I spoke with Patti Burr from St. John’s Medical Center in Jackson Hole
Wyoming who is a mother and infant health educator and maternity educator. She
got her RN at the Central Wyoming College of Nursing. I was interested to hear
about the health trends among the youth and how the mothers have influenced
these health trends. Many of them were talked about im class so it was a
reiteration of what I had already heard.
1.I had the opportunity to live in Jackson Hole and I did see a good
number of my peers home taught. This happened to be a hot topic for Patti as
she explained how this has affected the
younger population’s immune system. I didn’t quite understand how this was
going to relate this to homeschooling but then again, I am not the health
educator. Homeschooling is the cause for some younger children being more
susceptible to getting sick because the kids stay home all day and are not
exposed to the daily outside elements that the normal population confronts. The
immune system has no need to build up against certain infections because it
does not encounter them on a day-to-day basis. When the children are brought
out to public, they more often than not become ill by a simple infection that
may even go unnoticed by the school going population.
2.
Pertussis outbreaks. This was a disease that was thought to have been
completely eradicated- 100 percent gone but has come back recently. This is a
topic that has been discussed recently in class, the lack of immunizations for
children. This is a way of thinking that children don’t need the standard
immunizations because they will already be in a community where most of the
children have been immunized. This concept, Patti stated, is called “Herd
Mentality.” Because Patti works in Jackson Hole, she sees how this kind of
disease can pass through a population very quickly and large quantities of
pertussis cases come in at the same time.
3.
MRSA super infections have been on the rise in the Jackson Hole region. MRSA
stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. This is a bacterium
that is the cause for diseases and illnesses that are very hard to treat. These
infections happen because of the excess use of medication. Due to this overuse,
certain infections have become resistant to the standard medications. The
people that become infected with any of the super infections are isolated/
quarantined until the illness has been taken care of. This was another topic in
class that we talked about.
4. ACL injuries and
tears in teens. Patti stated that even in the past five years, there has been a
rise in serious injuries among teenagers and adolescence. These injuries like
ACL tears and knee replacements aren’t typically found in youth; they are
mostly found in the older population and professional athletes. Many ideas have
been introduced as to why this has been happening and the main reason is
children have become more competitive due to the influence of parents. Another
reason is role models in the athletic industry have pushed their bodies to the
max and the children try to do the same.
5. Lastly, I talked to Patti about a topic my
wife was familiar with but something I had never heard of. Hand sanitizer has
been introduced to the younger population, which is a great habit to want to be
clean. Apparently it also has become abused in such a way that the immune
system isn’t as strong as it used to be in the younger population. The body’s
immune system isn’t getting the work out it needs to by fighting the weak
little infections passed on through hand contact. Instead, the child’s immune
system has gotten lazy and is relying on the hand sanitizer to fight off any
illness. Different concept but makes sense why it would happen in Jackson. I am
not slandering the people from that particular region but they do like to use
their hand sanitizer. Amazing how something so beneficial can be the fall of
something necessary for us to stay healthy.
No comments:
Post a Comment