OpenWA Catalog

The goal of this textbook is not to make you an expert. True expertise in any field is a years-long endeavor. Here I will survey some of the basic topics of chemistry. This survey should give you enough knowledge to appreciate the impact of chemistry in everyday life and, if necessary, prepare you for additional instruction in chemistry. Throughout each chapter, I present two features that reinforce the theme of the textbook—that chemistry is all around you. The first is a feature titled, appropriately, “Chemistry Is Everywhere.” Chemistry Is Everywhere” focuses on the personal hygiene products that you may use every morning: toothpaste, soap, and shampoo, among others. These products are chemicals, aren’t they? Ever wonder about the chemical reactions that they undergo to give you clean and healthy teeth or shiny hair? I will explore some of these chemical reactions in future chapters. But this feature makes it clear that chemistry is, indeed, everywhere. The other feature focuses on chemistry that you likely indulge in every day: eating and drinking. In the “Food and Drink App,” I discuss how the chemistry of the chapter applies to things that you eat and drink every day. Carbonated beverages depend on the behavior of gases, foods contain acids and bases, and we actually eat certain rocks. (Can you guess which rocks without looking ahead?) Cooking, eating, drinking, and metabolism—we are involved with all these chemical processes all the time. These two features allow us to see the things we interact with every day in a new light—as chemistry.

This manual will provide straightforward “how to” instruction on how to be an advocate for change in public health policy. By providing actual steps that students can take to make a difference, it will be a beginner’s guide to individual and grassroots activism. Additionally, it will include how to professionally employ modern tools, such as social media platforms, in their advocacy endeavors. ​

This modern approach to activism is crucial: most advocacy manuals focus on traditional forms of outreach, such as in-person lobbying, letter-writing campaigns, public group demonstrations, and phone banking. Thus, most manuals fall short of the tools that literally lie at the new generation’s fingertips: social media. In light of movements such as Black Lives Matter, which took place largely online amidst a pandemic, this manual informs students how to educate themselves and others of a cause as well as take direct action—all from the comfort and safety of home/wherever they charge their phone. By using accessible language for novice public health activists, the manual also intends to break down the barriers of intimidation students may face when they are not yet fully immersed in public health/political jargon. ​
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Other publications/textbooks are costly and/or not available through Amazon and mainstream bookstores and are therefore, inaccessible. Furthermore, these textbooks are dense and lengthy, intimidating students who are just yet beginning their journey in public health activism. While most manuals available currently focus on in-person lobbying scripts and formal letters-to-the-editor, this manual adapts to students’ pandemic lifestyle in an age where Twitter and TikTok are viewed more regularly than a newspaper–all while referencing traditional sources. ​

While the manual intends to reach a broad audience of diverse backgrounds, it will still draw from formidable sources and leaders in the field of advocacy work and public health, such as Martin Luther King Jr. , Paulo Freire, and Eugene Bardarch. Incorporating their pedagogies in simple digestible form will hopefully encourage students to further explore the larger works available from this historical groundbreaking leaders and minds. ​

Finally, while this manual is aimed towards students in the field of public health, it is relevant to a broad and diverse audience. The logic and tactics presented in this manual are applicable to a wide range of fields and purposes.

Introduction to Healthcare Professions aims to act as a guide to community technical college students navigating the healthcare world for the first time. Our approach is meant to provide context to a diverse and dynamic field. We hope that learners will feel empowered to make the leap into a specific path or specialty based on the careers we have outlined.