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May 9

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Nurses Respond to Educate Family Nurse Practitioners in Haiti

This post was written by Jennifer De Jesus a student in the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter and an avid movie watcher. She is also an employee of the Health Professions Education Center, which has one of the largest collection of health films in the New York City area.

photocredit:Promoting Health in Haiti

photocredit:Promoting Health in Haiti

It has been three years and three days since the tragic 7.0 earthquake in Haiti claimed the lives of an estimated 316,000, injured 300,000 and left an overwhelming 1,000,000 homeless. The devastation only seemed to continue, as days and weeks following the earthquake only revealed an even more alarming and frightening reality.

Easily lost behind the constant coverage of the earthquake’s impact was one event that has shaped the lives of thousands of Haitians and is undermining great efforts to rebuild the country. Frontline’s “Battle for Haiti” focuses on the criminals that escaped Haiti’s National Penitentiary the night of the earthquake. The majority of these criminals were gang bosses and kidnappers, which were only jailed in the first place by an all-out military onslaught by the Haitian police and armed United Nations peacekeepers between 2004-2007. Now dispersed throughout Haiti, these criminals are once again creating an atmosphere of fear and violence in an already extremely difficult environment. Read more

Mar 23

“Must See!” Films: Public Policy Films from a Student’s Perspective “Mar Adentro” — “the Sea Inside”

This post was written by Jennifer De Jesus a student in the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter and an avid movie watcher. She is also an employee of the Health Professions Education Center, which has one of the largest collection of health films in the New York City area.

“Mar Adentro” — “the Sea Inside”

 Based on a true story, “Mar Adentro” focuses on the life of Ramón Sampedro, a Spanish quadriplegic who campaigns for 29 years for euthanasia and the right to end his life.

At the age of 25, Ramón Sampedro sustained a complete spinal cord injury because of a diving accident near his fishing village in Galicia, Spain. Immediately after the accident, Ramón knew he wanted to commit suicide, a task now physically impossible. His unwavering desire for death, for almost three decades, was Ramón’s main argument for euthanasia. “The Sea Inside” captures Ramón’s legal appeals to the lower and higher courts in Spain, as well as his appeals to the European Commission on Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Although an enormous amount of sympathy is garnered by Ramón, the film provides many moments of heated arguments, fleshing out the many conflicts and nuances within the debates surrounding assisted suicides.

One of the most heart-wrenching scenes occurs as Julia, Ramón’s lawyer, friend, and love interest, falls down steps due to a heart attack, and Ramón (who is facing the opposite way) is only able to yell her name. The panic and fear, mixed in with anger over his inability to help or even see her, is multiplied with every shout, until the scene fades into the darkness.

Another equally powerful scene, filled with quick, witty banter between Ramon and a quadriplegic priest, continued to expand on the conversation on euthanasia. Unable to actually speak face-to-face due to an issue with the stairs, the men resort to speaking through a messenger, one of the priest’s helpers. The running up-and-down the stairs adds humor to such a serious topic, without detracting the valid and strong points made on each side.

“Mar Adentro” does a great job contributing to the conversation on death and dying, In Spain, is has become part of the  public health narrative  and legislation supporting palliative care and death with dignity.

“Living is a right, not an obligation,” Ramón states moments at the dramatic end of the movie, yearning to appeal to the notion of free will within us all.

This film (as well as the BBC documentary “Right to Die”) is an important resource for the conversation about death and dying.  Viewing it, alone or with someone, provides moments of reflection and food for thought that can contribute to a  balanced discussion on euthanasia.

Nov 22

“Must See!” Films Public Policy Films from a Student’s Perspective reviews “NOW: Nurses Needed”

This post was written by Jennifer De Jesus a student in the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter and an avid movie watcher. She is also an employee of the Health Professions Education Center, which has one of the largest collection of health films in the New York City area.

 

In the path towards universal health care, an important step is revising our current health care structure, one that can hardly support the changing demographics of the American population. To truly provide better health care, more trained nurses must be incorporated into the system. The solution however, is not to simply increase the number of nurses, but to address issues that affect nursing schools, nursing faculty, burnout of nurses, and placement of nurses in needy communities.

NOW: Nurses Needed on PBS examines how the shortage of nurses is placing strains on the entire health caresystem, as well as efforts by hospitals to remedy the situation. According to a HRSA government study , by the year 2020, there could be a nationwide shortage of up to one million nurses, meaning more patients per nurse, which could result in poor quality for hundreds of thousands of patients.

“If there was ever a time in the history of this country when one thought about the match between a profession and the changing needs of people in the country, this is the time,” Dr. Mary Naylor of the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Nursing explains to NOW reporter, David Brancaccio, during the program. Dr. Naylor also points out that people are not only living longer, but are also living with more chronic conditions, which significantly increases the demand for nurses.

Another contributing factor to the nursing shortage has been the shortage of faculty at nursing schools. According to the AACN’s report on 2010-2011 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing, nursing schools in 2010 turned away 67,563 qualified applicants from nursing programs citing, “insufficient number of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, and budget constraints”. Fewer nurses are choosing to teach the next generation of professionals, resulting in thousands of applicants being turned away from the nation’s nursing schools. Potential nurse educators are instead remaining as senior nurses or turning to pharmaceutical (companies) for employment, which pay more than becoming faculty at a nursing school.

Higher wages and better benefits would decrease the gap in pay between clinical and academic nurses, increasing the retention of nursing professors, as well as encourage potential professors. A remedy to nursing faculty salaries revolves around funding, in which a collaboration between public and private donors can be formed. This partnership would allow nursing schools to increase salaries and benefits, as well as hire more faculty.

Another solution is to encourage more nursing graduates to pursue teaching careers. After all, the gap between tenured faculty and novice faculty is significant, with the former within a decade of retirement. Such bills, as the Affordable Care Act, provide more funding for doctoral students, financially encouraging nursing students into academia.

Hospitals have reacted differently to the shortage. Touro Infirmary in Louisiana is offering monetary incentives, special pay plans, as well as recruiting foreign nurses. Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore offers the benefit of paying 50 percent of any college tuition for the children of nurses. Other hospitals are participating in a national wide initiative to provide nurses with a one-year residency. The University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Nursing Residency Program provides critical guidance in the transition of new graduate nurses into the professional setting; all with the intention to strengthen their commitment to nursing.

With roughly 100 Nursing Colleges, the UHC’s and AACN’s Residency Program is a good first step towards the national collaboration needed to handle the increasing demand for nurses. Like health care, the nursing shortage is not something Americans can afford not to fix.

Jennifer De Jesus

Sep 27

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“Must See!” Films Public Policy Films from a Student’s Perspective

This post was written by Jennifer De Jesus a student in the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter and an avid movie watcher. She is also an employee of the Health Professions Education Center, which has one of the largest collection of health films in the New York City area.

“Gasland”  

Fracking is coming to New York State—and many people think that means that we need to prepare for contaminated water, air pollution, and a myriad of health problems. All of these issues have been outcomes at various fracking sites; effects New York officials want to minimize, as the state prepare to issue permits next year. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is accepting feedback from the public until December 12th on the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, their proposed rules on regulating fracking and possible environmental consequences.

Originally invented by Halliburton—whose CEO was former Vice President Dick Cheney—fracking involves the injection of chemicals (some of them toxic) into the ground, releasing natural gas. The method is also completely unregulated; through a stipulation called the Halliburton Loophole, of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, inserted on the behalf of Dick Cheney. The Halliburton Loophole excuses the process of fracking from observing the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. The sheer fact, however, that this stipulation exists is enough to question the veracity of Halliburton’s claims about its practices being safe.

What prompted New York’s cautious approach to hydraulic fracturing, however, has been the visibility of this issue in the media, largely the result of the scathing documentary “Gasland”; a film created when Josh Fox was offered $100,000 for the gas rights to his property in Pennsylvania and his search for more information about fracking. Fox travelled to 34 states, talking to property owners and environmental experts about the effects of extracting natural gas. One of the most memorable effects portrayed in the film and shared by almost all the property owners living next to a gas extraction site—was flammable water. Putting lighters next to faucets, owners disproved gas ‘safety’ claims as their water lit up within seconds.

With the rise in oil prices, energy companies are increasingly pressured to find alternative, cleaner, and sustainable fuel. It is because of this pressure that many companies, like corporation giant Exxon Mobil, are turning more of their attention to natural gas—which is affordable, 60% cleaner than coal, and readily available in the United States. However the process of extracting natural gas, has been linked to lung and brain damage, a decrease in the biodiversity of an area, the contamination of the air….the list continues. Yet the fracking industry is not solely responsible for these environmental and health issues: farmers that have been financially struggling are eager to sign away their gas rights, profiting at the cost of the land.

No better link exists between policy and health than “Gasland”, which clearly demonstrates how policies and politics (Cheney’s role in the Halliburton’s Loophole) affect the health of everyday people. This Emmy award winning documentary also emphasizes the media’s power in the discussion of health issues, giving certain issues national attention, affecting how they are addressed—as can be seen presently in New York.

Feb 24

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Dying to Be Thin

Jennifer De Jesus is a student in the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter and an avid movie watcher. She is also an employee of the Health Professions Education Center, which has one of the largest collection of health films in the New York City area.

Brought to us by NOVA, this film, Dying to Be Thin,  explores the gravity of two eating disorders, bulimia and anorexia, which have reached epidemic levels in America. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, twenty-four million people suffer with an eating disorder. Through multiple personal accounts, this film emphasizes that anorexia and bulimia afflict both women and men; as well as the dire health consequences on the human body.

The first story the viewer encounters is about a sixteen year old named Randy Meyers, an athlete who died of anorexia. Randy’s story is just one out of many boys, athletes in particular, pressured to fit into certain weight classes or body types. Then there is the story of twins, Kate and Andy, which would ritualize vomiting during their college years. Lastly, there is the story of Rene, a flight attendant, who became anorexic because of the derision of her coworkers and passengers. Fortunately for Rene, she researched potential health hazards—damage to the heart, erosion of teeth and gums, kidney problems, intestinal ulcers, insomnia, memory loss—and got help.

One of the important points of this film is that anorexia or bulimia is not always related to food or body image. Some anorexics and bulimics acquire eating disorders because of a traumatic childhood: sexual and physical abuse, living with an alcoholic parent, or an excessively controlling parent. Because of this upbringing, anorexics/bulimics gain control of their lives, by starving, binging or vomiting. Then there are other bulimics/anorexics which have Body Dysmorphic Disorder, a psychological disorder in which the affected person is excessively concerned about a perceived defect in his or her physical features.

Body Dsymorphic Disorder is constantly being reinforced by the $59.7 billion diet industry. It is this very same industry that profits every time an anorexic, like Andy, consumes 25 diet pills a day, drinks 3 to 4 hunger suppressant drinks a day, or constantly buys the latest exercise equipment. But the diet industry is not the only one to blame, after all it exists because of a high demand, the media also plays a tremendous role in shaping ideas of beauty. This can be seen throughout history, as different traits fell in and out of fashion: excessively pale skin of the Elizabethan era to the slender flapper of the 1920s to the voluptuous, (size 12) Marilyn Monroe. This “beauty pressure” not only applies to women, whom currently strive for a thin waist and a large bust, but also to men, who strive to be tall and muscular. Even worse is the fact that this pressure is spreading outside the US, and through the Western media influences other countries. Brazil, for example, was a country proud of curvier women, but recently this pride has disappeared and Brazil now consumes the most diet pills in the world.

Thankfully there is now a backlash to standard ideas of beauty in the mainstream media. In 2006, after the death of four models, underweight models were banned from the Madrid’s Fashion Week; an attempt to portray healthy images in fashion. Another popular campaign is Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. Through videos and commercials, Dove is attempting to change what people view as beautiful. Their first commercial, “Evolution”, focuses on the way Photoshop is used to create advertisement, distorting the image of real achievable beauty. Their other video “Onslaught” portrays a young girl bombarded with images of women in the media, and ends with the message “talk to your daughter, before the media does”. With a changing perception of the range beauty can be, one can only hope that a more accepting culture of beauty will decrease the pressure to be thin, leading many into bulimia and anorexia.

Feb 17

King Corn

Jennifer De Jesus is a student in the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter and an avid movie watcher. She is also an employee of the Health Professions Education Center, which has one of the largest collection of health films in the New York City area.

Over the past thirty years the farmers of the Midwest have been growing an industrial product in their fields: corn. In this film, two college graduate students, Ian Cheney and Curtis Ellis, travel to Greene, Iowa, to grow an acre of corn to determine where their corn eventually ends up. In this process they examine the effects that the ever-increasing production of corn has had on American society. Surprisingly enough, one single crop, corn, has had such widespread ramifications, closely interconnected with the economy and health of millions of Americans.

Did you know that the corn grown in states, like Iowa, is actually inedible for human consumption? Most of the corn grown is actually turned into animal feed. Convenient for cattle ranchers, corn feed quickly fattens animals, decreasing the amount of time needed for the cows to reach market weight. Yet the high-starch diet significantly harms the animals, resulting in rumen acidosis, forcing the cattle ranchers to apply antibiotics. If what the animals are eating is making them sick, imagine the effects eating such meat can have on consumers!

According to the film, the beginning of this tale dates all the way back to the 1970s, when Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz ended the Acreage Reduction Program—a program in which the government paid farmers to not produce, maintaining high prices for grains. This program was then replaced by a system in which the government paid farmers for the amount produced. Initially, this appears to be a fair system: the government pays per product. However, this system rewards the overproduction of corn, which has led to a multitude of problems: sickly cattle destined for consumption, as well as obesity and all associated diseases.

Shocking, when first exposed, was the fact that after animal feed, most of the corn is turned into high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a sweetener used in breads, beverages, cereals, breakfast bars, lunch meats, yogurts, soups, condiments—you name it. The reason for the abundance of high fructose corn syrup is strictly financial—it is cheaper and sweeter than natural sugar.

Americans demand readily available and cheap food. This constant desire has such negative impacts not only on food, but on our health. At this point, however, there is no quick fix. To reinstitute the previous law on corn would increase its price adversely affecting the cattle industry, sugar industry, farmers and poorer families, which depend on cheaper food. Yet, to continue down this path would only maintain the escalating trend of health problems. America already has an array of health problems, most of which are linked to our diet and lifestyles. Even though there is no immediate solution that can be applied to this issue, it will not simply disappear if ignored; more attention and exposure should be given to its causes and dire effects. With more awareness and interest in the matter, maybe one day we can solve this predicament. Maybe.

Jan 21

West 47th Street: Four People You’ve Tried Not to Notice

Jennifer De Jesus is a student in the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter and an avid movie watcher. She is also an employee of the Health Professions Education Center, which has one of the largest collection of health films in the New York City area.

Photo credit/Coalition for the Homeless

In the 1960s many federal mental institutions were closed, resulting in hundreds of thousands of people with mental illness ending up on the streets. This film centers around a community in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen called Fountain House, the home of people suffering from mental illnesses. Since 1948, Fountain House has been dedicated to the recovery of men and women with mental illness by providing opportunities for members to live, work, and learn, while contributing their talents through a community of mutual support. Their goal is to eliminate the stigma against those with mental illness.

One of the people profiled in this film is Zeinab Wali, a homeless woman diagnosed with schizophrenia. Once in Fountain House, her eager-to-work attitude quickly dispels any misconception that people are homeless because of lethargic reasons.

Currently there are multiple problems, which existing policies do not address nor solve. For example, a common rule in shelters is the lack of storage; no possessions can be left during the daytime. However, a large percentage of the homeless are actually families with children and denying them storage would be limiting them to what they can carry, therefore depriving them of essentials like clean clothing.

Programs such as “Advantage”, a rental subsidy that helps people transition from temporary shelter to self-sufficiency, still have many flaws. Even within the New York City Department of Homeless Service, there is confusion about policies, which results in officials giving out false information. In a recent report conducted by New York City Comptroller, John Liu, it was found that “Advantage” leads to an increased amount of “side deals”; when people in homeless shelters agree to pay additional amounts to landlords “under the table” and “off the record” to ensure they can obtain an apartment and get out of the horrific conditions in the shelter. Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Seth Diamond disputed some of the audit findings and defended itself and its record stating that,. “Over 20,000 Advantage leases have been signed allowing New Yorkers to move from shelter to homes.”

Over half of homeless women are victims of domestic violence and the majority of homeless people are minorities—obviously there are more aspects involved in homelessness than high rent prices. New York City needs to create more shelters and provide better preventative care to families as well as individuals to avoid this issue in the first place. This could be achieved by funding more places like the Fountain House, which change lives daily by integrating the homeless back into society.

As the title of this film suggests, it is time to not only notice but to act.

Jan 14

Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad (A Little Bit of So Much Truth): A Review

One of the most powerful and influential tools of the modern world is the media, which can be used to spread awareness, ideas, and opinions, impacting common attitudes and policies. Now, imagine radio and television stations controlled by tens of thousands of school teachers, students, housewives, farmers, and indigenous communities. This was the historic occurrence in the non-violent uprising during the summer of 2006, in Oaxaca, Mexico. “A Little Bit of So Much Truth” is a documentary that captured this event, which occurred when the people of Oaxaca took 14 radio stations and one TV station into their own hands, using them to organize and defend their grassroots struggle for social, economic, cultural, and political justice.

This film begins with the atrocious conditions in Oaxaca—pollution, racism against indigenous peoples, lack of water, scarcity of food, and no security. Frustrated with their living conditions, the teachers of Oaxaca went on strike and created their own radio station, Radio Plantón, through which they expressed their discontent and opinions about needed government change, mainly the immediate resignation of their corrupt governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.

The federal government retaliated against this strike, sending troops to attack the radio station. Yet, despite having trained military personnel and weapons, the federal government was unable to take control of the radio station due to civilian resistance—through the use of the radio, the people of Oaxaca were able to organize themselves and successfully resist. Soon after this initial conflict, the teachers formed the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO, from its Spanish name, Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca.). Following several more attacks from the federal government, the APPO took over yet another radio station, Radio Universidad. The radio continually proved its importance as it saved lives by giving rapid, current information during shoot-outs and air raids. Aside from radio, the APPO also took over a government run television station because of their belief that the two main channels, TV Azteca and Televisa, were manufactoring mass opinions without truly informing viewers.

Beginning with a simple radio station in a small town, this movement turned into a seven month conflict involving the federal government and multiple states in Mexico. Whether the civilian takeover of the media was justified or not, this film highlights the impact that the media has on people. Media outlets, like the radio or television, have massive potential for any use, which can be beneficial and dangerous at the same time. Television advertisements can sell harmful drugs one second and the next present anti-smoking commercials. In order to tip the scale towards healthier information—how to fight obesity, drug addiction, human rights abuses—health professionals need to flood the mainstream media with ads. By mainstream, I mean not just television or radio, but social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, whose exposure exceeds that of television or radio, at no cost.

Inspired by the influence of Radio Plantón, I think more people should be involved—either by active participation or by paying attention—in the media. As proven by the influence of Radio Plantón the more informed we are, the better.

 

Jennifer De Jesus is a student in the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter and an avid movie watcher. She is also an employee of the Health Professions Education Center, which has one of the largest collection of health films in the New York City area.

Dec 15

1 Comment

Generation Rx: A Review

Generation Rx

This disturbing tale begins with a question: are children taking psycho-stimulants like Prozac and Ritalin because of scientific information or commercial use? Shockingly, all the evidence favors the latter.  After several doctors and a Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist began investigating, it was found that no valid studies have been conducted illustrating the benefits of these drugs. What was found was that the research was mostly anecdotal.

But how did these drugs then become so pervasive in our lives, especially in the lives of children? The answer lies in the clever marketing strategy of pharmaceutical companies. Children were the last “untapped” market, and once targeted for consumption, this industry enlisted the help of doctors. Suddenly psychiatrists received grants and were sent to conferences, all which drummed in the same information: some brains were chemically imbalanced and our drugs can help them. Through this system, psycho-stimulants became the method of calming restless children; all the while the perverse side effects were kept secret. It is through the use of these medications that normal human brains become chemically imbalanced and these medications can even cause brain atrophy. Read more

Nov 29

1 Comment

Typhoid Mary – The Most Dangerous Woman in America

Typhoid Mary photo credit NOVA “Typhoid Mary” is the story of Irish immigrant Mary Mallon, who was the first to be identified as a healthy carrier of typhoid. Her intriguing story was a breakthrough in bacteriology: she was the first person in the United States to be identified as a healthy carrier. This fact would have gone undetected if it were not for Mallon’s profession as a cook, in which she unknowingly infected others. Another fascinating aspect was that she was then quarantined on an island for the remainder of her life without due process.

What I found most fascinating about this film was the emphasis it placed on ethics and rights. After all public health is the science and art of preventing disease and promoting health through the organized and informed choices of organizations, communities and individuals. Another interesting aspect of this film is how it addresses a community’s safety at the cost of individual rights. When is it appropriate for public health officials to act without the consent of their patient? There is still quite a bit of uncertainty surrounding individual rights versus what government officials perceive as best.

Public officials mostly agreed that one person’s civil liberties could be infringed upon for the benefit of the whole. But this sort of logic brings about an opening into ethically ambiguous work. When is it right to draw the line of the individual and the whole? Such questions must have definitely been asked in the Guatemala experiments conducted from 1946 to 1948, in which doctors, with the approval of the US Department of Health, infected natives of Guatemala with Syphilis and Gonorrhea to test the effectiveness of penicillin. The same events occurred in 1907 with Mary Mallon, as she was forced to take experimental drugs doctors believed would cure her.

As much as I would love to claim that this was a thing of the early 1900s, and we have learned better, sadly I cannot. The Tuskegee Experiments was a clinical study conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service. They recruited 399 impoverished African-American sharecroppers who had syphilis and did not offer any medicine in order to see the natural progression of the disease. What’s more showing and disturbing is that this experiment lasted until 1972.

Typhoid Mary – The Most Dangerous Woman in America raises more questions than it provides answers. Is it ever right to pursue scientific inquiry at the expense of an individual’s health? Would it be ethical to inform a patient’s lover of their partner’s infectious disease, or should we maintain patient confidentiality? The tragic story of Mary Mallon, who died on a small quarantined island, emphasizes the social, ethical and legal dilemmas faced by public health workers.

Jennifer De Jesus is a student in the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College and an avid movie watcher. She is also an employee of the Health Professions Education Center, which has one of the largest collections of health films in New York City.

This is the first entry in a new blog post series, “Must See!” Films Public Policy Films from a Student’s Perspective.

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