ESSAY: Community Strategic Plan: Part A, Community Assessment

For this assignment, identify an area of focus in community health within your own community.

Using Gordon’s Functional Health Patterns framework (p. 130 in your e-text), assess the health risks in your community.

In your community assessment paper, include the following:
Identify resources in your community that would enable you to complete a community assessment and submit a summary of your findings (1–2 paragraphs).
Refer to Table 8-3: Examples of Community Strengths and Concerns, and assess the strengths and concerns of your community (2–3 paragraphs).
Identify potential barriers to implementing community health plans in your community and brainstorm ways of addressing these barriers (2–3 paragraphs).
Your paper should be 2–3 pages in length, not including the cover and reference pages. Use APA throughout.

You must include 2–3 sources that are APA cited and referenced in your paper. (Sources may include community resources such as flyers, brochures, interviews, news stories, and local research data from credible sources.)

** High desert is my community ,San Bernardino County is the largest county in the contiguous United States with a population of two million living in diverse geographic and civic environments. The health problems facing this region make it imperative that we give priority to the health needs of our residents.
Many modern health problems including obesity, heart disease and stroke, cancer, asthma, stress, and traffic-related injuries are impacted by how and where we build our communities. It is for this reason that the planning and health disciplines must work together for healthier future outcomes. We also have a lot of homeless populations.San Bernardino County’s homeless population jumped 23 percent from last year, according to a report released Tuesday.
Data from the Point-in-Time count showed that approximately 700 volunteers counted 2,607 individuals living on the streets, in shelters or in transitional housing in 2019.
The annual survey, conducted on January 24, is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The tally helps establish demographic data and determines federal funding for the County’s homeless programs.(
https://www.vvdailypress.com/news/20190424/homeless-population-up-in-sb-county)**

ANSWER

Community Strategic Plan: Part A, Community Assessment

A community health assessment helps to identify the critical health issues and needs a state, tribe, territory, or community may have, through the use of a comprehensive and systematic collection and analysis of data (Bender, 2017). The data can be collected by making records of the patient’s health history as well as conducting a head-to-toe examination. The assessment is carried out by nurses through initial home visits and acute care settings once the patient is admitted. Some of the issues addressed in a health assessment include risks, personal behaviors, health goals and priorities, overall health, and life-changing events.

Resources

In order to carry out a successful health assessment in San Bernardino, a number of resources are needed. The first being individual volunteers and nurses, who will assist in counting the people and recording the relevant health data from the members in the community. Secondly, computer devices and systems to analyze and store the data recorded are also necessary (Pennel, Burdine, Prochaska & McLeroy, 2017). Thirdly, there needs to be an advertisement for the assessment in the community, hence allowing more people to be involved and take part in the process. Lastly, stakeholders need to be included in the process, ensuring that the health providers and facilities have the money and people they need to provide an adequate assessment.

After carrying out the health assessment of the High Desert community in San Bernardino County, several health problems were identified. The most common modern diseases affecting the people in the town include asthma, stress, obesity, heart disease, and road-related issue. The assessment also identified that 2,607 people are living in shelters and on the streets. Therefore, making them even more prone to wide-spread diseases caused by dirt and germs while still having to deal with common conditions as well.

Community Strengths and Concerns

The High Desert community comes with several strengths and concerns. The community strengths act as a resource by which the people can achieve their healthcare objectives and effectively. The first strength in this community is the excellent communication between the people and their leadership (Herbert-Beirne, Felner, Castaneda & Cohen, 2017). Effective communication allows the local government to coordinate with health providers and facilities, enhancing the level of care provided to the people. Secondly, the community has a high level of neighborliness, which causes the people to actively take part in programs that would ensure their community enhances and develops, especially in healthcare (Bender, 2017). Lastly, the individuals in the community are keen on helping each other, as seen by their resolution to volunteer for the health assessment program. It is hence reiterating the value of community and family to all involved.

The community is also dealing with a few concerns. The first being the lack of influential leaders, which is made evident by the presence of so many homeless people living in shelters and transitional housing. Secondly, due to the number of people living on the streets, it is a clear indication that some people have opted to neglect their duties (Pennel et al., 2017). Thirdly, the community also requires more health education to tackle the common diseases affecting them. Most of the illnesses and injuries can be avoided…

Barriers to Implementing Community Health Plans in High Desert Community There are several potential barriers to implementing community health plans in the High Desert community. The first barrier is the lack of resources to employ more health personnel and run health education programs in the community…