This assignment teaches you about S.K.'s culture. The assessment's primary goal is to establish if she receives appropriate medical care. According to Purnell (2015), the assessment can lead to the establishment of an efficient medical strategy.
The interviewee was a Cuban with the initials S.K. Her community occupies one-third of Cuba Island, with Muslims constituting two-thirds of the island's population. On the north, the Atlantic Ocean borders Hispaniola, and on the south, the Caribbean Sea. She is of Cuban origin. S.K currently lives in Washington D.C., with her family, migrated to the United States five years ago, when her father secured a job in Washington D.C. She was born in Cuba, the land of her ancestry. However, she had come States much earlier that her parents and siblings. She has therefore lived in the U.S. for eight years now.
Her parents were not born in the USA. Her mother was born in Haiti while her father was born in Cuba. Job and education are the main factors that brought S.K.’s family members to the States. Her current area of residence is surrounded by rivers, mountains, and oceans. Washington D.C. neighbors the Potomac River, the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. The climate is hot, with humid summers, pleasant springs, and welcoming autumns. The winters are mild and characterize seasonal snowfall. Anacostia River and Rock Creeks also divide the Washington district.
The only places that S.K. has lived include the United States and Cuba. However, she has been to Canada once, when she visited her uncle. During the time S.K. lived in Cuba, the climate was subtropical humid and the seasons were not clear. Most of the countryside areas of Cuba were highly mountainous. S.K. notes that a quarter of the land comprises mountainous forest of pine and mahogany. The number of rivers was few as compared to Washington District.
Currently, S.K. is a postgraduate student but works as a part-time law practitioner in a private firm. She earns approximately $35,000 per month. However, her father’s job is not sufficient to cater for his family needs. Therefore, S.K. caters for some of her family needs. As a result, the salary she receives is not sufficient. The high living standards in Washington D.C. have denied her a chance of using a proper medical care, afford decent dressing and devices that are essential. She also lives in an apartment that is not well conditioned. Therefore, her current level of earning is not sufficient to support a decent living.
S.K. does not have a health insurance. Before she took over some of her family’s responsibilities, she had an individual health insurance with eHealthInsurance, which is a private insurance company. However, the increased family demands have made it hard for her to continue with the plan. As a result, she only relies on good feeding habits as a way of maintaining good health. Providing healthy diets is not a problem for this lawyer. However, she cannot easily afford health insurance as her salary is insufficient. Cartwright and Shingles (2011) point out that health insurance is crucial in every citizen’s life as it promotes timely access to medical care. As a result, it helps to improve the health and lives of the citizens. For the case of S.K., she is at a higher risk of not accessing effective medical care when necessary.
References
Cartwright, L., & Shingles, R.R. (2011). Cultural Competence in Sports Medicine. London: Human Kinetics.
Purnell, L. (2015). The Purnell Model for Cultural Competence. The Journal of Multicultural Nursing and Health, 11(2), 7-18.
