Project 3: Case Study Analysis 1

Project 3: Case Study Analysis

Jolyn Jimenez

Pasadena City College

Health and Social Justice

Professor Grace Apiafi

May 30,2021
Project 3: Case Study Analysis 2

Health is the human body’s biggest generator, once it is tampered with, it affects the way

we function. One active student, named Jose, understands this concept more than anyone.

Throughout his high school career, Jose broke records during his involvement in basketball and

is even predicted to captain the team his senior year. However, despite being his high school’s

star basketball player, he also suffers from asthma; a trait that appears to be derived from his

mother. Oftentimes, Jose is pulled out of school and taken to the doctors for checkups and

emergency visits, which fortunately is not an issue with his parents due to his mom’s adaptable

work schedule and, despite how costly these frequent doctor trips may sound, Jose’s fathers

employer provides the family with insurance that covers all their needs and treatments. Jose is

clearly a very involved and dedicated student, however, although it is treatable, dealing with

severe asthma only limits his activeness by putting him at risk of life threatening scenarios.

As someone who has witnessed people close to me undergo health complications during

school in the past, I believe that it is essential to emphasize how important it is to remain healthy

because even the slightest complication can cause a highly inconvenient effect. In middle school

I had quite a few friends deal with asthma everyday; in fact, a majority of them even informed

me what to do if they ever had an attack during school hours and needed quick assistance.

Fortunately, there never were instances where I had to put that assistive knowledge to use,

however, I do remember how different their routines were compared to my own. For instance,

whenever we were required to do any sort of exercise that involved running (i.e. our pacer and

mile tests), I remember how they actually had to prepare prior to the activity by doing simple

warmups and by taking a few pumps of air from their inhalers beforehand, whereas I was just

able to launch myself into the task at any time. Despite these seeming like simple adjustments, I

actually recall how they set my friends back in regards to schedule. To elaborate, my friend's
Project 3: Case Study Analysis 3

asthma did not excuse them from completing their assignments, therefore, while the majority of

us were able to stay on track and head to our next class, the rest of them had to stay behind and

make up for the time they lost while doing the routine designed to prevent them from suffering

an attack mid activity. This is just one of the many setbacks that my friends had to be aware of;

due to some intensive research of my own, I learned more about why they had to be cautious. In

fact, it turns out that every day each of them had to be aware of the fact that even the slightest

strain on their asthma can potentially hospitalize them for weeks, and these strains differed for

each individual. Nevertheless, in addition to maintaining good health, I also believe that it is

noteworthy to mention that these specific friends of mine were highly athletic. Meaning, despite

the fact that exercise was a continuous hazard, they never let it prevent them from being involved

in extracurriculars such as sports. They understood that asthma was most likely always going to

be a barrier in their life, however, instead of submitting to it and giving up, they chose to adapt to

it so that moving forward was as much of a possibility for them as it was for everyone else.

Having asthma does not limit one’s ability to be an athlete; even the greatest olympians

themselves are asthmatic. First and foremost, if I were in Jose’s position I believe that seeking

further professional help is essential because by doing so, I would be given opportunities to

familiarize myself with the different types of asthma and their triggers. I would also be made

aware of the counterattacks that help keep the diagnosis under control. One source highlights that

people with exercise-induced asthma are still encouraged to stay active, in fact, a majority of the

time, just by using medicated inhalers ten to fifteen minutes before activity can provide some

type of control (Rossenberg 2002). This is significant because typically one would believe that

people would be encouraged to steer away from their astmatic causes completely. However, this

justifies that even though asthma can make an appearance in athletes it does not restrict them
Project 3: Case Study Analysis 4

completely, it is just a matter of learning how to identify and adapt to the symptoms and

remembering to take the necessary precautionary measures before a severe attack can occur.

Moreover, it is not only important for people to be educated themselves, but for others to be

educated as well. In fact, the more people who are educated, the more the frequency of

hospitalization decreases overall. A report from Michigan summarizes that “Home visits were

conducted by registered nurses or respiratory therapists who are certified asthma educators and

who provided home-based education, home environmental assessments, and resources to reduce

exposures to environmental asthma triggers. Utilization data showed reductions in emergency

department visits for patients with private insurance from 72 visits per 1,000 patients in 2002 to

40 in 2006, and from 250 to 189 for Medicaid members,” (CDC 2015). After the state of

Michigan implemented educational home visits, the amount of emergency hospital visits covered

by private health care decreased by 56% while those under Medicaid decreased by 76%; both

happening over the course of four years. This is important because by educating others, not only

do more people develop the skills needed to treat and control asthma, but they are also

diminishing emergency trips to the hospital, which then means that there is also a decrease in the

amount of asthma patients who are facing life threatening scenarios. Nevertheless, despite the

drop in the number of hospital visits, it is still highly important for asthma students, such as Jose,

to maintain adequate healthcare and health insurance in case of an emergency. According to a

study done in order to research the relationship between health and medical care of children with

asthma, “Children who had no gaps in health insurance exhibited, on average, fewer barriers to

care than those with no health insurance...children of parents with poorer mental health scores

had a pattern of more asthma symptoms, more acute care visits, more barriers to care…,” (Wood

2002). Children living in well supplied and healthy environments typically did better health-wise
Project 3: Case Study Analysis 5

than those who lacked the basic necessities of beneficial healthcare. This is noteworthy because

those who did not upkeep their healthcare -meaning did not maintain routine checkups,

medication, procedures,etc.- typically faced more difficulties when it came to keeping their

asthma under control. By preserving a reliable health insurance, those diagnosed have access to

the different types of treatments that can manage their asthma before it has the chance to get

worse, and, they are even provided with the reassurance that if anything severe were to happen,

then that patient (in reference to this case; Jose) would have the ability to receive priority

medical attention. Asthma is a tough barrier to deal with, it is much more than a diagnosis; it has

the power to be fatal. However, asthma is only bad if one lets it get out of hand, if they care for

themselves in the correct way, then they have the power to move forward with little to no

weighed down impacts.

As a star high school basketball player, Jose does not need to let asthma control how far

or dedicated he must be in regards to moving forward in his path, he can do that himself- based

on the previous encounters with my close friends, I can assure that with great justification. In

fact, I, personally, would encourage him to continue his sports journey and not give up. As I also

previously mentioned, there are numerous ways that can decrease the amount of doctor visits for

Jose during his senior year. It is just a matter of him doing some research, getting thoroughly

educated on the disease, and making sure he always has good healthcare on hand for emergency

purposes. It is also noteworthy to mention that moving forward into the future semesters will

never be a smooth transition, therefore, in order to get the best functioning plan of action, I

would highly recommend that one constructs realistic expectations for themself. The biggest and

most logical expectation being not to stretch oneself too thin; after all, we are all humans and

therefore we all have our own limits. For that reason being, I would also not recommend
Project 3: Case Study Analysis 6

constructing a heavy goal right away, instead, take steps; the process may be longer, but at least

it will be tolerable and less harmful to one’s overall health. We all have our own battles to face,

but our greatest one is our health and well-being, if it suffers, then we each take on the pain and

suffer as a whole. Thus, Jose cannot let his health suffer, if he truly is invested in his basketball

career and wants to continue with no restrictions then he must learn to conquer his asthma before

it has the chance to conquer his life.

Project 3: Case Study Analysis 7

References

Controlling Asthma. (2015, May 29). Retrieved May 30, 2021, from

https://www.cdc.gov/policy/hst/statestrategies/asthma/index.html

Rosenberg, M. (2002, Feb 18). Asthma and athletics: How your child can cope: [all edition].

Daily Herald Retrieved from

https://login.ezp.pasadena.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezp.pasadena.edu/ne

Wood, P. R., Smith, L. A., Robero, D., Bradshaw, P., & al, e. (2002). Relationships between

welfare status, health insurance status, and health and medical care among children with

asthma. American Journal of Public Health, 92(9), 1446-52. Retrieved from

https://login.ezp.pasadena.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezp.pasadena.edu/sc

holarly-journals/relationships-between-welfare-status-health/docview/215098383/se-2?ac

countid=28371

wspapers/asthma-athletics-how-your-child-can-cope/docview/312590126/se-2?accountid

=28371