In Sickness and in Wealth

As a registered nurse I see the effects of how wealth effects health.  In the film In Sickness and in Wealth, Larry Alderman Didn't show us how to cure illness but instead opened our eyes to how income, race, and social status impacts our quality of health as seen in Louisville Kentucky.  This is a problem every and not just in Kentucky.  So the question is does inequity make us sick? I agree that it does.  It is like nurture vs. nature, or genes vs. social involvement.  Each has a different outcome depending on the variables.  For Example two identical twins can live together in the same environment from childhood to young adult and have the same good health.  When they start to live different lifestyles the one educated with a higher income with no worries and the other with a lower income and many worries who share the same genes now start to have different health changes. One being in good health, the other in poor health.  What is actually being seen here is that higher incomes structures and resources have the best health.  According to the film the United States has the greatest income inequity. So who does this affect?  This affects the poorest sections as well as the middle class.  The reasoning to this is because the poor and the middle class have more stressors like the lower paying jobs and not being able to pay the bills.  

With increased stress comes underlying conditions which can lead to bad health. 

 So why does this happen?  When your stress increases your cortisol levels increase which over a long period of time can have negative effects on your health.  Elevated cortisol can impair your immune system.  This can lead to issues with your memory and brain functions.  It can also cause wear and tear on your body as well as damage you systems which can lead to heart disease and diabetes.  With this higher rate of disease your body will have and accelerated rate in aging which leads to early mortality.

 Big stressors presently, is the COVID-19 pandemic and  the fear of catching the virus.  Many people are not able to work because they are being forced to stay home and unemployment is up throughout the country.  This is tough because many people who were laid off do not have a back up plan because they didn't have a savings account and previously lived check to check.  Another fear is that  now that some the middle class and poor now have to remain in their jobs, the "front liners" and don't have the option to work from home.  In their minds this increases the risk of catching the virus.  This increase in worry and stress can cause long term issues in their health.  In RI alone unemployment is over 16%.  The longer this continues the increase in stress in the population and possible long term PTSD effects from this are irreversible.  Though some people may not show signs of bad health now in the future their my be repercussions from this. 

Adelman, L. (Director). (2008). In Sickness and in Wealth [Video file]. California Newsreel. Retrieved May 25, 2020, from Kanopy.