Community organizing involves the creation of networks and partnerships that assist the community in dealing with health problems (Minnesota Department of Health, 2006). Community organizing primarily includes the creation of a core group in the community through coalitions with parents, teachers, administrators, and other members of the community. Core group members must be properly immunized against pertussis, in order for them to be able to assist with the treatment of the condition.
The core group, after adequate seminars and trainings, functions in providing basic and first aid treatments for pertussis. It is also their responsibility to assist the community health nurse in the community’s health education, and in encouraging community members to get vaccinations and boosters, especially since the San Luis Obispo Public Health Department offers free, although scheduled, immunizations. Justification of Problem and Interventions
As was said earlier, whooping cough can be extremely dangerous for infants {CDC, 2010}. However, this doesn’t mean that other age groups should be neglected. In fact, San Luis Obispo officials are most concerned “about middle-school students, whose vaccinations have waned and need booster shots, making classrooms potential breeding grounds for pertussis (Chen, 2010). ” This is complicated by the fact that by the third week of August, schools will be resuming and with it, the larger transmission of the pertussis bacteria.
This distressing problem adds greater worries for community officials and the community health nurse, especially since with San Luis Obispo’s 293 cases, the county was now ranked as one with the second highest number of cases in the state of California (Chen, 2010). Effectiveness of Interventions All the said interventions work on the principle that “prevention is better than cure. ” Health promotion addresses and enlightens parents and guardians against the rumored ill effects of vaccines.
People are also informed that after five to ten years, the effect of the vaccine wanes and thus, a booster shot is needed (Chen, 2010). Also, health education provides people information on how to prevent the further spread of pertussis, especially in households with infants that are too young for vaccination. On the other hand, surveillance keeps the people up to date, and trends in pertussis can be seen. Once these trends are analyzed, steps can be taken to prevent the progression of the epidemic.
Also, surveillance grants the community health nurse the ability to detect and predict arising cases, making control of the epidemic much easier. Finally, community organization decreases the burden carried by the community health nurse, and it makes the community members actual participants in the fight against pertussis. Community organizing brings treatment and interventions to the grassroots level, mobilizes the community, and ultimately gives the community the sense that they can do something and that they are not powerless against the pertussis epidemic.