Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Follow Up: Mendez, Turner and Kaminsky


These three essays are concerned with the topic of women’s health.  Mendez explains the health inequalities that she is fighting to eliminate.  I found an important aspect of her argument to be the idea that we should be training health care providers to be more culturally sensitive as a means to decrease racial and ethnic gaps in our medical services.  I do think this is an important focus and that the stories that Mendez explains of undocumented individuals without access to services are upsetting.  The idea that people may not speak English and thus are unable to communicate with health professionals is very concerning and needs to be addressed.
Turner’s experience in public health also emphasizes the importance of accessibility and equity of healthcare for all people who desire it.  I definitely agree with her stress of collaboration.  A collaborative effort that stresses learning and listening to each other to seems very important in creating change.  Only through cohesiveness and listening to other perspectives can we learn not to judge people or stereotype.
Finally, Kaminsky’s essay on nursing shows that even though it may traditionally be viewed as women’s work it should be valued because it is important as a women’s profession.  It has been affected by feminism, which is evident through uniform changes, expectation differences and the changes in numbers of male nurses and female doctors.  Personally, I believe that these gender role changes especially demonstrate a changing mentality in health care.  It has become much more socially acceptable for men to become nurses and for women to become doctors.  

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