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EDITORIAL Arlene Cairns & Alice Schroeder Published online: 07 Jun 2010.

To cite this article: Arlene Cairns & Alice Schroeder (1990) EDITORIAL, Journal of Community Health Nursing, 7:2, 57-57, DOI: 10.1207/s15327655jchn0702_1 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327655jchn0702_1

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JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSING, 1990, 7(2), 57 Copyright O 19W,Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, I n c

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EDITORIAL Access to quality health care for all is an area of concern to community health nurses (CHNs) today. The lack of adequate health insurance is currently an issue of major importance for 37 million Americans, and each year the number of persons without insurance grows. These people are not only the homeless and their children, but include some elderly and disabled, as well as many working people whose employers cannot or will not provide insurance coverage. As health-care costs and consequently insurance premiums continue to rise, there seems little hope that this group of uninsured persons will receive the best health care that our society has to offer. As CHNs, we are exposed to the consequences that befall persons who neglect their health because of financial constraints. These include pregnant women who cannot afford prenatal care and whose children may be born with health problems requiring great expenditures of money to resolve. This group also includes the growing number of homeless and their children, with all the unique health problems that come from living on the streets or in crowded shelters. CHNs may also be in contact with the "working poor," whose salaries cover their food and shelter expenses, but not costly medical care. There is a need for CHNs to become politically active by supporting the bills that are presently being introduced in Congress designed to address the problem of access to health care. Only by encouraging our members of Congress to vote for these proposals can we begin to impact on this critical situation which affects more and more people each year. Whether the bills presented call for a method to provide health insurance to all members of society, or to decrease the spiraling costs of health care, CHNs should become knowledgable about them. We need to be aware of the access to care issue, because we care for clients from all strata of society, and see daily the disparity between the quality of care received by those with the means to pay for it, and those without. By becoming politically aware and active on this issue we will be able to pursue our goal of enhancing the health not only of individuals, rich or poor, but also of the entire community. If all persons are offered the quality health care that is available today, the community as a whole will benefit from a more healthy population. Only then will CHNs be able to practice primary health care on a broad basis.

Arlene Cairns, RN Alice Schroeder, RN

Access to quality health care.

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