Care for Population Milestone 2

Chamberlain College of Nursing

NR: 443 Community Health Nursing

Professor

May 22, 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                    Introduction/Community

            Community nursing is based on the surrounding population, working with groups, families, and individuals to improve the overall health of the community. Community is variety of people that cannot exist alone. A community is connected through environment in ways such as social, physical or cultural ways. Being a diverse area comes with its benefits but there are always various disparities that are present. With a good assessment of the environment we will be able to understand our communities’ health problems.

            My community area is called Queens County. We have many things that allow us to stand out from any other area. Living in the county of Queens located in New York City we have a diverse community we. Queens might be one of the most diverse areas in the United States. We have Arthur Ashe stadium where the tennis US Open is played every year; and not to far Arthur Ashe is Citi-Field which is the home of the dreadful New York Mets the baseball. Just as well we have one of the most famous airports in the world, John F. Kennedy. But besides all the things that attract tourist to Queens, diversity is what sets up apart from any other place not just the United States but the world.  In New York City, there are five boroughs and Queens is the most diverse area in New York City. Queens is actually one of the most diverse areas in the country; with a highly diverse urban community. Minorities in my community are African American, Hispanics, pacific islanders and Asian are large part Queens’s population. Queens County is area that has one of the higher rates of people affected with HIV/AIDS. The rate increased in the last 30 years. In this paper the various agencies and/or programs will be discussed.

                                    Demographic/Epidemiological Data

            The population of Queens consists of 2,296,175 people. White alone makes up 26.7%, black or African American 20.9%, Asian population make up 25.2%. Hispanic or Latino is 28.0%. Foreign born percentage is 37.5%. There are 841,190 housing units. The homeowners’ rate is 44.2%. The multi-unit structures are 71.6%. The median household income is $57,001. People below poverty level are 15%. The people under five years are 6.2%; People under 18 years are 20.5%, people 65 years and over is 13.4%. Female persons are 51.4%. The population of New York State is 19,651,127, Black/ African American percentage is 17.5%. The white alone percentage is 70.9%. Homeownership rate is 54.2%. Housing units is 8,126,026. Median household income is $58,003 and the persons below poverty level are 15.3%.

            Queens is multicultural area that needs many healthcare workers from all different backgrounds to be to provide care to patients; the amount of people without health insurance is a big issue. The lack of healthcare knowledge and information is present in my area. Resources are not known to the community especially to the part of the population that is foreigners. The huge female population has to address in accordance to STIs, general health issues and preventive measures.

                                                            Windshield survey

            The age range of the people in Queens, rank from the very young to the elderly. There are young mothers, middle age individuals, school age children, elderly and also preschoolers. There is a mixture of housing structures. There are single and two family houses; as well as huge apartment complexes. That also has shopping center intertwined in the infrastructure.  Not just Queens but New York City has the most advanced transportation system in the United States.  The public transportation in Queens tends to go directly to health care facilities. This is not a rural areas. There are hospitals centralized in all the major areas of Queens. There are clinics in the immediate area that service the entire community of Queens. There are rehabilitations centers and nursing homes. The mental health clinic is in the hospitals. The health resources are well utilized. The hospital ER is always filled with people. The clinic wait times are always long due to excessive amount of people. Dentist office has quite a few patients. There are not many health fairs. Typically where you find health information is the hospital or the clinic. All health resources are utilized by those who have knowledge about them and have health insurance.

                                                            Problem

            HIV/AIDS is a key health concern, particularly in reference to the African American community. African Americans have 10x greater chance then Caucasians of being diagnosed with HIV. Hispanics are follow African American as they have greater chances of obtaining the HIV/AIDS virus then Caucasians. A major agency that aides people with HIV/AIDS is Village Care, which is a community based non-profit organization that serves the elderly who live with AIDS and also in need of rehabilitation and medical attention. Their duty is to build a compassionate and encouraging setting for those that are being served including their families and partners. By accepting patients as they are it aides in the development of good mental and physical health. Village Care works with various other organizations that also serve adults whom live with HIV/AIDS. Funding for Village Care is approximately $56,000,000. The annual budget is approximately $180,000,000.  This budget is divided between, providing Home Health aide services, outreach programs and day treatments (villagecare.org.)

            To aid in maintenance and prevention village care work together with an interdisciplinary team that operates under one facility to make it possible to have access to all primary and preventive care services within a wide range of community centered services. Each patient has access to nutritional education, pain assessment and pain management. The agency gives classes on infection prevention including signs and symptoms. Secondary prevention will focus on managing symptoms and preventing the spread of the infections. Tertiary prevention targets any effort made to maintain better treatment results and a longer healthier quality of life for the patients.

                                                            Summary

            Queens County plays an important part in how HIV/ AIDS is managed. Due to the high rate of HIV/AIDS in the Queens County area we have to develop a reduction plan to help with prevention. As nurses we can meet the tasks of our unpredictable heath care system by increasing our concept of care to involve our communities, to alert the government regarding the health concerns that are facing our destitute vulnerable HIV/AIDS population.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                            References

About us. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://villagecare.org/

Hiv/aids. (2014, November 2014). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/living/index.html

Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2011). Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the health of populations (5th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier
Queens County, New York. (2014, December 04). Retrieved from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/36081.html

Stanhope, M. & Lancaster, J. (2010). Foundations of Nursing in the Community. St Louis, Missouri: Mosby