Consequences of Stress on Children's Development WK4Assignment 2

I personally have not dealt with these particular stressor as a child , but I can tell about a family that was impacted by one of the stressors listed. On August 29, 2005, in New Orleans, Louisiana this student and his family would be affected for the rest of their lives by this Natural Disaster.  Hurricane Katrina had impacted the Gulf Coast and all the residents near it.  I met this family in mid September they moved to St. Francisville, Louisiana from New Orleans, Louisiana. The family had to relocate and find a place to live, new jobs and a school that would take their son.  The federal government allowed our center an additional 12 slots for families that would relocate from New Orleans. This family and others were able to enroll at the facility.  While talking to JB parents, I found out they did not loss any of their family members, but did experience the loss of personal property, stress and depression from the natural disaster.  Not only was the student afraid when it rained or the weather became bad. He also had nightmares at rest time and at bedtime.  The mental health counselor visited with this student on a weekly basis to find out how he was transitioning to his new environment. His mother was also having problems when the weather would become bad or it rained. She would have symptoms like an anxiety attack and would have to rest herself. The family went through counseling for a year and are now coping with their experience of hurricane Katrina.  They ended up buying a house and moving to a great school district that provides resources for their son and his experiences  and offers a great education.  His parents are really involved in his education and his life. The nightmares are not as frequent as they were at the beginning and he understands that every time bad weather comes it will not be a natural disaster like hurricane Katrina.

Studies show that children of Hurricane Katrina six years later, mental health effects are still evident in Gulf Coast children. Children exposed to Hurricane Katrina were nearly 5 times likely to exhibit serious emotional disturbances. The research also concluded that disasters affect children different and important ways which can negatively affect a child's physical, mental, and social development.


The country I chose to gather information about is South Africa. I wanted to know about the issues related to food, civil wars, health conditions, and orphans just to name a few.  Most of the children in this country are malnourished, with no food, clean water to drink or bathe in. The health conditions are really bad they don't have a chance to see a doctor unless a missionary comes to the area on a mission trip. The way they minimize this problem is by receiving help from the United States, different missionaries are sent to this country and they bring doctors, medicine, teachers and food to help the children and people here. Television Evangelist also send truckloads of food and water to help with the stressors they face. Commercials asking the public to make donations for the children in this country also help out with the resources and supplies that are sent to South Africa.

References
Tull, M. (2012). The effect of hurricane Katrina on children.
Nursingworld.org (2010). Children and disasters
Kaminer, D., Eagle, G. (2010) Traumatic stress in South Africa.

Child Development and Public Health Wk2 Assign2

I chose immunizations because of the importance they are to children's development and the affect on having a healthy future.  Immunization's protects children from getting contagious diseases.  Immunization is a process that stimulates the body's immune system to defend against attack by particular disease (Berger, 2009). Immunization is said to have had a greater impact on human mortality reduction and population growth than any other public health intervention (Baker, 2000).

Immunizations in Mexico

Mexico has taken a paternalistic approach that has led to a 96% vaccination rate for children ages one to four.  If parents are not taking children in a timely manner to get immunizations, a public health nurse will come to their home, and give the child their vaccination right there.  The public health nurse begins tracking babies before they are born.  The nurse is in charge of immunizations in a particular neighborhood and keeps a census of the area, including maps detailing where women of childbearing age live.

Where I work there is a schoolbase health center for the districts school system.  The Early Head Start and Head Start health coordinator and teachers are required to look over health records to know whose up to date on dental, physicals, and immunizations. Once we have reviewed records we encourage parents to get their children up to date in these areas. If the parents don't take the necessary actions the nurse from the school will contact the parents to schedule a kidmed appointment for that particular child and give them the immunizations they need.  I think this is a great way to keep children healthy and free of contagious diseases.

References

Berger, K.S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th, ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers

Parker, J.P. (2000). Immunization and the American way: American Journal of Public Health, (90), 199-207

www.vaccinationnews.com/DailyNews

Childbirth In Your Life and Around the World

The birthing experience I would like to write about is the one of middle child.  My senior semester of college I began to have symptoms of being light headed, no appetite, and fatigue .  Upon going to the doctor lab test were conducted that's when I found out I was pregnant. She immediately made an appointment for a maternal specialist.  For the specialist appointment the doctor did an ultrasound the ultrasound determined how far long I was. I was five months pregnant with twins. For four months I had not received any prenatal care at all. At the end of the fifth month I began to lose amniotic fluid so the specialist put me in the hospital and told me I would have to stay until I delivered. My doctor told me I would need to take shots so the babies lungs would develop. I begin to take the shots. The next day my liver enzymes raised drastically and an emergency cesarean section was done. The girl twin weighed 14oz  and the boy weighed 8 oz he did not survive.  My daughter was incubated and admitted into the neonatal intensive care unit. The doctors did not think she would make it, but one thing they told me is that girls have a better chance at survival than boys.  During her  eight month stay at the hospital we faced many complications. There were many times the doctors said she would not make it, but our faith and standing on the word of God brought her and our family through these times. She came home on oxygen and had to see many different doctors.  They diagnosed her as being developmentally delayed.  We had speech, occupation, and physical therapist and early steps teachers coming into our home to help her developmentally.  My family and I work diligently even now to keep focus and stay on task.

The reason I chose this birthing experience is because there are many people that are not aware of what happens sometimes during a premature birth.

Births have an impact on a child's development.  If there are complications during the pregnancy or birthing experience most likely the baby will be born with health or developmental issues. Some issues may be serious and others may be minor , but if you receive the proper prenatal care in most cases you will not have to deal with these issues.

Korean Births
Most Korean births take place in hospitals. It depends on your economic status whether your birthing experience is private or not.  A high percentage of deliveries are by cesarean section.  At hospitals babies are kept in the nursery for the first 24 hours per the doctors request.

The difference in Korea and the United States birthing experiences are that the U.S. has a high rate of vaginal deliveries. After the delivery babies are cleaned up and if everything is fine the parents have an option to keep them in the room with them. Korean babies are kept in the nursery for the first 24 hours. In the U.S. private rooms are provided in most hospitals if you are private pay or use medicaid insurance.  Korean has a higher rate of cesarean birth where as the U.S. or vaginal births.

Similar experiences between the U.S. and Korea are the babies are born in the hospital instead of at home. The hospitals offer the same birthing options to the families like birthing pools, vaginal and cesarean deliveries.