n your textbook about the following assessments - problem-oriented, community subsystem, and community assets. Write a 3-4 page paper that identifies the strengths and weaknesses of each of these. Als

Unit 7 Assignment: Community Health Needs Assessment

In this paper I will be covering my Community Health Needs Assessment and Healthcare Advocacy Plan for the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) which is located on the border of Georgia and South Carolina. I will lay out major issues facing my community’s health care and possible ways to alleviate the problems. The major issues I found to be affecting healthcare in my community are poverty, access to care and obesity. All of which tend to be inter twined and play a big role in people’s health.

First let’s look at poverty in my community. According to Augusta University’s community health needs assessment which was conducted in June of 2016 approximately 27.1% of the CSRA population is living in poverty. The state of Georgia is at 33% and South Carolina is at 16.7%. The population living in poverty has an average median income of only $36,111. This is an issue because people living in poverty tend to have more health issues. This stems from overcrowded living conditions, a lack of food, clean water and sanitation. In conditions like these you see an up rise in health issues. There is also the problem that the person might not be able to cover the cost of health care so they will avoid going to the doctor.

Now let’s look at access to health care. Again poverty stricken people tend to avoid going to the doctor as they can’t afford the bills. The other big issue here is that 15.4% of people living in the CSRA don’t have any health insurance coverage. In a study done by The Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia Georgia was ranked last out of all states for access to health care. According to the Atlanta Journal Georgia has some of the worst access to health care in the nations. Out of 159 counties more than 6 lack pediatricians and almost half lack obstetrician/gynecologist. This is a huge issue because people without health care don’t get regular checkups and tend to wait tell illness is much worse than people with coverage.

Lastly we will look at obesity which is very closely tied to the first to issues. It may seem like an odd thing to say that poor people have a lack of food yet have more obesity. The reason for this is the cheaper foods tend to be high in calories and high in fat. Georgia as a hole is currently at 31.4 percent for adult obesity which is the 20th highest in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) People that are obese are at an increased risk for many diseases and health conditions. These conditions include but are not limited to high blood pressure, High LDL cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol, or high levels of triglycerides, Type 2 diabetes, Coronary heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disorders, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, breathing problems, some cancers (endometrial, breast, colon, kidney, gallbladder, and liver), depression, anxiety, other mental disorders, body pain and difficulty with physical functioning.

With all of these factors combined it’s not hard to see why the CSRA has an issue with heath care. But now that we know what the issues are, what can we do to fix them? Well again although a three of these issues are closely related we will find solutions for one at a time in hopes that they will work together and reduce some of these issues. It is unrealistic to think we can fix everything all at once but any progress forward is a good start.

First how do we fix the issue of so many people living in poverty? The first thing we need to look at to help reduce poverty is education we should look at implementing free GED programs and add to the existing post-secondary education career pathways initiative which provides education, training and support to help people secure jobs within a specific industry that pays wages that are higher and gives opportunity for advancement. This could be done with founds from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). We can also look at providing supplements and employment services to low income working families. Programs like assistance with child care that will allow the parent to remain working. Or we could look at programs for people without reliable transportation. Like in New York where they used TANF founds to fund a statewide car ownership program. Georgia had a program from 1992 to 2001 that assisted in the purchase of low-cost vehicles with no money down and 0% interest. Bringing programs like this one back could really help with the poverty in Georgia.

Next how do we improve accesses to health care? Again I think the first thing to do is look at education, the big problem here is the number of people becoming doctors has not been able to keep up with the growing population and is only getting worse. We need programs that will help encourage more people to become doctors or maybe programs to help with the massive collage debt one would have to take on to become a doctor. We also need to be more competitive with other states for doctors. According to USA Today Georgia is in the bottom 10 for sates with the fewest doctors with only 178.8 doctors per 100,000 people or one for every 559 people. Other good ways to help with access are by use of mobile clinics or co-host pop up clinics this is a good way to get the doctor to the people that might not be able to travel far.

Last but not least how to fix the growing epidemic of obesity not only in my community but also throughout the nation. Let’s start with early education; we need to better educate people on the effects of being overweight and how to maintain a healthy weight. We also need programs again this could be founded by TANF to get healthier foods to people without access or the finical means. We should also do a better job of promoting fitness by adding workout equipment to parks and walking paths. Revamp the physical fitness programs in schools and ad physical fitness programs to jobs.

Ethically I feel we in the medical field have a responsibility to take care of not only our community’s but also the nation. We joined the healthcare field to help the sick and injured. This means we need to fix the underlined issues and not just treat the symptoms.

Reference:

Aaron Gould Sheinin December 21, 2016 Georgia Legislature. (n.d.). Study of health care options finds Georgia dead last. Retrieved from http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/12/21/georgia-ranks-last-in-study-of-health-care-transparency/

Augusta, Georgia (GA) Poverty Rate DataInformation about poor and low income residents. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.city-data.com/poverty/poverty-Augusta-Georgia.html

Augusta University Community Health Needs Assessment. (2016, June). Retrieved from https://www.augustahealth.org/media/file/Community%20Health%20Needs%20Assessment/community-health-needs-assessment-6-2016.pdf

Esposito, L. (2016, April 20). The Countless Ways Poverty Affects People's Health. Retrieved from https://health.usnews.com/health-news/patient-advice/articles/2016-04-20/the-countless-ways-poverty-affects-peoples-health

Georgia begins work on its poor rankings in access to health care. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.myajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/georgia-begins-work-its-poor-rankings-access-health-care/GnGDf9MHZG6hvKcG3i35gK/

Healthy Weight. (2015, June 05). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/effects/index.html

Key Facts Poverty and Poor Health. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.healthpovertyaction.org/info-and-resources/the-cycle-of-poverty-and-poor-health/key-facts/

South Carolina Report - 2016. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://talkpoverty.org/state-year-report/south-carolina-2016-report/

The State of Obesity in Georgia. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://stateofobesity.org/states/ga

Weigley, S., Hess, A. E., & Sauter, M. B. (2012, October 20). Doctor shortage could take turn for the worse. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2012/10/20/doctors-shortage-least-most/1644837/