Community Health Assessment

* Colorado Springs is very health driven community. There are hundreds of hiking trails and free places to get outside in the community.

As a resident in Fresh Meadows for twenty years, conducting a community health assessment was an opportunity to learn more about the neighborhood. Located in the northeastern section of New York 's Queens County, this small town was first named “Flushing Meadows” before the American Revolution. This was due to large areas of wet meadows that were also partially located in Flushing. Nonetheless, Fresh Meadows has become home to many with its diverse community in cultures and ages, and activities for the local.

outcome of obesity in this community, there needs to be a sufficient understand of Hispanic

In the United States we are very fortunate. For the most part we do not live in fear of disease outbreaks from day to day. Our government along with the Centers for Disease Control and Public Health Departments have managed to have adults and children vaccinated and set up recommendations regarding those vaccinations. Despite all that is done our country allows freedoms. One of these freedoms is to not vaccinate your child from communicable diseases due to personal beliefs. With the worlds populations becoming more mobile, that sets your child up for dangerous encounters; because some countries are not as strict on laws regarding vaccinations and some

Chesterfield County, Virginia has a population of about 328,000 as of January 1, 2014 with 752 people per square mile. There was a 3.6% increase in the population from April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2013. 65.4% of the population is white non-Hispanic, 21.6% are black non-Hispanic, 7.2% are Hispanic, 3.2% are Asian and 2.1% are two or more races. In 2012 there were 3657 births and 1654 deaths in Chesterfield County. They are rated as being safer than 50% of the cities in the US with 41 violent and 1049 crimes against property (Crime rates for Chesterfield, VA, n.d.).

Obesity has become a major problem here in America. Although millions of American’s are affected by it, from all levels of society, the biggest problem seems to be focused with low-income families.

In the past several decades and according to the State of Obesity “38.9 % of children ages 2-19 are obese in the Latino culture.” The rates of severe obesity are higher amongst these children compared to the White American children.

North Lawndale is one of the 77 community areas in Chicago, located in the western area of the city between South Lawndale, Garfield Park, the Near West Side and Cicero (Steans Family Foundation, 2014).

This overwhelming statistic contributes to the 17% of children that have obesity in the United States. More specifically in Texas, 19.1% of children are considered obese. Furthermore, Texas is tied for the rank of 11 for the highest obesity rates among the United States. Looking at the Brazos County every one in seven person is obese. This statistic accounts for the one half of the population is overweight or obese. In lower-income areas such as parts of the Brazos Valley, obesity rates tend to be higher compared to higher income areas. reveal to have higher obesity rates. This is because majority of low-income families have less access to healthy food and opportunity for physical activity. Lower income neighborhoods offer a higher accessibility to unhealthy food sources. In a study done on low-income areas of Los Angeles, it was shown that a greater number of fast-food restaurants congregate the low income areas of Los Angeles compared to the higher income areas of Los Angeles (Hilmers, et al., 2015). Results for similar studies done on the amount of convenience stores in certain areas show that “Low-income zip codes have 30% more conveniences stores” compared to middle-income zip codes (Hilmers, et al., 2015). Convenience stores tend to carry large amounts of snack food, a variety of beverages, and little produce. Low-income areas also reveal that the portion of recreational facilities in

According to Adelle Davis “statistics of illness in the United States are too depressing to examine”. Illnesses that were never even heard of a century ago are striking out population harder than ever. What is worse is these diseases and illnesses have no limits; they strike infants, children and teenagers just as harshly as they do adults and the elderly. The most common disease is obesity and the alarming part is that children are now prone to obesity starting at just three years of age. Based on research done in 2002, obesity rates are rising amongst children younger than ten years old in the United States of America due to low income rates and ethnicity. According to this research, poor income leads to poor meal and entertainment decisions, these two decisions are highly balanced by the culture individuals that then carry on to their children. Our community is largely populated by Hispanics, and Nichman found that “The prevalence of obesity among Hispanic American populations is generally greater than among white populations in the United States”. Not only is our El Paso population highly vulnerable to these diseases because of the culture we carry, but we also house areas of high poverty. Our children are at high risk of this deadly disease, through seemingly harmless characteristics such as culture and economic status.

A community health assessment is a fundamental instrument of public health practice. Its objective is to depict the health of the community, by presenting information on health standing, community health needs, resources, and epidemiologic and other studies of present local health problems. It seeks to recognize target populations that may be at augmented risk of poor health results and to increase a better understanding of their needs, as well as evaluates the larger community surroundings and how it relate to the health of people. It also identifies those areas where better information is desired, particularly information on health differences amid different subpopulations, quality of health care, and the incidence and severity of disabilities in the population. The Community Health Assessment is the foundation for all local public health development, giving the local health component the instance to recognize and network with key community leaders, businesses and concerned residents about health priorities and concerns. This information shapes the foundation of improving the health status of the community by way of a strategic plan (The Municipal Public Health Services Plan Community Health Assessment Guidance and Format, n.d.).

The health concern that was identified in the community health assessment for Pinellas County (Pinellas) was the high lung cancer incidence rate. The rate of 69.1 per 100,000 population is higher than the state of Florida and the United States average rate (“Community Commons & IP3,” 2016). Possible factors that can contribute to this concern include tobacco usage, lack of health insurance, lack of physical activity, and poor nutrition. A population diagnosis statement for this health concern is risk for increasing number of deaths from lung cancer among the community in Pinellas related to the increased number of tobacco usage as demonstrated by high self-reporting data percentages.

Estimates related to the frequency and time tendencies of obesity within the US have been according to information coming from the Nationwide Health and Nutrition Evaluation Survey (NHANES), including nationwide representative samples related to the US civilian non-institutionalized populace. The actual surveys range from the very first National Health Evaluation Survey (NHES I); the very first, 2nd, and third NHANES studies; along with an ongoing survey that started in 1999 (Flegal et al, 2000; Hedley et al, 2002). Weight and height had been calculated inside a movable evaluation centre utilizing standardized methods as well as products. As demonstrated in Fig. 1 (Larsson et al, 2006), the actual incidence of weight problems amongst adults age range 20-76 years had been fairly continuous from 1960 to 1980, after that elevated considerably. Assessment related to the time period 1976-1980 with 1999-2002, unveils that the frequency of obese (Body mass index = 25 kg/m2) elevated by approximately 40% (from 47 to 65%) and also the frequency of overweight (Body mass index = 30 kg/m2) increased by 100% (from 15 to 30%). Concerning severe obesity (BMI = 40

Essex County is located in the North eastern part of new jersey. The history of Essex county dates back to 1666 when 30 families from Connecticut established settlement along the banks of Passaic river. Essex County was officially established in 1682 by east jersey legislature. Essex County is 129.631 square miles. The Geopolitical communities are designed by natural or human made boundaries (Maurer and Smith, 2009). It holds community safer for the residents and the governing body.

Local hospitals- Kaiser Permanente, Sharp Grossmont Hospital, Scripps Hospital, Sharp Memorial Hospital are a few big hospitals in San Diego, CA