Community Health Essay Sample

Community Health: Helping the Family Residing in Strawberry Mansion, a Section of North Philadelphia

The Assessment (Assignment 1)

Issues of health disparities have often been evident in the healthcare sector and insurance in the communities that consist mostly of the people of colour. As America is approaching the process of implementing Obamacare (Affordable Care Act), the situation of healthcare has not changed particular in communities such as the Spanish speaking immigrants of Strawberry Mansion, a section of North Philadelphia. The reason is that there are health disparities because of the social class of these individual communities; in particular, the family consisting of the man, his wife, and son, where both parents are alcoholics and tobacco smokers, all of them are obese. Due to their weight, the man has kidney disease and high blood pressure while the mother has high blood pressure and diabetes. However, from the 80s, the United States government has strived to improve the health of individuals, and limiting the disparities in health care (Philadelphia Health Management Corporation 2002). The issues of lack of college or university education can be corrected, in addition to other matters relating to the race or economic status of Strawberry Mansion, a section of North Philadelphia.

In Strawberry Mansion, the family needs to understand that there are a number of healthcare providers and programs that can be exploited to more poignantly to help solve the woes of the marginalized communities such as the Spanish speaking immigrant family in this scenario. The following are some of the facilities and institutions that the three people can exhaust as resources that will cater for their health improvements and general welfare (United States Census Bureasu, 2014):

• 2 osteopathic medicine schools, 5 medical institutions

• Optometry, dentistry, and 3 pharmacy related schools

• 5 NCI-elected cancer institutions

• 120 hospitals

• Top US hospital that cater for the health of children

• 414 beds per 10000 people admitted in the hospitals

• 373.7 doctors and physicians for every 100000 people

The family has to understand that Philadelphia is classified as one of the best counties with the highest number of higher education facilities. Therefore, they have to allow the son to benefit from the rich education of the city. For instance, degree-granting colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher learning are over 100. By fall 2010, only 400000 part-time and full time students were enrolled in these institutions (Glenn, nd).

The Schools of Public Health from Drexel University affirms that majority of health related issues such as lack of insurance covers emerge as a result of minority communities and low-income. The poverty level in Philadelphia explains the reason why it is ranked among the unfortunate places of America. The nations records 13% poverty rate while Philadelphia has a staggering 24% (twice that of the whole nation). Likewise, healthy living has been affected in Philadelphia because people lack sufficient access to valuable groceries (Sabharwal, Zhao, McClemens & Kaufman, 2007). Lack of access to quality foods in the poor communities such as Spanish speaking groups is 36% while that of the other group accounts for 21%.

The other social parameters that have significantly contributed to the Asian speaking minorities are the there is a difference in the way people acquire different chronic conditions. That is, low-income group is able to be attacked by serious conditions that will trigger the need for a regular and specialized healthcare than the financially stable lot (Glenn, nd). About 37% of the poor will need these regular treatments while the rich accounts for 25%. In addition, 30% of the women and 24% of the men’s population will acquire the chronic conditions.

All in all, the family can depend on the availability of some of the top institutions in the city for health related cases such as obesity, addiction, alcoholism, among others. Philadelphia boasts of some of the best doctors in the world. Therefore, problems of accessing quality health should not be a problem for the family (Minot, nd).

The Plan (Assignment 2)

Using the data collected in the Assessment phase of this program, we are planning on ensuring that the obesity related issues in the family have been addressed within the first month of the implementation process. We are also going to engage the Strawberry Mansion Community in ensuring that the youth and children are allowed to complete their college and university education by asking for grants from the NGOs and aids from the government (The Pew Charitable Trusts, nd).

In the issue of education, the main agenda is to ensure that the son gets enough money for the schools fees and meals since the family cannot afford a decent meal that will help the boy in being prepared to learn. Obesity is connected to a number of health related issues including lack of concentration in the classroom. Therefore, after the obesity issue has been tackled by health professionals, the identification of organizations and community fundraisers will follow in the next two months. The funds collected will be deposited in the Community Welfare bank account to help in educating other members of the society.

During the process of solving the obesity problems of the parents, rehabilitation programs will be ongoing to help them overcome the addiction to alcohol and smoking (Graziani, Rosenthal & Diamond, 1999). Researchers state that smoking has contributed to the chronic illness such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and asthma. Others have also contacted the chronic health conditions by being exposed to second-hand smoke. Regulations that control tobacco consumption in the workplaces ought to be understood by the community at large because this will help them to cut down the rate at which smoking prevails in the family or community. Children are affected by the smoke from the parents cigarette sticks rolls. The family should be aware of this (Purtle & Yuddel, 2013).

Finally, the issue of insurance should be addressed so that the family can access better and secure health services from different institutions in Philadelphia. There are a number of health insurance companies in the city that can provide better rates for the less privileged members of the society (Community Health Charities, nd). The community can make use of these initiatives to help in solving cases of lack of hospital fees when emergencies arise. Health inequalities that are connected to lack of or under-insurance should no longer be a problem because enough information is available for the community members and leaders to either online or in the medical institutions. The Spanish family will have to be helped in getting an insurance cover by the community contributions because there financial position will not allow them to correct their negligence or lack at this time of planning for change (Yuddel, 2012). Other steps will follow to ensure that the entire community is helped in solving its health insurance problems.