Blog #5

A person’s culture can have a huge effect on contraceptive decision making. There are religions that see the use of contraceptives as the “correct” form of living responsible lives. Other religions ban the use of contraceptives because the act of sex is for procreation. For example, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that every single sexual act has to remain open to life. Other religions are not so clear on the subject. Take the Amish for example. Not only do they condemn any form of contraceptives, but family planning and calendar based methods were also not allowed. Only in recent years have more Amish women started to use birth control. There are many religions where the topic is almost split evenly. In my house, the words “birth control” was kind of a forbidden phrase. I grew up in a strict Christian family, so my parent’s thoughts on birth control or contraceptive were that it was only to be used for married couples. The thought of using any form of birth control before marriage was out of the question! I know, right…OLD SCHOOL!! J They are more understanding now that I’ve been married for 4 months, thank goodness! 

Carla Keeley

Blog #4

This week I chose to write about whether or not sex education should be taught in public schools and what kind of education should be provided. Should there be an abstinence-only rule or an abstinence-plus rule?

My thoughts on this subject kind of vary depending on the situation. That probably doesn’t make sense so let me elaborate… when it comes to younger kids in middle school, I strongly believe that they should be taught the abstinence-only rule. The reason for that is because, can you imagine a 12 year old being told that they can have sex as long as their being safe!? That’s ridiculous! But on the flip side, once a child gets to the high-school level they start to experience other things. More “grown up” things if you will. I don’t like saying it myself, but kids now a days are having sex younger and younger and it still surprises me how many teenage girls I see pregnant. Sometimes it makes me mad, to be honest. I don’t have any kids of my own, but I know that when I do have kiddos and they are old enough to understand I’m going to educate them as much as possible about sex… well, I guess that’s probably easier said than done, right?? I just know I don’t want to have my 16 year old pregnant and have to drop out of school because she can’t do both. I will make sure that I let her know about all the things that could possibly go wrong if she decides to have sex. I WILL scare her out of doing it until she’s 30!!!! J Hahahaha! Oh, and this applies to if I have a boy too. :)

In all seriousness though, when it comes to sex education with public schools, I do believe there should be some sort of abstinence-only rule ALONG with an abstinence-plus rule for those kids that think they just need to have sex.

Blog #3: Self Assessment

I decided to do the self-assessment on page 57 of our text books. I found that I answered "yes" to the majority of the questions, thankfully. There were 10 questions that asked different preventative practice methods. The ones I answered "no" on I definitely know I have to work on. For example, I answered "no" to the question that asked if I get enough sleep. It almost feels as if I don't have time for sleep anymore. I'm either at work or doing homework. At the moment, it feels like sleep is a privilege. Which leads me to the question I answered "no" on... if I have a method to reduce my stress. That's obviously a "no." I don't know how to reduce my stress. Is there even such a thing? I dealt with stress as if it were a disease since I was 17! I remember in high-school when I would stress out about something I would get panic attacks. I don't get those anymore, but I think what I get now is worse. Now when I stress out my heart starts to hurt!

Besides the two I mentioned above, the rest I answered "yes" to such as avoiding tobacco and alcohol use. I also answered "yes" to practicing safe behaviors like wearing my seat belt and receiving routine check-ups. If I had to rate my preventative practices, I would say that I was doing a pretty good job... minus the heart thing. :-/ I know I have to find a way of improving my health in terms of managing my stress better. This is obviously important for me so that I don't have to go through those awful heart pains anymore. I know that can be really dangerous... :-(

Carla Keeley

Blog #2

What I found to be the most alarming in Chapter 2 would definitely have to be estimated cost for care in a nursing home. At the present time, it is said that the national average cost for care in a nursing home is more that $75,190 for a private room and $52,000 for a semi-private room…whatever that means. But get this, according to a recent survey, the cost for nursing care is expected to dramatically increase to a whopping $190,600 for only a semi-private room in year 2030!!! That just sounds insane to me! Can you imagine having to spend almost $200,000 in only a year so you can take care of your sick grandma?? Wow!

My thoughts on the access to health care are pretty straight forward. I believe anyone should be entitled to proper health care. On page 28 of our textbook, it talks about how President Clinton tried to establish universal health insurance in the United States, similar to the way it is in Canada and the United Kingdom. I like that idea, but unfortunately it didn’t go through.

I believe that the state of health care right now in the United States is improving somewhat. It’s good to see that the government is offering health care to low-income families with children. With that said, there is still HUGE room for improvement!

Carla Keeley

New Dimension’s in Women’s Health (Fifth Edition), pg. 30.

HS Women's Health

    The health issue that I am most concerned with is probably obesity. In today's society it so easy to loose track of what we eat and  how much we actually do eat. I am recently married and just started a new job last month as well as of course taking classes at TWU. I don't have as much as I would like to cook a good healthy meal with the busy schedule. It seems it is just more convenient to drive down the street and place a nice juicy order at the drive thru.  It seems that as the years goes by more and more Americans are getting super sized at a younger age as well. I worry that my future children will have health problems caused by obesity.  I am beginning to watch what I eat so that I can begin better habits for myself and my family.

    I interviewed my grandmother who is in her late 60's. She was diagnosed with diabetes a few years ago and that is her number one concern. She says, "As I get older it is harder to keep it in check and sometimes I just don't want to deal with it on certain days."  My grandmother is stubborn and is always putting up a fight. There are some days that she just refuses to eat at all which makes her case worsen.
    I asked a co-worker who is black and in her late 20's. He concern actually surprised me. Her health concern is having a heart attack.  The women in her family are prone to heart attacks. Both her mother and aunt have had one in the last 5 years.  She tries to eat well and to regularly go the gym to keep herself fit. She actually worries about this quite often as it almost causes her to stress out which can increase her chances of having one.
    After hearing the interviews I was surprised. It seems the most women including myself worry about some health issue in their everyday lives. Just as a test, I asked my husband what his health concern was, he answered," I wont know till I have one." He makes me so mad.