Research Paper about Healthy Community
What is a “healthy community”? The American Public Health Association (APHA) defines it as “communities where everyone has affordable, safe home, access to safe and healthy food and decisionmakers include health and equity considerations when making transportation and land-use decisions.” This same question was asked to community members in a survey conducted by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion [ODPHP] (2020) and their answer was an environment that promotes holistic health, including medical, dental, mental and emotional health.” Healthy communities enable and coordinate community members in a way that makes it easy to access and navigate services, as well as respects and empowers them. The survey also asked community members to share their biggest concerns and barriers to health. One main concern stated by community members is the struggle to access the various resources that currently exist because of cost, lack of awareness, location, and hours. The health impact of having access to healthcare services affects a person’s health and well-being. It can prevent disease and disability, detect and treat health conditions, increase quality of life, reduce the likelihood of premature death, and increase life expectancy (ODPHP, 2020). Therefore, increasing access to routine medical services is important to improving the health of the American population.
Community members in the ODPHP survey were also asked to name any social issues that impact their health. Some of the social issues that they face are lack of transportation, food insecurity, lack of affordable and stable housing, unaffordable childcare, immigrations status, literacy, and segregation. Studies have shown that factors such as lack of transportation interfere with patients’ consistent access to care and can potentially contribute to negative health outcomes such as delaying or skipping medication, rescheduling, or missing appointments, and postponing care. Furthermore, social determinants must be factored into the inadequacy of access to care and achieving a healthy population. Studies have shown that people with less education and income live in neighborhoods that lack nutritious foods and safe places for people to exercise, thus increasing their chances of being diagnosed with chronic diseases.
In America, approximately one out of four people do not have access to regular medical services, such as primary care providers (PCP) and health centers. According to the National Center for Health Statistics (2021), 31.6 million U.S. residents lacked health insurance in the first half of 2020. People who don’t have the pleasure of having health insurance bore the highest risk to be diagnosed with serious and disabling health conditions because of cost and accessibility. The continuing rising of cost for healthcare services makes basic healthcare services like routine checkups attainable. Uninsured individuals face diminished health, shorter life spans, the potential for bankruptcy, developmental risks for children, increased risks of adverse effects, and are less likely to receive standard medications (ODPHP, 2020). Moreover, there are costs to the community such as increased criminal justice expenses from the lack of mental health treatment, a burden on public health resources (surveillance, health education, and preparedness), preventable hospitalizations and emergency room visits, risk of communicable disease, and increased cost burden on healthcare providers (ODPHP, 2020).
Insured individuals now face large medical bills and out-of-pocket expenses that must be paid for them to receive healthcare services. People have become strained and face financial hardship because of medical expenses resulting in an increased chance of skipping routine medical care and chronic disease diagnosis. Moreover, even insured individuals face the limited availability of health care resources that ultimately increases the risk of poor health outcomes. Communities where majority of their members are well-insured have more health care resources. Sadly, this phenomenon cannot be seen in communities that have primarily Medicare and Medicaid patients because of the reduced reimbursement rates resulting in areas where few physicians accept them. The lack of access to health care services affects not only insured and uninsured individuals, but the general population, the healthcare system, and the economy.
According to the US Census and County Health Rankings data (2019), 19% of children in Charlotte live in poverty, 16.8% of people live in poverty, 16.3% of the community is uninsured, and 4.80% of the population is unemployed. A total of 35.4% of the Charlotte population either has insurance but can’t afford care or is uninsured (Mecklenburg County Government, 2019). The Mecklenburg County health department’s health assessment (2019) shows that approximately, 19% (160,000) of Charlotte residents are unable to see a doctor because of cost and 28% of adults report not having a regular source of care. Additionally, over 210,000 residents are unable to receive oral care because of cost (Mecklenburg County Government, 2019).
The Mecklenburg County Health Assessment reports that 16% of the population considers themselves to be in poor or fair health (Mecklenburg County Government, 2019). Studies have shown that people with less education and income live in areas that typically lack access to safe places to exercise and nutritious food, thus increasing their chances of developing chronic diseases and premature death. Additionally, many people in these areas are uninsured and do not have access to a regular source of care. Research has shown that patients who don’t have a primary care provider or are uninsured are more likely to go to the emergency department for non-urgent health concerns. Over time this has caused a strain on the local hospital staff, longer wait times for people with more urgent health concerns, and raised the cost of health care.
Many studies have linked poverty to poor physical and mental health. The prevalence of chronic conditions like diabetes or cardiovascular disease is reported higher by low-income adults compared to high-income adults. Currently, one barrier to care stated in the Mecklenburg County health assessment was transportation. Approximately 7.8 % of the Charlotte population does not have a vehicle available (Mecklenburg County Government, 2019). This makes important health care services such as routine checkups, prenatal care, medication management, mental health care, and preventative care difficult to obtain for a portion of the Charlotte population.
