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Essay about Public Health Care Reform in America

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We all know that this country has a system of doctors and hospitals to take care of us when we get sick. What many people don't know is that there also is a system that keeps us healthy. It works in the ways that we aren't usually aware of. It's the public health system. Everyday you see headlines about public health in the newspaper. But you probably don't even recognize that the headlines reflect a public health system at work. Public health protects you and keeps you and your loved ones safe and healthy. Everyday. Day after day. There are several public health measures that need to be actively engaged in order to help reform health care in America. Public health measures focus on the population, sanitation, disease control, …show more content…

However, 40% of the U.S. population, still live in areas without a fluoridated water supply. After you dressed, did you stop for breakfast? Did you have orange juice, or perhaps scrambled eggs, or maybe a bagel with cream cheese? The only reason you can be sure that your orange juice, eggs and cream cheese are not contaminated with bacteria that would make you sick is that public health regulates the safety of your food supply. We also teach and promote safe food handling practices that kill bacteria and help you and those who handle your food from contaminating it. Sometimes, despite everybody's best efforts, outbreaks of disease caused by contaminated food occur. The public health system then does detective work to find the source of the contamination and to stop it. We apply the methods of epidemiology to learn what the sick people have in common and locate the source of the contamination. Then we make sure that all contaminated food is removed from the supply.
Did you have cereal for breakfast? If you are a woman who might become pregnant, your cereal, fortified with folic acid, will help prevent some serious birth defects. Folic acid supplementation in things you eat every day, like cereal, is an important public health measure to prevent birth defects.
After you had your safe, and hopefully healthy, breakfast, did you or your neighbors send children off to a day care center or school? It is the public health

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