Neighborhood News Articles The terms public health and community health have been interchanged when referring to community based or community oriented nursing Public health can be defined as measures taken by a society to ensure healthy conditions of the people Lancaster Stanhope 2008 Public health focuses on the community or population as a whole and includes people who are free living and institutionalized Public health also works closely with the government which creates scientific based regulations and policies gather information or data and generate reports of the public and provide such reports to the public for review Community health focuses on individuals or families within a community both free living and in institutions without government involvement The article Officials confirm population worries is about a community health issue The community has been criticized by environmental activists about the cleanliness of the Neighborhood s Lake As a result of the high pollutants in the lake the community is concerned about their healthy water supply diminishing Apollo Group Inc 2010 This is a community health issue because it is focused on the health of the community that surrounds the Neighborhood s Lake The article did not conclude that other areas farther away from the Neighborhood Lake were being affected by the pollutants found in the lake The article Smoking breaks a thing of the past is about a public health issue The article addresses the new policies companies are enforcing regarding smoking Companies have threatened to fire employees who refuse to quit smoking Apollo Group Inc 2010 Those who support the new policies view the act of smoking as polluting the air quality of those individuals in their environment as well as increasing medical insurance costs Those opposed to the new policies indicated the policies go against individual rights as companies do not have control of what their employees do outside of work The article is a public health issue because it addresses companies throughout the United States State and federal governments regulate health insurances so the government would be involved in some way if insurance costs were increased if the individual s are known smokers The articles both discuss environmental pollutants that can cause harm to the public or community One article focuses on the local community surrounding the Neighborhood s Lake and the other focuses on the population as a whole in respect to air quality and unnecessary exposure to cigarette smoking Public health will collaborate with the government to improve or create regulations that pertain to smoking and the exposure of cigarettes to the public In the past government has collected data and information that has shown exposure to cigarette smoking can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and lung cancer Burnett Cohen Gapstur Jerrett Krewski Pope Thun Turner 2011 Community health is focused on the elevated pollutants discovered in the Neighborhood s Lake and monitor the effects those pollutants have on the water supply to that community and the community s health References Apollo Group Inc 2010 The Neighborhood Neighborhood news episode 3 Retrieved from NUR 440 Health Assessment and Promotion for Vulnerable Populations course website Apollo Group Inc 2010 The Neighborhood Neighborhood news episode 9 Retrieved from NUR 440 Health Assessment and Promotion for Vulnerable Populations course website Burnett R Cohen A Gapstur S Jerrett M Krewski D Pope III A Thun M Turner M 2011 Lung cancer and cardiovascular disease mortality associated with ambient air pollution and cigarette smoke Shape of the exposure response relationships Environmental Health Perspectives 119 11 1616 1621 Lancaster J Stanhope M 2008 Public health nursing Population centered health care in the community 7th ed St Louis MI Mosby Elsevier