Bronx Community Assessment

Bronx Community Assessment

Introduction

A community is a group of socially interlinked people that share common perspectives and interests. The community, as a group of people, may or may not be geographically linked. Community members are characterized by common features such as age, culture, language, location, and religion (Blank, Weiss, Walker, 2019). However, most communities are never homogenous due to language differences. A healthy community is made up of leaders who provide leadership in the process of public needs and resource assessment. A healthy community supports public health, social infrastructure, and policies. The community has features such as a safe and clean environment, ecosystem stability, supportive and robust community, high rates of public participation, and reasonable access to public resources (Sykes, 2012). The primary objective of a healthy community is to follow the process of nursing and community diagnosis through community assessment.

Community Assessment

Community assessment refers to the situation where community members are made to understand their concerns, health, and healthcare system necessities through identification, data collection, analysis, and information dissemination on their needs, strengths, resources, and assets (Krumwiede, Van Gelderen & Krumwiede, 2014). The process of community assessment involves setting and finding priorities according to the needs and decision making on the improvement of the community based on available resources. The assessment objectives and goals aim to guide the entire assessment process. Dissemination of information on community assessment is essential in educating the members of the community on the assessment findings and health issues that affect them (Blank, Weiss, Walker, 2019). Importantly, the assessment educates the public on their health concerns, which is essential for action planning and also develops an enthusiasm for advocacy and actions.

Community Health Assessment

This paper focuses on the Bronx community, which comprises mainly of relaxed people, and the majority are females and children. The Bronx is the third most densely populated county in the United States. From the collected data, the neighborhoods comprise of young mothers, preschoolers, and the elderly. According to the Windshield survey report, the Bronx community has a mixed population of 48% Blacks, 38% Latino, 10% Asians, and 4% of other groups (Krumwiede, Van Gelderen & Krumwiede, 2014). About 12% of community members have limited English proficiency, 78% live below the poverty line, 12% are uninsured, and 52% have Medicaid. The majority of the respondents were aged 45 years on average, and the age of the participants was between 20 years and 95 years.

Strengths of the Community

The Bronx community has good infrastructural resources, such as efficient communication and public transport. Various healthcare centers specialize in the treatment of diseases that affect the community, such as diabetes, cardiovascular, and respiratory diseases (Krumwiede, Van Gelderen & Krumwiede, 2014). The healthcare providers provide the community with opportunities to improve the lives of the ailing. The nurses employed in healthcare facilities are trained and well-equipped with skills and knowledge that enable them to deliver better health services. Also, the nurses observe the community ethics and culture that enables then interact freely and explain the health challenges they experience.

The healthcare facilities in the Bronx are equipped with modern machines that help in the diagnosis of diseases in its initial stages. The adults are screened for diseases such as cancers with the help of machines installed in hospitals with medical professionals employed to operate them (Sykes, 2012). The diabetics and others get their assistance from the hospitals, and this ensures improved health. The community nurses educate the public by creating awareness on early signs of various diseases and early prevention through observing cleanliness, eating healthy foods, and exercising.

Weaknesses

The Bronx community is ignorant of attending the healthcare lessons organized by community health nurses. The healthcare facilities are not much equipped with scanning machines despite the increased population of patients requiring specialized scanning. There is a high population in the Bronx, and this means that the community is ignorant of family planning programs (Blank, Weiss, Walker, 2019). During the interviews, it was evident that most people ignore essential lessons that are important in preventing diseases that affect them. As a result, preventable diseases that strike them get cured in the hospitals while it would be easier to be cured at home if necessary, measures are taken. I noted that even though the health centers are well-equipped with specialized equipment, machines that could assist the medical professionals in scanning cancer-related diseases were missing. Patients who require specialized treatments are transferred to better hospitals in other communities.

Assets and Issues

The available organizational and individual assets in the Bronx leads to the success of healthcare in the community. Examples of individual assets include the experience, talents, and skills of the members of the community, which help them to provide first aid services to the injured. Entrepreneurs and other wealthy individuals have invested in the community through individual incomes and home-based enterprises. The resources provide support to the nurses, which enables them to provide better care. Members of the community provide ample support to healthcare facilities through their talents and responsibilities, such as leadership. During the assessment, I observed that there are physical, private, and public assets such as institutions of higher learning, police stations, ambulances, and libraries that tend to improve the living standards of the community members.

Community Health Problems

Based on the windshield survey report and data from the Bronx community, the major problem affecting this community is increased death rates. The available healthcare facilities fail to accommodate all patients who seek treatment daily, and this may create inequity in health services (Krumwiede, Van Gelderen & Krumwiede, 2014). Inadequate facilities, reduced nurse-patient ratio, and minimizing the disparities is also a significant challenge for this community. Due to the ignorance of the community members on health lessons on preventable diseases, there is a higher risk of increased deaths. The disabled in the community lacks adequate to support such as wheelchairs and building that require lifts for those who want to access its floors.

There is a poor distribution of infrastructures in the community, which creates difficulties for those living in the interior, and this limits their access to emergency services. The known leading cause community deaths are chronic diseases that are detected at later stages. According to research conducted in 2012, diabetes, cancer, and heart diseases are the leading cause of death in most communities. To achieve the goals of minimizing the health risks, there has to be a creation of awareness on the need for taking prevention measures (Sykes, 2012). Environmental pollution is another potential problem in the community that asthmatic children. The air quality in the community is low due to smoking, where children between 3 and 10 years were exposed to cigarette and bang smoking.

Community Assets and Resources Accessible by Community Health Nurses and Clients

The available resources that can be accessed by clients and community health nurses are significant for the improvement of living standards of the community, especially during the planning and sharing of government resources (Pitts, Hengel, Ammerman, 2013). The available resources link the nurses and members of the community, and this leads to the betterment of community health. Leaders who create asset inventories for the planning process are appointed to manage the community resources for the achievement of planned goals. Resources such as CPR and AED empowerment are used to improve the healthcare services in the community. The healthcare programs are crucial as it promotes equity in healthcare services to community members irrespective of their age differences such as the operation of life-saving machines.

Educational resources in the community, such as the chamber of commerce, internet resources, phone booths, and newspapers, among others, are available to inform the public on their healthcare needs (Sykes, 2012). Past inventories enable the nurses to compare the present inventories and shortages that are likely to be experienced. Community members with internet resources create a platform for research by healthcare practitioners. The member of the public has access to a lot of health information which is important to them even when the nurses are unavailable. Social networks create a platform for community education, as nurses quickly communicate with their clients online.

Diagnosis, Goals, and Objectives of Community Health

Most of the issues related to public health are diagnosed by the community health nurses such as heart attack, diabetes, and hypertension. Another major health challenge, especially among the youths between 18 and 35 years that affect the Bronx community, is HIV and AIDS. There is poor environmental health in the county that need quick action to minimize the striking health problems. In line with Healthy people 2020, appropriate measures have to be taken to improve the community health services and living standards in the Bronx.

Firstly, the assessment aims at attaining first-class health services for improved life expectancy through the prevention of diseases, injuries, premature deaths, and disabilities. The use of new screening technologies reduces the rate of cancer attacks by 30% due to early diagnosis (Krumwiede, Van Gelderen & Krumwiede, 2014). Secondly, the objective is to achieve equity in health services by eliminating the health disparities; hence all nurses will be able to serve the community irrespective of age or status. There should be the employment of more nurses to reduce the ratio of the patient served by every nurse. Also, increased health facilities ill minimize delayed treatments due to lack of emergency services. Finally, the Healthy people 2020 plan to create a physical and social environment to promote good health for all community members. There will be a need for the creation of awareness to educate the community on measures to be taken on healthy behaviors

Interventions to be Utilized by Nurses to Solve the Health Needs

Nurses have the obligation of initiating intervention measures within communities. The best intervention measure for the Bronx is a care plan which allows continuity of treatment and care for patients during hospitalization and discharge preparation. The care plan model assures the nurses and patients on documentation of records for all the patients (Pitts, Hengel, Ammerman, 2013). The care plan models enable the community health nurses to improve healthcare services within the community by employing better measures to the problems facing the community.

Collaboration and training of nurses and the community is also an intervention that helps in the identification and reduction of healthcare challenges (Sykes, 2012). Experts are employed to demonstrate and educate the nurses on new hospital equipment and how they are used. Provision of health services such as free screening and testing of some diseases is a strategy that promotes total participation by the community. During the interviews, most people failed to go for screening and testing due to the high costs involved.

Evaluation

To achieve the goals and objectives of a healthy community, the effectiveness and status of care by nurses must be regularly evaluated, and modifications are done on time if needed (Krumwiede, Van Gelderen & Krumwiede, 2014). The data for patients must be documented through collection, organization, and validation to establish a robust database based on responses from them. Objective and subjective data is needed for documentation in the database for easier review using the nursing health history. The data collected from the patients will be analyzed to allow independent and collaborative interventions by nurses to prevent the healthcare issues in the healthcare systems withing the Bronx through comparison of the data collected against the set healthcare standards.

The group data will help in creating a tentative hypothesis and identifying the existing challenges and gaps. During the evaluation process, the risks and strengths of the interviewees will be determined by formulating the collaboration and diagnosis of the problem identified that causes the signs and symptoms of illnesses that affect the community. The degree for the achievement of the nursing goals will be measured and evaluated with the factors that have a positive impact on goal attainment. There will be the provision of an opportunity that determines continuity, modification, or termination of the objectives of the models used in the research. There is a need for collaboration of nurses and members of the community for improved outcomes. If the targeted goals are not achieved, there will be a need for re-evaluation.

Conclusion

The community of the Bronx is a small, diverse, and third-most densely populated in the United States, located in New York City. The overall objective of this final project was to evaluate the status of health needs in the Bronx and develop a plan to promote living standards and increased lifespan. Upon achievement of the goal over the next few years, the county will record healthcare improvement, and the transfer of hospitals to major hospitals in other counties will be minimal. The Bronx community members will experience improved healthcare facilities due to the installation of modern machines for screening and testing of various diseases that affect them.

References

Blank, A. E., Weiss, E. S., Walker, E. A. (2019). Bronx Community Collaborative Opportunities for Research and Education: Implementation and Evaluation of a Community-Academic Partnership. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action, 13(3), 273-282. doi:10.1353/cpr.2019.0055

Krumwiede, K. A., Van Gelderen, S. A., & Krumwiede, N. K. (2014). Academic-Hospital Partnership: Conducting a Community Health Needs Assessment as a Service-Learning Project. Public Health Nursing, 32(4), 359-367. doi:10.1111/phn.12159

Pitts, S. B., Hengel, C. E., Ammerman, A. S. (2013). A Community Assessment to Inform a Multilevel Intervention to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Risk and Risk Disparities in a Rural Community. Family & Community Health, 36(2), 135-146. doi:10.1097/fch.0b013e31828212be

Sykes, S. (2012). Health Needs Assessment and the Community Nurse. Community Health Care Nursing, 61-73. doi: 10.1002/9781444316247.ch5