There’s no need for any experts when It comes to the question of where it all begins in my opinion. This picture shows how the municipal preposition for different activities at primary school. The school also have a large football field, a forest with different activities, a gym and a multi-sport outdoor field with the possibility to play basketball, handball, football and more. You might also have noticed two grown-up people at the playing ground. I think this symbolizes solidarity. When a life-threatening accident occurs, you could end up being back to where it all began. This is one arena where our health care system and welfare model plays a major role in afflicted people’s lives. My thought in this picture from a patient point of view is that many diseases could be prevented with a healthy behavior established from childhood and when life-threatening accidents occur, you are in good hands no matter your financial position. Good health and life quality are important and I think that establishment begins at childhood with learning healthy habits and self-management. The public health report emphasizes the meaning of physical activity for health and well-being. It might be easy to think that Norwegians don’t suffer from inactivity. Well, we do! We have an action plan for physical activity which promotes physical activity and reduces inactivity. One of those arenas is primary school, as shown in the picture.
The government prioritizes early contributions to children and young people, but the public health work must be applicable to both adults and the elderly as well. As physiotherapists in Norway, we play a major role in promoting physical activity not only for patients. The welfare model is challenged by an increased elderly population. Data from our population studies called “Kan1” and “Kan2” shows that the elderly (65+ years) have a decrease in their activity level and continue to decrease with age. One solution in effort to solve this problem would be to promote physical activity with the main goal to increase functioning in daily life. This promotion should start at childhood. This could encourage the elderly to not retire at our retirement age at 67 years old.
Why is the welfare model challenged? You might or might not have heard about the Scandinavian welfare model. It is financed by the citizens in forms of taxes. In Norway, you have the same access to social welfare no matter your financial status. The income inequality is low in Norway. If you make a lot of money, you also pay a lot in taxes. Because of this, it is important that the services in the welfare model have high quality. One of the many benefits with the model is the retirement pension. An increase in the elderly means less labor, more retirement pension and fewer people paying taxes.
References:
Store norske leksikon. (2018, 2. november). Velferdsstat. Hentet fra:
https://snl.no/velferdsstat
Regjeringen. (2018). Folkehelsemeldinga – gode liv i eit trygt samfunn. Hentet fra: https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/meld.-st.-19-20182019/id2639770/sec1
Regjeringen. (2005. Handlingsplan for fysisk aktivitet. Hentet fra: https://www.regjeringen.no/globalassets/upload/hod/vedlegg/planer/hod_kortversjonfysisk.pdf
Hansen, B.H. (2013). Physical activity in adults and older people: Levels of objectively measured physical activity in a population-based sample of Norwegian adults and older people (20-85 years). Norges idrettshøgskole.
https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/handle/11250/171351
https://international.commonwealthfund.org/countries/norway/
https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/handle/11250/171351
One thought on “Nordøy, Joakim. “Where does it all begins?””
Hi, Joakim Nordøy.
I liked how you linked the picture you chose to your Healthcare system, I however don’t think that it is related to the patient’s perspective of it. It was really clever of you to link the two grown ups in the picture to solidarity and I agree with you when it comes to the fact that the establishment of good health begins in childhood. In your assignment i thought that you could maybe define the meaning of physical activity and maybe explain the welfare model a bit as we South Africans don’t necessarily know what it is.
In South Africa, most people use the public healthcare system and they mostly don’t pay for anything. People who make use of the private sector have medical aid and medical aid is basically a form of insurance where you pay a monthly amount in return for financial cover for medical treatment and any other related medical expenses.
Your claims in the assignment present in a logical structure. I like that you guys have an action plan for physical activity, we also have something similar here in South Africa it’s just not as strictly implemented in all schools as it should be.
I’m not sure if you make use of in-text referencing but maybe you could do that so that the reader knows where you got the information from whilst reading your assignment. Your assignment is also grammatically correct and easy to read.
Overall it’s a good assignment, well done.