The Importance of Health Educators As Role Models

Health educators work in a variety of settings, including clinics, doctors' offices and
community centers. They provide a variety of information and services to their clients, helping people make informed decisions about a variety of health-related issues and concerns. Their primary responsibility, though, is helping to educate people about how to make healthy choices and decisions regarding their health.

Significance

• Health education has become increasingly important and popular since the 1970s. Most recently, health educators have grown in numbers to assist many different groups of people. For example, they help young people make informed decisions about such matters as birth control, safe sex and other personal health concerns. They've also become increasingly important to the baby boomer population, answering questions about aging and health, and providing guidance to make important decisions about health in later life. More generally, they help promote healthy behaviors among many groups of people, educate about risky behaviors and help people make informed decisions about their well-being.

Function

• Health educators serve in a variety of settings, from community centers to clinics to hospitals. Regardless of setting, though, their job is to educate people about health, and to make sure people know about healthy behaviors and resources to help correct unhealthy behaviors. They ask and answer questions, hold public and private forums, conduct screenings and provide demonstrations when appropriate. In any setting, they aim to educate about how to live a healthy life, and how to prevent disease. As educators, they answer questions thoroughly and patiently, and tailor answers to an individual's needs.

Misconceptions

• Health educators are not doctors. They cannot diagnose or prescribe medication, and should not be used in the place of doctors and nurses to attend to health problems. That said, health educators are an important part of the medical establishment, helping to guide people towards healthy behaviors and lifestyle choices.

Benefits

• Health educators can help answer questions a doctor may not have time to answer. They can also suggest paths for finding additional information about different diseases, conditions and problems, and are often willing to listen to clients' and patients' health concerns. They truly act as teachers, helping people learn more about how to stay safe and healthy. Many health educators live exemplary, healthy lifestyles, serving as excellent models for living a healthy life.

Importance

• Health educators act as teachers, mentors and role models, helping people learn more about their physical, intellectual, spiritual, social and environmental health. They act to inform and educate in order to allow clients and patients to make informed decisions about their health, and physical and mental well-being. They act as an arm of the medical establishment, disseminating information with the goal of promoting healthy lifestyles in terms of behaviors, habits and healthy thought patterns.