Four values ​​of community health care

admin 0

In 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville defined a community as a self-generated gathering of people who assumed the power to decide what a problem was and how to solve it and then act to consummate the solution. Like an individual, the health of a community depends on learning and responding to challenges that change over time.

The World Health Organization defines a healthy community as “… one that is continually creating and improving physical and social environments and expanding community resources that enable people to support each other in the performance of all life functions. .. “A healthy community is fluid, not a defined goal, but rather diverse groups of people connecting and interacting in a similar way to the Jane Addams principles of the settlement house, encompassing the practice of cooperation and egalitarian social relations across class lines.

A healthy community does not necessarily have good health outcomes, but it places health high on the social and political agenda, and strives for equitable access to basic prerequisites for health such as peace, a balanced diet , shelter, clean air and water, adequate resources, education. , income, a safe physical environment, and social supports.

For a community to function at the level defined by the World Health Organization and approach the lofty goals of Tocqueville and Addams, it takes people with power, citizens, rather than customers or consumers. The Greek roots of these two words demonstrate a profound difference in meaning. A customer is controlled and a citizen has power. A community magnifies the power of citizens, and it is participation and social participation that improves the perception of control, individual coping capacity, health behaviors, and a person’s health status.

These dynamics between the federal health system and community health providers suggest at least four values ​​that will enhance the cooperation of community members within a federally funded health project.

First, project managers respect the wisdom of stakeholders in community organizations. To this end, the Project Director does not train, wait, or pay community organizations to carry out the work of the system. The main job of the system is to provide information and feedback on progress towards shared goals. Produce standardized practices and results. Other components of the system within the federal government require this bureaucratic reporting. While the main job of community health providers is to identify and solve problems related to community care.

Second, project managers share useful information in an understandable way. They are not the source of the analysis or the solutions; rather, they are the source of information that local stakeholders cannot easily discover. For example, they could prepare a map showing where people diagnosed with diabetes live. They ask local stakeholders in their associations why diabetes might be prevalent in those areas and how local stakeholder organizations can help. The project manager provides information that mobilizes the power of local stakeholder associations to develop and implement solutions.

Third, project managers use their capacities, skills, contacts, and resources to strengthen the power of local partnerships. Rather than trying to gain space, influence, credit, or resources for their system, they ask how system resources could improve the problem-solving capabilities of local organizations. They hear opportunities to enhance local leadership, strengthen local partnerships, and magnify community commitments.

Fourth, project managers escape the ideology of the medical model. Despite its usefulness, the medical model always carries a hidden negative assumption that what is important about a person is his injury, illness, deficiency, dilemma, need. However, people’s abilities, not deficiencies, establish communities. Project managers must reverse the medical model and focus on capabilities rather than needs and gaps.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *