The Social Impact of Public Health Educators

While many take for granted the fact that the public is made aware of many different health and wellness ideas, they are often unaware that the work of public health educators is often responsible for the dissemination of this information.

These professionals have a significant impact on society, especially in the area of making social impact. Understanding the social impact of public health educators can help put into perspective the importance of the work that these professionals do and the ways they benefit society.

What Is a Public Health Educator?

Public health educators are professionals who are tasked with the responsibility of helping people make good choices concerning health. Their efforts are typically geared towards those who are in the greatest need of health-related guidance, such as those in underserved communities.

They typically do this by promoting ideas such as it being important to routinely get check-ups with one’s doctor and making it known how people can effectively prevent certain diseases and ailments.

Educating the Public

One of the main ways public health educators benefit society is by educating the public in various ways about health. Oftentimes, a regular message that public health educators will try to stress to people is the importance of maintaining a healthy diet while also engaging in a consistent practice of exercising and being active.

These professionals will sometimes hold speaking engagements in which they speak to groups of people. At other times they meet with people individually to help guide them through healthy habits that can positively impact their life.

Fostering Community Engagement in Healthcare

Some healthcare organizations implement community engagement strategies to help get people in the community involved. When this happens, public health educators can play a huge role in ensuring that the public is learning about how to engage in activities that will result in positive health outcomes. This is because community engagement strategies implemented by healthcare organizations are often meant to help positively influence social determinants of health.

Social determinants of health include things such as someone’s income, level of education, and area of residence. These determinants can have a profound impact on someone’s health, with those with lower incomes and lower levels of education statistically experiencing worse health outcomes than their wealthier and more educated counterparts. As one can see, it is unfair that things such as income level and education have such a significant impact on health.

Both public health educators and community engagement strategies aim to break down these social determinants of health and provide those statistically shown to have worse health outcomes break away from these molds.

Oftentimes, a lack of education can cause individuals to engage in unhealthy behaviors such as smoking cigarettes and regularly eating unhealthy food such as fast food. When people are unaware of the devastating impact that these habits can have on their health and life expectancy, they typically don’t feel any motivation to stop engaging in these habits.

Public health educators and community engagement efforts help people learn about health in ways that can help them change their habits and instead start engaging in behaviors that will keep them healthy. In this way, these health professionals can help those in lower socio-economic groups enjoy the same health outcomes as their more fortunate counterparts.

Overcoming Inequities in Healthcare Services

While education can benefit underserved communities significantly when it comes to health, it’s not the only problem that these communities are facing. Many communities experience a lack of access to the proper healthcare services they need. This lack of access disproportionately affects people who live in underserved communities.

Luckily, public health educators make it their business to fight on behalf of these underserved individuals to help spread access to healthcare to them. They do this in several ways. One way these professionals help spread access to healthcare to underserved communities is by advocating for more funding for programs that benefit underserved communities. In this way, these professionals can provide more people with access to good healthcare services.

Another way that public health educators do this is by helping to diversify positions of power in various healthcare organizations. This means that certain groups are better represented as a result of these professionals advocating for the diversification of the healthcare space.

Exploring a Career as a Public Health Educator

For those passionate about helping underserved communities and making a positive impact on people’s lives, a career as a public health educator could be perfect. This career can be both fulfilling and exciting, as these professionals can explore different areas of the public health sector and make measurable differences in the health outcomes of many people.

To become qualified to work as a public health educator, one will first need to obtain a degree in health education or a closely related field. After this, one will need to gain work experience in the field of healthcare. This is because some of the licenses and certifications required to step into certain public health education roles require that one has a certain amount of work experience. As such, it’s important to remember that becoming a public health educator can take several years.

Though it can take some time and effort to become a public health educator, some reports have shown that the average salary of these professionals is over $100,000 a year. This being the case, this is a career that can be both fulfilling and lucrative simultaneously.

Making Positive Change Happen

Public health educators are responsible for positively impacting the lives of scores of people. Through their work, they’re able to help underserved communities and individuals receive the medical education and services they need to be healthy and thrive.

While many are unaware of the role that public health educators play in keeping the public healthy, their contributions to society benefit the lives of many people each and every day.