There were four key terms in this chapter. The first one is Health car communication which is the study of communication practices within the broad domain of health care, from patient/ professional interaction to institutional communication questions about health. I could think of the situation when I went to emergency room because of shoulder dislocation. When my shoulder dislocated for the first time, I was frightened because my shoulder was about to protrude. The doctor tried to interact with me so I can calm down and asked questions about my health condition so he can prescribe the medicine correctly.
Second one is Health which is the interplay of communicative responses to conditions of mind, body, and soul, from beginning to end of a life. Even though I am 23 years old, I definitely understand about the importance of health. I was a swimmer when I was in middle school and high school. At that time, I though my body was really strong and solid because I never got injured since I started to swim. However, my shoulder got dislocated when I was 18 and it was two weeks before the competition for the national representative selection. Because I was selected as one of the city representatives, I was pretty confident about joining the national team. Unfortunately, my record kept decreasing after my shoulder got dislocated, I could not even be a city representative. I had to quit and needed to start something else for my future, and it took about three years for me to going on the college.
Third one is Responsiveness which is a responsibility that meets the call of the other, even when the call is unwanted. Because my physical condition is not normal compare to before, I could not work out hard to keep my body in shape. I always ate a lot of food since I was a swimmer, eating a lot of food became kind of habit and I do not feel full if I eat same as others. After I gain too much weight after I quit swimming, I started to play soccer to get away from being fat.
The last one is Care which is a human answer to the call of the other, a willingness to meet and attend to someone other than oneself. Before last semester, I went back to my country to see my cousin because he got stomach cancer, and the doctor said he got only three months left. It was really difficult for me to watch him in suffer. I really wanted to help and make him better, but there was nothing I could do except going hospital often to see him. One month before I come to the U.S., my cousin did not want me and other relatives to come visit him because he did not want others to see his look, so I had to come to the U.S. without saying goodbye to him. It was September third which was my birthday and when summer semester got started. Because it was the first semester here, I was really busy to not missing anything, and my cousin died on the same day.
Wow. I am so sorry to hear about your cousin Young. That's very sad. I think the concepts of health care communication ethics can be confusing at times, because "care" does not always equate what we think it does. In the case of your cousin, there was not a lot you could do in regards to what we normally think of when we think of "care." However, you did provide care by visiting him in the hospital and spending time with him, which I am sure was very comforting to him.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you brought in examples of your own injuries as a swimmer to help illustrate the concepts that the book talks about. Health care communication is not always contained to life threatening illness. Your experience with your reoccurring injury illustrates the notion of health and how it can change over time. We may not be seriously ill or confined to a hospital bed, but we may still grapple with health challenges such as long lasting injuries, etc. I like how you provided a less serious example, because I think often times people equate health care with life threatening illness when in fact, it encompasses a lot more.