Pregnancy and Health Care Case

At age 29, Lonita and her husband, Tano, immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines. Both have high school degrees. Tano came to the U.S. on a student visa to become college educated. Since moving to the U.S., they officially started the process to become citizens.Tano attended two years of college, but stopped attending when tuition bills became too high. Currently, Tano works two jobs. His fulltime job is a maintenance worker at a chemical plant, and his part-time job is a cashier at McDonalds.Lonita speaks little English, and it has been difficult for her to attain lasting employment. With her love of children, she attempted to become a child care provider and nanny for a few families, but none of the positions were long lasting. The couple is barely covering the bills. Tano’s income places them just above the poverty line.Now at the age of 32, Lonita and Tano recently learned that they are about to have their first child. Both are excited but nervous. They want to start a family and know the importance of health care and prenatal nutrition for their unborn child. However, Tano’s jobs do not provide health insurance and they cannot afford to pay cash for the many doctor’s appointments and medical examinations. It seems as if it will be the start of a stressful nine months.In the second trimester, Lonita is experiencing cold and flu symptoms. Without medical care, she goes to the local pharmacy. She began taking various cold remedies over the counter, such as ibuprofen, cold and flu medications, and various cough suppressants. Her conditions worsened so she started to increase the dosage of the various over-the-counter medications rationalizing that she needs to take “for two.”Answer the following questions in essay form. Your essay should be between 1 – 2 pages.  (Links to an external site.) How might Tano and Lonita’s immigrant status effect their experiences during pregnancy? How might Tano’s exposure to toxins at the chemical plant influence Lonita’s pregnancy or the development of the fetus? What is known about the impact of poverty on prenatal development? What steps might Tano and Lonita take to reduce these negative consequences?