You are the community health nurse in the following case study and your objective is to convince the

You are the community health nurse in the following case study and your objective is to convince the manager of your community health unit to grant you dedicated nursing time to work with this community beyond your day-to-day community health nursing practice routine of working with families in immunization clinics and home visits.

First – read this short case study:

You are a community health nurse employed in a rural Alberta health unit. In your district, the unemployment rate is over 20%, and the incidence of small grocery store theft has increased markedly during the past year. During routine infant and preschool immunization clinics and home visits you have noted signs of fatigue, anemia, and susceptibility to respiratory infections in family members of all ages. In addition you have noticed that many of the parents that you see in their homes seem to be smoking more. During clinic and home visits, many parents express concern about the adequacy of the diet that they are able to provide, and say that the funding they receive from Social Services is insufficient to meet their families’ basic food needs. The largest urban centre where large discount food stores are available is a four-hour-drive away. Most families in the district do their grocery shopping at the local general stores, where prices are higher. Many of these families have large debts. The owners of these stores are unable to extend the credit lines of many of their customers much further, although they are sympathetic to the overall situation. The general tone within the district towards the employment and economic situation is pessimistic, although many parents do comment during clinic and home visits that they are still waiting for things to “turn around.”

Recently a small group of farmers and local businessmen expressed interest in developing a food bank, although no one has any experience in organizing one. The only condition that they have placed on their offer is that “needy families become directly involved in helping themselves and each other, and nobody just gets a free handout.” The provincial nutritionist, a good friend of yours, has indicated her support and is willing to be involved in consultation and teaching.

Second – Prepare the following for submission to your unit manager.

Develop a written proposal – Using data supplied in the case study outline how you, the community health nurse, would work with this community integrating the concepts of population health promotion, primary health care and health promotion.