Identifying An At Risk Population

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared an unconditional war on poverty in the United States and the most photographed area was the Appalachia region. Many of the photographs intentional or not, became a visual definition of the Appalachia region. The images have drawn from the poorest areas and people to gain support for the war on poverty, but came to represent the entirety of the region. The point of the Looking at Appalachia project is to explore the diversity of Appalachia and to establish a visual counter point. (Home - Looking at Appalachia.) The three images I am going to analyze are challenge some of the stereotypes put on the Appalachia region. I believe my images challenge the stereotype that all Appalachian people do is work hard, go to church, and don’t have time for anything besides those two things.

Rural Oklahoma is filled with small farm communities and small towns. Towns where everyone knows everyone and family is of major importance. Pond Creek Oklahoma is one of those communities with a census approximately 856 residents located in Grant County (Pond Creek, Oklahoma, 2015). This town has strong Christian roots and you get the feel of family, football, and love. There is a small variety of businesses and churches but the primary source of income for the community is agricultural. It isn’t uncommon to see tractors making their way down the highway during planting times and combines during harvest. One thing that the town and its citizens lack is access to health care. There are no medical facilities in the town such

The Appalachian Mountains go through a total of 13 states according to the federal government. Running from Southern New York to Northern Mississippi, one of those 13 states is Kentucky which is my home. The region is a 205,000 square mile area that extends well over 1000 miles. 42 percent of the population is rural compared to 20 percent of the rural area in the rest of the national population.

The Appalachian region is one of the most valuable areas of the United States. It is rich in many natural aspects and is home to some of the hardest working citizens in this country. Unfortunately, Appalachia is also home to a variety of harsh social problems including severe drug abuse and a gripping poverty facing a large portion of Appalachian citizens. The two of these issues seem to go hand in hand in many cases, so the solution of one could also lead to the solution of the other. Appalachians have always had a history of handling their own problems, these drastic social problems are no different.

Being known as the region synonymous with destitution and home to some of the pauperized counties in the country, Appalachia has always been hidden from or sort of isolated from the rest of the world because of their geographic location. The people of Appalachia are often seen as unintelligent and less civilized than other Americans as they were less developed and not exposed to the commercial world. Because of

     Appalachia is no longer the land of severe poverty that it was three decades ago, now the poverty rate of one in 15 is close to the national average. The number of adults who have received a high school diploma has also jumped from one out of three to two out of three; and the infant death rate has been

Appalachia is a region extending from Mississippi to New York and includes eleven states within its official

Alabama ranks poorly on many health indicators. It is ranked 47th out of 50 in the nation in overall health; 43rd in cancer deaths, 2nd in deaths from cardiovascular disease and 3rd in the incidence of diabetes (Healthy People 2010). Also, Alabama is ranked 5th in the number of residents without health insurance. In my opinion, I believe the greatest challenge that these health disparities present is that very often socioeconomic status determines an individual’s health status. Growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, I witnessed many people in my community suffer from health issues because compared to other ethnic groups, African Americans, tend to be far less trusting of physicians and their medical advice. Notably, the distrust is rooted in pass corrupt cases, such as, the 40 year Tuskegee syphilis study and the case of Henrietta Lacks. The lack of minority representation in health professions is my motivation for pursuing a career in a health-related profession.

Appalachia is a 205,000-square-mile region that follows the spine of the Appalachian Mountains stretching from southern New York to northern Mississippi. It is home to more than 25 million people.

Community nursing is a very challenging, yet vital and important aspect of nursing for the community in the borough of Brooklyn, NY. It is located on the southwestern end of Long Island, southeastern of New York and it is connected to Manhattan by three bridges (Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge and Verrazano Bridge). Brooklyn is separated from Manhattan by the East River (Britannica, 2017) and it is considered the largest of the five boroughs in New York City with an estimated population of about 2,629,150 in 2016. Its width is approximately 71 square miles with 52.6% female, and 47.4 male residences in 2016 (Census.gov, 2016). It is highly populated, with the ethnic makeup

Where there are various regions there are bound to be a variety of people with alternate cultures, beliefs, and ways of life. The cultures found with the Appalachia are unique in their own ways and represent a body of individuals who found their way to such an area. Land that is included within the Southern Appalachia can be best described by Horace Kephart as he does so in his book The Southern Highlander and His Homeland to include: “the four western counties of Maryland; the Blue Ridge Valley, and Allegheny Ridge counties of Virginia; all of West Virginia; eastern Tennessee; eastern Kentucky; western North Carolina; the four northwestern counties of South Carolina; northern Georgia; and northeastern Alabama.” (22-24) With so much

Amongst the other industrialized countries of the world, the United States has the worst healthcare system (Davis, Stremikis, Squires, & Schoen, 2014). This ranking does not come from a lack of funds, considering the United States spends more than twice as much per capita than the United Kingdom which is ranked at number one (Davis, Stremikis, Squires, & Schoen, 2014). A major problem is America is the health disparities that vary across the nation. Health disparities “refer to differences in access to or availability of facilities and services. Health status disparities refer to the variation in rates of disease occurrence and disabilities between socioeconomic and/or geographically defined population groups”("Health Care Disparities", 2009). Even though one RAND study suggests that virtually every demographic is at risk of not receiving needed care, there are definitely certain populations that are at higher risk of falling victim to these disparities ("National healthcare quality and disparities report 2014", 2015). A majority of Maine’s population falls into one of these riskier demographics, which is and will continue to affect the health and quality of life for Mainers if not addressed.

Within the United States some populations groups face greater challenges then the general public with being able to access needed health care services in a timely fashion. These populations are at a greater risk for poor physical, psychological, and social health. The correct term would be underserved populations or medically disadvantaged. They are at a disadvantaged for many reason such as socioeconomic status, health, and geographic conditions. Within these groups are the racial and ethnic minorities, uninsured children, women, rural area residents, mentally ill, chronic illness and the disabled. These groups experience greater barriers in access to care, financing of care, and cultural acceptance. Addressing these

The people of Appalachia are often characterized as ignorant, lazy, uneducated, drug addicted, and incestuous. Many believe that this impoverished area is full of hicks, hillbillies, and rednecks, but when examining the truths one might find an enriched culture with generous people who are hardworking, artistic, and family oriented with a strong religious faith.

Quality healthcare in the more rural areas of the United States is not only getting more difficult to obtain, but difficult to afford. American citizens living in rural areas have the highest rates of chronic disease, higher poverty populations, less health insurance, and there is less access to primary care physicians. When the economy is at its lowest point it causes an increase in a number of access and health issues that have already had prior problems in communities and in rural areas, therefore the main goal of the national health care tax of 2010 was to allow coverage to all residents of the United States, and also by transferring necessary health care to places that were farther away, such as the