Community Health Assessment for the Hope Family

Community

In defining a community, terms such as hamlet, village, and city are relevant in describing a group of people living in a close association. A community is a group of persons living or residing from a particular locality and in most cases share the same cultural, physical, and environmental heritage (Fielding & Briss, 2006). The community is comprised of these persons who tend to exhibit the same characteristics and have common interests.

Community health studies the improvement of biological communities in terms of health characteristics. In addressing community health concerns, there is a partnership with stakeholders such as the clients, health personnel, and government agencies. This paper carries a community health assessment for the Hope family.

Overall impression of the participating family’s community

The community of the participating family shares the same descent and each has a health concern. The family is relatively poor and cannot afford specialized treatment. Mr. Hope has hypertension, stroke and is struggling to recover at home without physical therapy services. Mrs. Hope has hypotension and mild Alzheimer thus, cannot take of Mr. Hope. Their only daughter is scheduled for Mastectomy thus rendered unfit to offer assistance. The only hope is the alcoholic son who is fighting addiction, which is also a health concern. This community needs physiotherapy, counseling, and social support to cope with health concerns (Fielding & Briss, 2006).

Cultural diversity and vulnerable populations

Mr. Hope and Mrs. Hope belong to the aged generation since both are over seventy years old. Their children are adults who are fighting health problems in the form of cancer and alcoholic addiction. Mr. Hope and Mrs. Hope are the most vulnerable because they have to cope with the challenge of poor community health assistance, despite the gravity of their illnesses. There is no proper home therapy due to a lack of insurance. The daughter is also vulnerable since Mastectomy is a very intense treatment method that requires a lot of emotional support. The son also needs counseling and emotional support to overcome addiction which may worsen, especially with the current stressing responsibility of taking care of two aged patients at home.

Aspects of the community affecting residents’ health

Lack of financial support in the community is seriously affecting the health of Mr. Hope. He does not have insurance and has opted to home recovery without the much-needed physiotherapy after the stroke. The other aspect of the community is a lack of counseling and emotional support to help their son who is addicted to alcohol to recover (Fielding & Briss, 2006). The last aspect is the lack of support from the health care centers around the region. The centers do not have volunteer programs that can offer health care services to the aged who are recovering at home (Novick & Kerkering, 2003).

Healthy People 2020 Leading Health Indicator (LHI)

Access to health care services is one of the main indicators of Healthy People 2020. This indicator shows the standards, reliability, and availability of health services in a community, especially among vulnerable persons. Access to health care service improvement will ensure that Mr. Hope’s family and other families in this category are served with affordable, accessible, and flexible health care. This indicator will address the present concerns and create room for modifications to counter any future dynamics in the health status of the target community (Healthy People 2020, 2013).

References

Fielding, J., & Briss, P. (2006). Promoting evidence-based public health policy: Can we have better evidence and more action? Health Affairs Journal, 25(4), 969 – 978.

Healthy People 2020. (2013). Healthy People 2020 standards. Web.

Novick, F., & Kerkering, K. (2003). Community health assessment: Pitt County, North Carolina. Web.