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Community Nursing Case Study

Community Nursing The United States today represents not only wealth and opportunity for those within its borders, but also for those who enter it as immigrants. At least, this is the ideal. The unfortunate reality is that, more often than not, those seeking refuge from the conditions in their home countries often come into the states with very little. Many come in without even so much as the ability to speak English, which makes it even more difficult to secure an income and a future in their new country. It is, however, also fortunate that the United States government has implemented laws and measures to assist legal immigrants in their journey towards a better life for their families. This is also the case in my work as community health nurse with a family of four, including a pregnant mother. In Chicago, Illinois, there are local and state laws that protect their health and ensure that they can provide an education and health care for their children and themselves.

The first challenge I face with this family is referring them to agencies that can provide shelter, food, clothing, and health care. In Cook County, where the family is located, the Chicago Heights Community Health Center can provide the family with pedriatic and primary health care services. The pediatric service will be helpful once the baby is born. For the young 5-year-old, pedriatic services will also be helpful, while the primary health care services can be of use to support measures for controlling his Type 1 diabetes and the COPD diagnosed in the grandmother (Aunt Martha's Youth Service Center, Inc., 2012).

The Riverdale Head Start Program includes an early learning center that can help the 5-year-old to enter Kindergarten. It can also provide childcare services for the baby, who is to be born in approximately four months' time. The South Holland Community Health Center can also be helpful for the family, as it includes women, infants and children services, along with women's health services, including OB/GYN services (Aunt Martha's Youth Service Center, Inc., 2012). This will be important for the continued health...

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It also offers language teaching services, which would help the family to communicate better within the new environment (Aunt Martha's Youth Service Center, Inc., 2012). The program is set up in such a way that it will support the family in terms of work and child care while also offering the possibility to ultimately use the education and training provided to obtain better work and independence for them. In this way, the family can ultimately reach the goals they set out to achieve when coming to the country for the first time. It is also important, however, to take into account several legal and ethical issues related to the health and long-term well-being of the foreign family. This will be my second challenge in working with the family.
The first legal issue is to ensure that the family came into the country legitimately. They have been able to provide sufficient documentation to show that they have entered the country legitimately. Another concern is to ensure that the husband, especially, is in possession of a work permit, which will enable him to enter the workplace and earn a living to help his family to emerge from their circumstances towards a better future. This is something that the Work First program may be able to assist with. In the long-term, it could also be beneficial to obtain documentation and vocational training for the mother.

In ethical terms, it is important to display an awareness of the religious and moral concerns of the family in terms of work and education. Before entering them into schools or training programs, religious and moral concerns such as dietary requirements or the observance of religious holidays need to be taken into account.

Along the same line of argumentation, we need to ensure that the family's spiritual needs are met. If possible, we should try to connect them with a local religious community, where they will also be able to use this platform to…

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References

Aunt Martha's Youth Service Center and Health Center. (2012). Cook County. Retrieved from: http://www.auntmarthas.org

CCH (2013, Aug. 22). CCH Hosts Bill-Signing As Illinois Becomes 2nd State to Enact a Homeless Bill of Rights. Retrieved from: http://www.chicagohomeless.org/illinois-becomes-2nd-state-to-enact-a-homeless-bill-of-rights/

Illinois State Board of Education (2013). Homeless Education. Retrieved from: http://www.isbe.state.il.us/homeless/

Mayo Clinic (2013). COPD. Retrieved from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/copd/DS00916
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