1. When asked how Vonnie views health, her response was “It is very important but not the point where you obsess over it.”  Vonnie said, “For instance if there is food I want to eat, I will just eat it.”  Vonnie states that she hopes for the future of her health is to be off all of her medications, especially her “sugar” medications.  She states that she wants her blood glucose to be at levels that do not require her to take any medications for diabetes.
  1. Cultural implications for health care
  1. Vonnie practices the Catholic religion.  She was raised by her mother in the Catholic Church.  She attended Catholic grade school and high school.  Vonnie went to mass every Sunday when she was a child, however she only goes on special occasions and holidays now.  She loves to support the local fish fries during lent as her mother was very active in the church and insisted that Vonnie go to fish fries with her every Friday during lent.  Mary thinks that her mother’s involvement in fish fries when she was younger could have contributed to her obesity.
  2. Vonnie does not have any genetic disorders in her family that she is aware of.  Vonnie does know that diabetes and heart disease are prevalent in her family history.  Vonnie says she thinks that hypertension if probably in her genes and has been passed to her from previous generations.
c. Developmental level of the client 1) Vonnie is in the seventh stage of Erickson’s Developmental stages, generativity versus stagnation.  Vonnie has been married for 22 years to her husband Kenrick.  They have three children together, two girls and one boy.  They have Three grandchildren, one of whom Vonnie helps take care of when her daughter is at work.  Vonnie’s daughter is a single mother, so Vonnie helps her take care of the young boy who is six years old.  She has been helping to take care of him ever since he was born.  Vonnie’s adult daughter lived with Mary and her husband when he was born so that they could help take care of the newborn.  Vonnie works full-time (she was working four 10-hour long shifts per week but is now working three 12 hour shifts).  Vonnie is in the generativity versus stagnation stage as she is “making her mark” on the world through helping to raise a child in this current day and age and also creating and accomplishing things that make the world a better place for her grandchild.  According to Pratt (2013), research of generativity versus stagnation usually involves young to middle adult participants however it may be beneficial to involve older adults as the enjoyment of being a grandparent and its role pertaining to generativity may show reports of enjoyment among older adult participants. 2)  Vonnie was raised by her mother in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  She lived in a part of the city called Crafton.  She is an only child; her mother was a secretary and worked full-time.  Her father died when she was very young.  She vaguely remembers her father, her memories of him were not good memories.  Her father died of a heart attack.  Vonnie has very fond memories of her mother, they had a very close relationship.  Vonnie misses her mother a lot.  She says that her mother taught her how to be a good person, how to love, and how to be a good mother.  Vonnie’s mother died shortly after Vonnie had her first child, in her late twenties.  She married in her late thirties and is still with her husband, they have three children together, two sons (38 years old and 34 years old) and a daughter (32 years old).  They have three grandchildren together and is helping to raise and take care of one grandchild.  Their grandchild has recently moved out of their house and into an apartment with his mother (their daughter) and their daughter’s new boyfriend.  Vonnie states that she misses her grandchild but is happy to have the house back to herself and her husband.  Vonnie is very proud of her daughter who raised a child on her own as a single mother.  She is happy that her daughter has found a boyfriend that makes her happy and is very good with her grandchild.  Per Vonnie, he is a police officer and a really nice man.  She hopes that her daughter will marry him. Vonnie enjoys bowling in a league and relaxing at home on her days off.  She used to watch her grandchild on her days off but now that he is in daycare she gets to enjoy her time alone.  She hopes to retire one day and just relax.
  1. Sociological Data

    1. Client’s relationships with significant others

  1. Vonnie lives in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, PA with her husband Leonard, her 38-year-old son Lennie, and her dog Molly.  She hopes that her son will move out soon.  She states that she loves him very much but he needs to get his own place.  He cannot seem to keep a job.  Her husband works as a truck driver at night and her dog keeps her company while her husband is away.  Her other two children live close by.  Her other son is newly married and is trying to start a family with his new wife.  Vonnie says that she is excited for them and cannot wait to have more grandchildren.  Her daughter lives close and they see each other almost every other day.  Vonnie helps pick her grandson up from the nus stop.  She and her daughter enjoy shopping and running errands together.  Vonnie enjoys going out with her friends from church and states that she has a lot of really good friends at work.  She says that the most special people in her life are her daughter and her grandchildren.

  1. Occupational history

  1. Vonnie works at a hospital as the Health Unit Coordinator.  She describes her job as being a secretary.  She does not report any exposure to toxic chemicals.  She does report that she is exposed to a lot of beeps and ringing noises when the monitors go off.  She works in the recovery room where there are quite a few portable x-rays taken post-op so she does have some exposure to radiation.  She tries to move away from the machine when they take the x-rays but sometimes she does not get out of the way in time.  She works on the computer all day and does not get much exercise at work.  She thinks this does contribute to her obesity.

  2. She does not operate any heavy machinery.  Sometimes when the nursing assistant is late or not there she helps gather patient belongings and distribute them around the unit which can become strenuous especially during winter months when patients bring a lot of extra stuff with them to the hospital and things get heavy.

  3. Vonnie describes her job as stressful at times but she thoroughly enjoys the people she works with (most of them she says).  She says that she coordinates tasks with surgeons and nurses, checks orders, coordinates bed assignments with the bed flow nurse, and helps the charge nurse with post-op bay assignments.  She describes her job as very stressful.  She states that she sometimes gets very frustrated and wishes things would run smoother.  She says that there have been a lot of changes in the department lately and she wishes that the people in charge would get things together.  She also wishes to be paid more for her time and effort.