In class we created a list of the potential environmental exposures that we know about in people's homes, schools, workplaces, and in the community. While I know a lot about toxic exposures in the homes I was having a hard time thinking about concrete examples, then I started to remember all the changes I made to help reduce my seasonal allergy symptoms. I had to remove scented products and started using non-toxic cleaners. In our class discussion we started to talk about the departments managing exposures in these areas and I started to think about policy and how health in all policy is becoming more relevant to me. More specifically, I started to think about sanitation in homeless encampments and how this is a health issue due to the current housing crisis.
Living in California, I have many opportunities to access healthy seasonal food. There is a wide variety of vegetables and fruits available in the Fall. With so much variety and relatively short food miles in California, seasonal hospital menus can be a beneficial solution to support local farms, provide healthy options, and continue patient education on the importance of healthy nutrition with local seasonal fruits and vegetables. In the future, I would like to live in Washington state. Washington state also produces a lot of food and I decided to look up their Harvest calendar. This would be a shift if I decided to move there and eat local seasonal food. I would have to learn new and be okay in not eating as much citrus fruit. The article Obesogens, An Environmental Link to Obesity introduced a new explanation that chemicals can also impact our metabolism. There is overwhelming evidence that the cause of obesity is poor nutrition and limited physical activity that it is astonis...
I like your point about sanitation in homeless encampments. I do work at a homeless shelter in South San Francisco and even though i spend time helping those people, I never really think about sanitation when they are on the streets. I think for me it is something I take for granted and don't consider, but sanitation in homeless encampments has an effect on me even though I don't live in that setting. I think it is important to remember that those issues aren't personal issues, they are public issues.
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