Community health concepts and applications

Health - Nursing

Community Health 9400

Community Health

Community Health

Community

America is the most obese nation in the world. American nation in general and people of Lansdowne in particular are studied here for the issues of obesity. Lansdowne is located in county of Delaware, Pennsylvania with a diverse population and demographics.

Geographical area

Lansdowne is located in east of America. The city is at WikiMiniAtlas

39°56"29"N 75°16"31"W? / ?39.94139°N 75.27528°W. The city has land area of ? / 39.94139; -75.275281.2 square miles and zero percent area is covered with water. Geographically the city is in southwest of Philadelphia at about 5 miles' distance. The area is majorly covered by residential apartments and some area is also commercial. City also has some artistic and historic buildings.

Population and Demographics

In 2010, the population of Lansdowne, Pennsylvania was 10,579 (State & County Quick Facts, 2013). During the census of 2010, it was found that Lansdowne has household population of 4,724. The city has population density of 9,382.0 people per square mile. About 27.0% of the population has offspring's below age of 18 that live with them (State & County Quick Facts, 2013). With Whites as the major component of population, the ethnic mix of the city is such that there are 47.1% White, 44.6% Black, 3.6% Asian, 0.16% Native American, 2.2% from other races, 0.03% Pacific Islander and 3.3% Hispanic. With respect to age, there are 23.0% children below 18 years age, youth is 6.7% in age bracket between 18 to 24, Adults are 32.7% between age of 25 to 44, elderly population is 23.7% with age between 45 to 64, and 13.9% are older than 65 years of age (State & County Quick Facts, 2013). City's median age is 38 years. There are 46.8% males and 53.1% females in the city. City's per capita income was calculated at $70,177 in 2010. 0.4% of the city population lives under poverty line.

Physical and social environment

The people of Lansdowne are above average in prosperity and the people are normally in occupations related to retail, construction and manufacturing. The rate of employment has increased since 2000 yet it is below 10% (Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, n.a). The city has weather ranging between 30 degrees to 90 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity is around 70%. The city has zero cases of murder per 100,000 and very minor cases of crime and robberies (Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, n.a).

Obesity

As normally perceived, obesity is not a state of mind. People might think that they are obese but actually they might not be and in the same way people may think that their weight is alright but they may be obese. A person is obese when he has at least 20% more weight than what is required by his age and height (What is Obesity, 2013). The Body Mass Index tells what should be the weight of a person with the given height. The BMI value in range of 25 and 29.9 says that one is overweight and BMI over 30 means a person is obese (What is Obesity, 2013).

Obesity And Healthy People

The Healthy people goals of U.S. state had the obesity in childhood should have been reduced by 5% and by the year 2020, the Healthy People Goal is that the obesity should reduce by 10% (Wang, Orleans, and Gortmaker, 2012). The methods suggested and adopted by Healthy People 2020 to achieve the goals are to drop per capita daily calories consumed over calories expended in the youth. At the country and state level, many measures are taken to reduce obesity. The Pennsylvania Department of Health says that the causes of obesity in citizens are unhealthy eating patterns, lifestyle issues and low activity. The department is taking measures to help people increase their physical activities, improve their diet plans, decrease the rate of obesity by exercise and promoting weight loss through healthy habits (Obesity Prevention and Wellness Program, 2013). The local communities are promoted to help the department implement safe health programs.

Impact of Obesity on population of Lansdowne

Obesity is a full package of diseases. It is such a state of body that is often confused with good health. Fat people are not healthy rather more prone to diseases than the normal weight people. With weight considered in range of obesity, a person has to be very careful not to fall or get injured since an obese person takes it much longer to recover bone or muscle fractures because the level of activity dramatically reduces. The female population, there is a risk of decrease in rate of fertility and chances of conception if the woman is obese (Why Obesity Is a Health Problem, 2013). Besides injuries and fertility, there is a high risk of diabetes in obese people. The blood sugar levels get disturbed in obesity and may cause diabetes type 2. The heart of an obese person gets weaker by supplying blood to a huge mass and hence the obese person can also have heart related diseases. With the problems in heart, the obese person is vulnerable to getting high blood pressure due to fat blockage in arteries and veins, and some types of cancers (Why Obesity Is a Health Problem, 2013). The surveys conducted by NHANES showed that in America, 13% of obese people have diabetes and a heavy majority has pre-diabetes symptoms that can lead to heart problems. Since America has around 26% rate of obesity and Lansdowne has around 28.6%, city is much more in risk of obesity related diseases than the country (Overweight and Obesity, 2012).

The obesity has some dependence on the gender and age of the people but there is no evidence that in small area of Lansdowne there is health inequity. The people are found to be obese based on eating habits and level of activities only.

Community resources and partners involved with Obesity

There are many official, non-official and local bodies working in Lansdowne and Pennsylvania to deal with the problem of Obesity. Some are state level and centralized and others are city level partners.

Resource and Partner

Center for Disease Control and Prevention in America hence public and private bodies should play their role in overcoming obesity (Overweight and Obesity, 2012). The center encourages communities to make and use walking and jogging tracks and to use biking lanes. It encourages people to work in teams for weight reduction and adopt ways for losing weight by safe methods.

Diagnosis

The city carries out survey to find obesity ratio. At school and medical center level, efforts are made to find obesity in people. The obesity is diagnosed both through observation and BMI. Normally a bulky person can easily be identified but in objective terms, an obese person has higher BMI value than the standard i.e. above 30. The population rate of obesity can be found by collectively finding BMIs of all the citizens in the city. The number of people with BMI over 30 out of 100 tell about the rate of obesity.

Aspects of the Obesity not being addressed

The obesity is a health problem but normally it is only studied in terms of health effects. The impact of obesity on individual's productivity and behavior are also important. The impact of obesity can be direct and indirect on the productivity. The obese person can find it hard to sit at one place in a posture and to do a desk job. Also a very obese person cannot stand for very long that may be a part of many jobs (Why Obesity Is a Health Problem, 2013).

Outcomes Identification

Obesity is in alarming range for the city. With 28% rate of obesity, it is identified that eating and exercise behaviors of citizens are inappropriate. It is found that junk food eating habits and the unhealthy life style of Americans has cost them their health and people are increasingly becoming fat. It is necessary to fight obesity on emergency basis in order to protect people from diseases. For doing so, the states and cities with obesity rates above 24% should run programs that help to reduce obesity.

Goals for improvement in Obesity

The goal of obesity reduction programs at state, county and city levels is to reduce the rate of obesity by 5% in next five years and 10% till 2020. The goal is realistic since people can reduce weight over years by changing their habits and lifestyles.

Planning

There are many measures and programs under progress in cities of USA including Lansdowne to reduce the rates of obesity. It is required to increase the number of programs offered and to develop collaboration among centers of health management. A coordinated approach will help maintain healthy lifestyles of people. Following steps can be adopted at city administration level to deal with problems of obesity:

Ban the ads of junk food unless they mention the amount of calories and fats in burger, snacks and the sugar in soft drinks

Develop awareness plan by showing repeated videos of healthy habits like walking, jogging, running, swimming, riding, claiming etc.

Tell people the negative effects of over eating.

Brief about the diseases that are more prevalent in fat people nursing actions to improve Obesity

Nurses can play a vital role I guiding their patients who to reduce weight and to control their BMI. The nurses are trained and they have close interaction with patients and societies hence they can adopt several techniques to guide people how to have healthy life. The Minnesota Nursing Wheel helps to guide nursing activities for a program.

The nurses can teach the patients and the attendants to have power and control over themselves. An individual can be taught to have power and control by using reminders. The patient can be given threats about the unhealthy lifestyle and its consequences. The patient should be told how people of his gender can be negatively affected by being obese. This is the first circle of the wheel (Minnesota Center against Violence and Abuse, n.d.). After completing it, the nurse uses second circle in the wheel. She tells the patient that his physical, emotional, sexual and social life is at risk. After doing so, she should guide the patient how he can be a better worker when he has a good BMI. The effects of reducing weight should be made clear by telling the patient the importance of normal weight in doing job, having a prosperous life and adhering to his values. Thus using the components of Minnesota nursing wheel, the nurse can teach the patient and motivate him to adopt healthy lifestyle.

Primary and secondary prevention activities

Dealing with obesity is an individual as well as social job. What the person can do is to eat healthy and reasonably, invest reasonable time in exercise and walking, and to remain active. On the other hand there is also a role to be played by state and society. The administration can encourage health programs in public as well as in media. The taxation on the business of fitness programs and institutes should be removed and people should be encourages to go in gyms and remain fit. Junk food should be taxed more and the society should be awarded to shift to less fried and less fatty food.

Potential public and private partnerships

There is no lack of public and private programs aimed at dealing with obesity. However some more partnerships will help effectively deal with the issue. The health communities should make arrangements with the school, college and church administrations to allow them to visit these institutes every six months and to give awareness lectures to students and citizens. Besides lectures and demos, the participants should be encouraged to join the fitness programs offered by these institutes or communities. The schools and local community centers can take help from health centers to open gyms and fitness centers and to construct walking tracks inside and near schools and commercial areas so that people find it easy to take exercise during break slots. Hence lectures and practical steps will help deal effectively with obesity and to reduce the rates over years.

Objective for implementing these activities

As stated earlier, the objective of partnering with private sector in health management here is to reduce the rate of obesity in Lansdowne particularly and to make it less than 24%. Currently it is 28%.

timelines

The obesity is a ticking bomb and the problem is that the bomb is getting bigger in size. The implementation of program suggested that activities should be directed to reduce population weight. The programs are hoped to be effective and reduce the population obesity rate in Lansdowne from 28% to 23% in next five years i.e. year 2018 and to reduce it up to 18% by 2020. The speed and pace of weight reduction is expected to increase with time. This is so because initially it takes longer to set up programs but once the programs are set and the public and private partnership starts working together, it will be easier to reduce population weight further. Hence, the results will be quite evident by year 2020 where the people of Lansdowne are projected to be much smarter than today.