Social Determinants that Impact the Health of Wakulla County
Wakulla is a small county that seats at Crawfordville, near to the Golf of Mexico. It was founded on March 11, 1843 when Port Leon was destroyed by a hurricane (Revize). The Wakulla community suffer for diverse health disparities. Similarly, in a community/ health nursing point of view, social determinants have a big impact on the health of the Wakulla community. Social determinants of health include factors such as: socioeconomic status, geographic location, and health behaviors, contribute to the vulnerability of individuals and population groups within the community of Wakulla County.
The effects of socioeconomic status on health is an important aspect in the Wakulla community. Krieger (2001) described the socioeconomic gradient as “extending from top to bottom ranks of society, not simply a poverty threshold that separates those with awful versus good health” (p. 899). In other words, greater wealth is associated with better health outcomes among populations. The Wakulla population of 30,877 residents had an annual wage of $32,933. Therefore, Wakulla individuals living lower on the socioeconomic gradient experience
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Therefore, individual biology and behaviors influence health through their interaction with each other and with the individual’s social and physical environments (Nies, 2015). The Wakulla community express positive and negative behaviors towards health promotion and illness avoidance. According to Florida Charts, nearly two-thirds of White Wakulla County residents have had a medical checkup in the past year and 80% of adults in Wakulla County have some type of health insurance. However, one quarter (26.5%) of Wakulla County residents report they are currently smoking. For this reason, community/ health nurses must reinforce positive behaviors in the community to prevent
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental, spiritual and social wellbeing, and not just the absence of disease” (WHO, 1974). Health inequalities are the differences in health or healthcare opportunities in different societies this may be due to income,
Poverty is the single largest determinant of health. It has a widespread range of negative effects, both on the physical and the mental level, making it a significant public health concern in many countries. Poorer people tend to live shorter lives because there’s a clear correlation between income and access to healthcare. This disparity draws special attention to the significant sensitivity of health and the social environment.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 1978), health can be defined not only in terms of absence of disease, injury or infirmity, but also, as a state of mental, physical and social well-being. Over the last decades, many studies have emphasized the role of social circumstances on health status. The tight link between health and a wide range of socioeconomic, environmental and demographics factors have been increasingly recognized and proffer an alternative perspective on how to consider public health, social justice and even restructuring of the health care system (Daniels et. al., 2004). The increasingly acknowledgement that health is also a result of cumulative experience of social conditions and exposure to environmental
The Health and Wealth connection distilled is our health will most commonly reflect from our amount of wealth. The wealthy can afford the cost of quality care and the time to take care of themselves. Within the textbook, Dimensions of Human Behavior Hutchison writes. Public health experts have long noted the association of poor clinical outcomes, in all body systems, with low income, low education, unsanitary housing, poor healthcare, on stable employment, and uncertain physical environment (Hutchison, 2015). Easily demonstrated throughout American society the rather dubious and is a somewhat perplexing phenomenon of the Health-and-Wealth connection theory. The gap between the haves and have-nots are ever expanding. Those who have the funding to pay for resources will pay to get those resources. And those who do not have sufficient funds to pay for said resources will, unfortunately, have to stand in the long lines to receive seemingly, deceptively, scarce resources.
Another strategy would involve utilizing data from existing public sources to assess the health and safety needs of the people of Utah County. The main elements of the collected data would involve the identification of the key health indicators and the corresponding risk factors. I would also collect information related to the impact of the social, economic and the environment on the health status of Utah inhabitants. The key sources of data for the assessment of needs of Utah populations would include US census bureau, healthy people 2020, environment public health tracking program, department of mental health and substance abuse and Utah hospital discharge database. Other sources of information for the need assessment would include the indicator based information system indicator for the public health department and Utah’s healthcare access survey (Niederdeppe, Bu, Borah, Kindig & Robert, 2008). I
Having a low income can lead to poor to health, because you won’t have access or opportunities for better health, such as safe homes, nutritious foods and good schools. “Income may not be the strongest risk factor for any particular disease or outcome, but it’s a risk factor for all of them.” (Krisberg, 2017)
These disparities are obvious in some key measures of wellbeing including life expectancy, the risk for disease, and access to health care (Disparities in Health, 2015). Historically, the major factors contributing to shorter longevity and high rates of disease are overcrowding, poor sanitation and low availability of treatment facilities. However, the change of theses socioeconomic
A major influence on health in a community is the availability of services and opportunities within the neighborhood. Public health can be further influenced by the social environments. Accessibility to health care along with education and employment opportunities are fundamental factors to be considered (Riegelman & Kirkwood, 2015). These elements create both advantages and disadvantages for those living within the neighborhood. If we want to improve public health outcomes, we must consider and evaluate these along with many other contributing factors.
The Health and wealth connection distilled is our health will most commonly reflect from our amount of wealth. The wealthy can afford the cost of quality care and the time to take care of them selves. Within the textbook, Dimensions of Human Behavior Hutchison writes. Public health experts have long noted the association of poor health outcomes, in all body systems, with low income, low education, unsanitary housing, in adequate healthcare, on stable employment, and unsafe physical environment (Hutchison, 2015). Easily demonstrated throughout American society the rather dubious and is somewhat perplexing phenomenon of the Health-and-Wealth connection theory. The gap between the haves and have-nots are ever expanding. Those who have the funding to pay for resources will pay to get those resources. And those who do not have adequate funding to pay for said resources will unfortunately have to stand in the long lines to receive seemingly, deceptively, scarce resources.
Health Impact Assessments are beneficial to improving the health and well-being of individuals in multiple levels, economic, social and environmental influences (WHO, 2014). From the last segment of the HIA – screening – Polk County primary indicators of the worse conditions were older adult preventable hospitalizations, HIV, and housing stress (CHSI, 2015). During this section, information will be gathered on the population that is the most vulnerable, and the additional health burdens facing the county.
For Pierce County residents hypertension and elevated cholesterol are two risk health factors that contribute to chronic disease, morbidity and mortality (tpchd.org, 2015). The overlapping direct contributing factors to the development of CVD for Pierce County residents are lack of a health care provider and physical inactivity, which have also been discussed in the previous assessments. Additionally, the direct contributing factors of poor mental health and obesity carries over to the indirect contributing factors of the need for behavior modifications and education to monitor blood pressure and cholesterol, ingestion of healthy food choices and initiate an exercise program among Pierce County residents. Environmental factors are indirect contributors to residents having limited access to Pierce County’s parks and recreation centers for exercise, healthy food options. The access to quality of care, uninsured and unmet health care needs has come up repeatedly in the four assessments and are interconnected as indirect contributing factors to CVD. Coping with stress, poor work life satisfaction and sedentary jobs and lack of time to exercise are also indirect contributing factors to CVD that are of
Research displays associable health behaviors in rural areas; “Rural adults are more likely than their urban counterparts to: smoke, abuse alcohol and other substances, be physically inactive, be obese, and have poor access to healthy foods. These poor health behaviors contribute to health disparities, such as disease incidence and lower life expectancies.” Cultural Care Connections, Rural Health (2015). These health behaviors are proven facts, which causes many acute and chronic problems in the rural community. The overflow of these problems without proper medical attention or resources, to endure these problems in the rural communities, are subjected to an increasing mortality rate for rural hospitals who experience these conditions.
Health inequalities are preventable and unjust differences in health status experienced by certain population groups. People in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to experience health inequalities than people in higher socio-economic classes. Health inequalities are not only found between people of different
This essay will discuss ways in which a person’s socioeconomic class and his/her social situation can have an impact on his/her health, using examples. We believe that there is a direct link between socioeconomic/social class and health (Adler et al. 1994). I will be defining the key terms: socioeconomic and health, social class then proceed to discuss about how poverty, income, employability, environment and housing can impact on a person’s social situation and their health.
The aim of this essay is to examine the influence that socio-economic status has on an individual’s health.