Using Anne Fadiman’s book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down I have created a cultural assessment of the Hmong people and their experiences with the American healthcare system. This small Southeast Asian minority known as the Hmong began moving to the United States towards the end of the Vietnam War. This brought a whole new set of challenges for the healthcare providers of the United States due to their cultural beliefs and native practices which made it difficult to perform certain forms of medicine. Doctors and nurses had to find different ways to treat these patients without violating their cultural beliefs or upsetting them.
The medical field in relation to varied cultural beliefs and traditions is something that is important to many, yet rarely talked about by almost all individuals. In other words, the cultural clashes created in medicalization is under looked by a multitude individuals. This is because many do not experience the hardships first hand. For that reason, the thought of difficulties within treatments of health issues or illnesses does not cross some individual’s minds. Nonetheless, each group of people is unique, in addition to, how they perceive the medical world.
In Judith Ortiz Cofer’s poem, “On the Island I Have Seen” she provides a glimpse of what life in Puerto Rico is like from a unique perspective. She was born in Puerto Rico, but growing up she moved back and forth between Puerto Rico and America. In an interview she shared: “But I think culture is very complex. You could say that I’m Puerto Rican by birth. I certainly enjoy and appreciate my heritage, and have used a lot of my culture for my art and incorporated it into my life” (Kevane and Herdia, 753).
Whatever is mutually agreed upon by the family members usually stands as the final decision. Also in Hispanic culture, Home remedies and herbal knowledge are usually passed on from mother to daughter. Hence, nurses should consider including family members in the decision making process of a Hispanic patient if need be. Another folk healing belief that is used in this case is the use of herbs, ointments, concoctions for healing.
In 1917, the U.S. Congress passed the Jones-Shafroth Act, which grants the U.S. living in a country you were born in, or having the same rights in a country as someone who was born there to anyone born on the island. (Being a citizen of the United State and lawfully being apart of the state, Puerto Ricans have the ability to freely travel, they also have the ability to move to the mainlands without a visa nor a pas`sport. Puerto Ricans traveling to the US are similar to New Yorkers crossing into New Jersey or flying to Hawaii). As U.S. people who lawfully live in a country, state, etc., Puerto Ricans receive many of the same money-based benefits, and things you owe/things you're responsible for/disadvantages, of their mainland partners. They
These words by poets Aurora and Rosario Morales, Puerto Rican Americans, reveal the struggle of the average Puerto Rican. For example, most islanders do not fully understand who they are or how to present themselves when someone asks, “What is your family’s ancestry like?” or, “Where does Puerto Rico get its unique culture?” These questions spark the idea of a questioning identity. This is because the island of Puerto Rico was formed with the help of many different cultures. Are the people of this island African?
However, curanderismo allows other cultures to accept Chicanos due to stressing the importance of intercultural communication skills in society. For instance, even though some Chicanos have insurance, they tend to follow these holistic practices and are afraid to mention it to their primary physicians because they fear being rejected from society. According to Maritza Montiel, “A recent study concluded that 69% of Mexican Americans do not report the use of herbal remedies to their physicians” (Montiel 83). Becoming aware of the cultural differences, encourages cross cultural sensitivity by reducing the tensions between other cultures and practices. In addition, professionals can understand their patients’ needs by understanding the social framework of the biological illness.
In this point Family respect is of essential significance to Puerto Ricans families , and they esteem a more distant family, or changed more distant family, which is the fundamental emotionally supportive network for first-and second-era families in the U.S. such as cousins, aunties, uncles, grandparents, godparents (padrino/madrina), and close companions. Singular accomplishment is not considered as profitable as family devotion. It is truly normal to discover three eras living under the same rooftop. Hitched couples have a tendency to live in a house or loft close to their guardians. What traditional foods are prepared?
Informative Speech Outline By: Katherine M Perez-Arroyo 1. Speech Topic: The History of Puerto Rico and its ties to the United States 2. Attention-Getter: Hi, my name is Kat and I was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico and I would like to ask you a question I was asked a few years ago when I was living in Topeka, Kansas “What kind of documentation do I need to travel to and from Puerto Rico?
These things she would have prevented to do in her homeland (2003: 241). The lack of community did affect Primo’s mother despite her success as she still desired the sense of community that she would have had if she were in Puerto
.Despite these limitations the Puerto Rican Americans have asserted themselves in their communities and actually exert political power when organized properly. In New York the population holds a swing vote status among voters on issues in the state. Puerto Rican Americans have a heavily rooted influence from the catholic religion and have added a Caribbean flair to the ceremonies such as baptism or weddings. The Spanish culture in America has its advantages and disadvantages.
Puerto Rico becoming a state would attract several positive outcomes for Puerto Ricans’ lifestyle and future. Puerto Rico is a territory and commonwealth of the United States, making them American citizens. Although, Puerto Ricans fear that becoming a state would mean they would have to lose their culture and become the poorest state as well. Puerto Rico’s corrupt government and debt crisis have caused the island’s citizens to have a negative outlook on their future and move away to the States in hope for a better lifestyle. Due to Puerto Rico being a territory of the United States, their corrupt government and debt may affect the U.S. as well.
social status as well. The relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States is not what the U.S. represents. The country was founded on the principle embedded in our Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The situation with Puerto Rico has been a disgrace to the United States social platform because for Puerto Rico to meet its economic and social challenges and to achieve its full potential, this debate over statehood must be settled. The current relationship undermines the United States’ moral standing in the world (114th Congress, 2015).
Word of advice, never in your life mess up a Latinos race. For the Hispanic culture it's a huge offense, almost a crime when you call someone the wrong race. When most people glance at me, there first guess of my ethnicity is Mexican and there not wrong, but I'm also Puerto Rican. I have what is called the best of both worlds. By far the greatest combination of all time in my opinion.
