and contribute to the welfare of society. It is expected that educational training will be effective in ensuring that children in elementary schools, as well as parents, understand how childhood obesity can affect their lives. When a child is unhealthy, this affects the parents as well, which is why parents need to be active for the success of the intervention. This is expected to reduce the occurrence of childhood obesity in the community, thereby minimising new occurrences. For the children who are already affected by obesity, it is expected that the intervention prescribed will be helpful in eradicating obesity. In cases where the problem thereby, the expected outcome is that the problem does not get worse. A positive outcome will ensure that society is empowered to avoid or intervene when instances of childhood obesity are present.

References

Branigan, A. R. (2017). (How) Does Obesity Harm Academic Performance? Stratification at the Intersection of Race, Sex, and Body Size in Elementary and High School. Sociology of education, 90(1), 25.

CDC. (2017). Stats of the State of South Carolina. Retrieved 12 September 2019, from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/states/southcarolina/southcarolina.htm

Census Bureau. (2018). U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Seneca city, South Carolina; United States. Retrieved 12 September 2019, from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/senecacitysouthcarolina,US/PST045218.

Sahoo, K., Sahoo, B., Choudhury, A. K., Sofi, N. Y., Kumar, R., & Bhadoria, A. S. (2015). Childhood obesity: causes and consequences. Journal of family medicine and primary care, 4(2), 187.