Asthma in Oakland California
Description of the Community at Risk Asthma has become a rising issue at hand, especially in Oakland, California. Asthma is at an all time high in Oakland because of the factories and smog that surrounds the local communities. After conducting research, I decided to dig deeper in asthma in Oakland because I wanted to learn more and to see if there was a way to reduce the rise of asthma. Asthma in Oakland is an issue for all ages, especially the younger ones because their lungs are still developing. For my term paper, I plan to explore the disproportionate burden of hazard of the population of air quality in Oakland, California, an area that is impacted by factory smoke, which can lead to asthma in children who are 18 years of age or younger.
Along with Oakland, I came across research on Alameda County as well and decided to include some of the findings from the articles. Oakland does not have the best or suitable air quality due to the large number of the factories that surround the local communities so the quality of air is affected as well as the individuals who have asthma. The factory exhaust and smoke make it harder for individuals with asthma to breathe and the poor air quality can send them into an asthma attack. Also, some of the schools in Oakland need to make sure they are up-to-date and have proper measures for children’s safety in the schools meaning proper ventilation.
According to the Bay Area 2013 census, there are
Khazan first begins the article by sharing with the readers her childhood experience growing up in the industrial city of Los Angeles. She reported that nine percent of the asthma cases at her school were due to the intensity of traffic fumes produced by the five-hundred trucks per hour passing her elementary school campus. She continues on to say that air pollution is not just a contributor to asthma, but to many other medical issues. Although these statistics are not directly correlated to affecting a child's intelligence, it can be assumed that constant inhalation of toxic fumes can not be good for brain development.
Environmental factors are characteristics or elements in an individual’s surrounding environment that can impact the survival or growth of that individual. In Scenario B, there are numerous environmental factors in Duplin County that are prevalent, thus triggering asthma attacks. Such environmental factors can be physical, demographic, cultural, or economic. A prime example of this would be air pollutants. A main air pollutant in today’s society is carbon dioxide. This can be found in planes and cars (our main sources of transportation) in addition to human activities and power plants. Furthermore, chronic exposure to air pollution can cause unpredictable amounts of irritation in an individual’s airway as well as their lungs, thus causing respiratory issues. An individual may also experience changes in sensation, such as with increased coughing/sneezing or wheezing, tightness in an individual’s lungs, or discharge of mucous. When
Healthy People 2020 (HP) has set a goal to “promote respiratory health through better prevention, detection, treatment, and education efforts.” One focus is to reduce asthma deaths among children and adults under age 35 years (Healthy People 2000, 2017). HP also recognizes that asthma has many components that can be classified as either genetic or environmental. They are working to both to improve the quality of life for those who suffer from asthma as to reduce the strain ill place on societal recourses. Assessing living situations for environmental triggers is one evidence based practice that can be initialized and then to make modifications that immediately impact the health of an asthma sufferer. Secondly, making sure medical supervision
The social-ecological model is helpful in determining the array of independent variables that contribute to a disease with multiple contributors, like asthma. Lamb et al. (2011) addresses the issue of air pollution, in the San Francisco Bay area region, that contributes to the burden of asthma, in the community. The organization RAMP collaborated with DDDC to reduce particulate matter emitted by diesel trucks. The collaboration has lead to regulation that requires diesel vehicles to have particulate filters. While RAMPS focus was to relieve asthma sufferers, this regulation was beneficial to the community and environment as a whole.
The author Crystal Gammon is concerned about how pollution can affect people who remains on a penniless income in East St. Louis. Residence living in East St. Louis and children is having asthma. Seeing that pollution is taking place in the city, asthma rates have been increasing significantly.
As of 2009, studies conducted by the CDC have shown that asthma impacts approximately one in every twelve people, and the numbers only continue to grow (CDC, 2011). Some of the most common symptoms can range anywhere from coughing (especially at night or during exercise), wheezing and chest tightness, to shortness of breath. Asthma is often a chronic condition and while many times it can present itself as being mild, it can also sometimes lead to death if a person suffers an asthma attack. Asthma can be genetic, but it can also be caused, as well as exacerbated by, environmental factors such as air pollution. Studies have shown that children living in the Bronx are experiencing asthma at levels eight times higher than the national average. In addition, rates of death from asthma are a whopping three times higher than the national average, and hospitalization rates at about five times higher.” (Ruppell, 2000). Asthma is not a disease that targets only one group of people, yet the Bronx still exhibits disproportionately high levels of asthma especially in neighborhoods that are poorer areas of the city. In fact, people from these poor areas are 21 times more likely to be hospitalized due to asthmatic conditions compared to people from more affluent parts of the city (Ruppell,
Riverdale is an upscale community in the Northwestern corner of the Bronx bordered by the Hudson River, Broadway, the Bronx/Westchester county line and the Harlem River. It is accessible by the BX buses 7, 9, 10, & 20, the 1 & the 9 train, the Bee
In this paper, I will explore asthma prevalence of children living in New York City. Asthma is an existing serious public health concern in inner cities and urban environments. Especially children with asthma from low SES families or minority groups face difficulties accessing health care, receiving high-quality continuous care, and preventative education. In other words, there is a disparity in the asthma prevalence and care in New York City.
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, most of my childhood I felt very healthy. However around the age of 10 my pediatrician diagnosed me with Athletic Asthma. It is a specific type of Asthma that only occurs when engaging in strenuous activity or having an increased breathing rate. In 2009 I decided to move to Fresno, while I knew other people in the bay area who suffered from Asthma it shocked me to learn how prevalent it was in central California, particularly in Fresno. Quite often people in Fresno will make reference how terrible the air is in a given day. Residents of the central valley are constantly reminded about our air quality with programs such as Check Before You Burn, a local government solution to help control the
Los Angeles County ranks among the 10% worst air quality polluters in the US. The hustle and bustle of public transportation and smog released by an over-populated commuter based region, have significantly lowered air quality standards. Henceforth, health concerns have risen for all Angelinos. Research has observed that there is a serious influx of pollutants in the air that could have damaging results both on adults and children alike. However, different forms of renewable energy over the years have facilitated an alternative to this issue. A movement away from an urban sprawl Los Angeles to new urbanism has allotted us better living and breathing conditions over the last several years.
Child asthma hospitalization rates and air pollution for Chicago’s community areas are very correlated to one another. Research has found that children are more susceptible to asthma attacks than adults. Also, children that don’t have asthma and are exposited to air pollution can actually develop it. In the ArcMap exercise, we analyze child asthma hospitalization rates and the relationship it has with air pollution in Cook County, Illinois. Cook County has been has lower ozone standards than normal air standards. This is a direct result of Chicago being a very industrialized city. The amount of Emission Tonnage by Facility in 2002 shows how there are more child asthma hospitalization rates when there is greater emission tonnage. The poorest
There has been a decline in the quality of air we breathe in over time, and this can be blamed on the rapid industrialization and urbanization of cities. Rapid urbanization and industrialization has lead to the use of more sophisticated machines such as vehicles, which produce gases, which are majorly responsible for the gradual change in climate. Asthmatic flare ups can be as a result of ‘the exposure to tobacco smoke, vehicular emissions, ozone, plant pollens, mold spores, skin cells and hair from common mammalian pets, waste of dust mites and cockroaches, and cold air’ (Adkinson et al., 2007). Although asthma is said to be more common in urban areas, cases of asthma in rural areas are becoming more common as a result of rapid industrialization. The article states that in coming years, respiratory health is expected to grow even worse “because of interaction between heavier pollen loads and increased air pollution” (Shea, Truckner, Weber, & Peden, 2008, p.
A Community Health Epidemiology Study with Community Diagnosis HGT Community Health Practicum/HAT1 Erika J. Schnell, R.N. 11/05/2012 Western Governor’s University
Research is conducted in a variety of different ways using different methods and methodologies. How these methods are used is imperative to how clear and accurate research will be. Community needs assessment is a research method used by many researchers that assists in finding gaps within a particular target group within a particular community. Throughout this paper I will discuss what a community needs assessment is and when and how it is used. I will also discuss some of the strengths and limitations of this method. I then continue to explain some theoretical and practical perspectives when dealing with this method and how it would apply when conducting your own research in a
Secondly, it also affects by brother who has asthma because of all the greenhouse gases emissions, special the carbon dioxide, which is daily emitted by the use of, for example, transport and industries.