Vision boards are an excellent way to visualize your best life, goals, and dreams. Vision boards are a creative way to generate a visual of the things that you want to see manifested in your life, and a way to provide yourself a daily reminder of why you work so hard, and what your outcome will be. Creating a vision board does not have to be a tedious process. This can be a fun opportunity for a girls night, wine, and some creativity
Here is what you need to host your vision board party:
-Poster boards/Paper or Cork Board
-Magazines
-Scissors
-Glue
-Snacks
-Most Importantly Some Good Wine/Vino
Have a Method to Your Board
There is no right or wrong way to do this. I tend to divide my poster board into sections by category. Divide you vision board into 9 different sections. The top three sections of the board (from left to right) should be prosperity, reputation, partnerships/love. The second row should be family, health, and unity. The third row should be self-improvement, career, and travel. You can see a visual example of several options on Pinterest.
It is important to remember that you can change or update your vision board as much as you deem it necessary. I typically opt for the cork board version of the vision board because it is easier to modify. If you are hosting the vision board party and would like to utilize the cork board, it may be more cost-effective to collect those funds from your guests in advance, or request that they bring their own if they would like to use that.
Get Digital
Don’t have the time or resources to buy supplies for everyone? Get digital with your vision boards. There are several different ways that you can complete a vision board digitally by downloading simple apps from App Store from Apple or the Android Market. I particularly like the Success Vision Board Application by Jack Canfield, the creator for chicken soup for the soul. You can also create one online at www.dreamitaliave.com.
Remember the law of attraction! Hang your vision board somewhere you will see it daily. Use it to inspire you and generate positive energy at the beginning of your day. Live and work towards your dreams every day.
Health is defined as the state of being free from illness or injury. Health is what keeps all individuals in a state of harmony and balance because when our health is good, we are good. However, the state of being free from illness or injury is not equal across all spectrums of the human species. Some of you may deal with health related issues on a daily basis, occasionally, or rarely. Despite your frequency, it’s doubtful time allows you to look up interesting facts and figures on this topic. For instance, did you know that black women have a shorter life expectancy than White women by 5 years, 50% higher all-cause mortality rates, and death rates from major causes such as heart disease, cerebrovascular diseases, and diabetes that are often 2 to 3 times higher than those for Caucasian women? Knowledge is power, so here are a few interesting facts and figures about the health of minority women that make you go hmmm.
Caucasian women are more likely to develop breast cancer than African American women. But African Ameri- can women are more likely to die of this cancer because their cancers are often diagnosed later and at an advanced stage when they are harder to treat and cure. There is also some question about whether African American women have more aggressive tumors.
African American women between the ages of 35-44, have an increased breast cancer death rate of more than twice the rate of White women in the same age group—20.02 deaths per 100,000 com- pared to 10.2 deaths per 100,000.
Black women develop high blood pressure earlier in life and have higher average blood pressures compared with white women. About 37 percent of black women have high blood pressure.
About 5.8% of all white women, 7.6% of black women, and 5.6% of Mexican American women have coronary heart disease.
A 2011 Journal of Women’s study indicated that 57 percent of Latina women, 40 percent of African American women, and 32 percent of white women had three or more risk factors for having a heart attack.
According to the article published by the Diabetes Sisters, the prevalence of diabetes is at least 2-4 times higher among African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian, and Asian/Pacific Islander women than among white women.
One in four African American women over 55 years of age has diabetes.
In the United States, race once defined an individual’s level of freedom, including where they could enter, sit, and eat. Today, with African Americans at a higher risk than White Americans for obesity, high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease, race also defines the quality of healthcare, making health disparities in African Americans the true silent killer.
Statistics from the American Heart Association and Center for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledges the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in African Americans. However, the link between race and health are obscured, and there is not much conversation dedicated to eliminating the socioeconomic and cultural barriers that make African Americans a target for death by disease.
So the question is what should we as healthcare professionals implement to address socioeconomic and cultural barriers that contribute to the healthcare disparities in African Americans and other minority populations? Should we continue to research different treatment regimens that can improve the overall health of African Americans and other minority groups? Or should we continue to educate these populations through traditional patient education? The Answer is No! In order for us to get something that we have never had, that means we have to do something that we have never done. The solution to this issue must extend beyond medicine, and instead be addressed by community leaders, community health providers, and minority healthcare professionals so race can be a category and not a barrier to quality healthcare.
There is undoubtedly a necessity to increase the level of cultural sensitivity among physicians, nurses, & other healthcare personnel; recognize unfavorable socioeconomic and cultural barriers as a preexisting condition; improve the community surrounding African Americans & other minority patients; and increase the number of minority healthcare workers. Implementing these actions will begin the process of closing the gap of socioeconomic and cultural barriers that contribute to the healthcare disparities in African Americans and other minority populations.
President Obama signed the historic Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law on March 23, 2010, and its first changes went into effect on July 1 of the same year. But signing that bill was just the beginning of a passionate national health care debate. Even one year later, the dust is far from settling.
One of the most politically divisive issues in the United States’ history, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been at the forefront of public and Congressional discourse practically from the moment it was written. Reforming the health care laws of the early 20th century has been a topic of discussion since the 1970s.
Yet, revisiting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act today is really just rehashing what was signed into law a year ago. Not much has actually changed, though those opposing the Act in the deeply divided Congress say it will change, and soon.
“Reforms under the Affordable Care Act have brought an end to some of the worst abuses of the insurance industry,” says the White House on its health care reform website, www.healthcare.gov.
Some of the more prominent facets of the reform include ending lifetime and some annual limits on care, allowing adults under age 26 to stay on their parents’ insurance plans, and forbidding insurance agents from denying care to children with preexisting conditions.
Regarding Medicare, almost 48 million of those receiving aid are eligible for free preventive care, including mammograms and colonoscopies, among other Medicare-specific reforms like prescription drug discounts.
The Act also takes into special consideration the disparities surrounding health care and minority populations. Minority Nursefrequently covers the lack of access to care and disproportionate incidences of disease, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act outlines several initiatives to combat those inequalities.
Especially pertinent to low-income patients, the Act calls for subsidized preventive health care services like annual exams, immunizations, and cancer screenings for those falling into certain eligibility groups. It also invests in cultural competency and language training, chronic condition management teams, and community clinics, with a goal of doubling the number of patients those clinics can serve. The Act also provides funds for home care visits for pregnant women and new mothers, in an effort to stem the low birth weight and infant mortality epidemic affecting minorities.
Finally, by 2014, the Act will establish State-based Health Insurance Exchanges that will create a competitive health insurance marketplace and “guarantee that all people have a choice for quality, affordable health insurance even if a job loss, job switch, move, or illness occurs,” according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
Multiple parties have already questioned the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s constitutionality, saying Congress does not have the power to require individuals to buy health insurance. The Obama administration has countered these claims, pointing to Congress’s Constitutional right to regulate interstate economic activity. The crux of the Act is fostering those State-based Health Insurance Exchanges, giving states flexibility in their implementation and giving individuals a choice that spans state borders. Surveys conducted by third parties, such as the Harvard School of Public Health, showed many Americans support the Act and many of its provisions, and that there is no swell of people hoping to have it repealed. Obama’s Congressional Budget Office also estimates the Act will eventually save money, reducing the deficit by $138 billion.
The White House, for its part, has tried to tout those functions of the Act that are already helping people, like the Medicare discounts and continued insurance coverage for young adults. However, though millions have already benefited from the law, most of the country has yet to feel its effects, making the continuation of these costly and sweeping changes seem pointless. The Act calls for more drastic health care overhauls through 2014, including many of the provisions directed toward reducing health disparities, but for the uninsured and underinsured, that can be a long wait.
Of course, speeding up the implementation of the Act isn’t an option, but voting during the 2012 election is. Nurses can support these changes (or refute them) with their vote. In the meantime, nurses can educate themselves, as the repercussions of the Act—whether it endures or is repealed—will be felt in communities and clinics, in juggernaut HMOs and small businesses, for years to come.
The Frontier Nursing University in Hyden, Kentucky, is launching a new campaign to increase diversity in nursing. The PRIDE Program has a good acronym for an even better cause: Promoting Recruitment and Retention to Increase Diversity in Nurse-Midwifery and Nurse Practitioner Education.
“The ultimate goal of the PRIDE program is to recruit and retain qualified underrepresented students in our graduate school of nursing who will meet the health care demands of an increasingly diverse population,” the school says. They kicked off the campaign this past June with its first annual Diversity Impact weekend. The tight-knit, intimate event of 16 students held diversity forums and networking opportunities. They discussed and debated issues such as “Resources on Racial Disparities,” “Surviving Distance Education,” and “What’s Race Got To Do With It: A Courageous Conversation About Race.”
The weekend also included presentations regarding cultural beliefs and health conditions specific to certain demographics—even a potluck dinner of recipes from different cultures. All visiting students were given a $500 travel stipend, funded by a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The Frontier University (formerly Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing) has been educating nurse practitioners and nurse midwives to work in rural and otherwise medically underserved communities for 70 years. For more information regarding the PRIDE initiative and a summary of the weekend’s events, visit www.frontier.edu/diversityimpact.
