Obesity in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania: a community health assessment

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.

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.

Time line for reduction in rate of obesity

Evaluation

It is evaluated that in the land of world's most obese people; America, the people of Lansdowne are obese than the average American. The people are required to realize that it is very important to reduce weight. The state, city and local bodies are playing a role but they should be more active in efforts to bring the rate of obesity down. Once the obesity reduction programs are active and the population is motivated to reduce their weight and to maintain their mass according to BMI, it is necessary to evaluate the performance and productivity of their activities. This will help increase the pace and/or change the number of resources and/or introduce new programs. The programs evaluation can be done by conducting survey on the population generally and particularly on those citizens that were obese at the time of start of the weight reduction programs. The surveys and questioners will help find what methods of weight reduction were more effective than the others and what methods were least effective. Also the evaluation can be made by finding which gender, race, ethnicity and age group is most and least benefited from these programs and interventions.

The improvements in fitness programs can be brought by hiring experts from the countries with slim and healthy population. These experts will help find how to maintain a healthy body weight. For example, like many European countries do, marathon race in the city during break hours at work is a very healthy activity. It guarantees health of whole population not just few people. Hence adopting this marathon culture can be one such recommended intervention for the people of Lansdowne.

Conclusion

I used to believe since long that fat people are healthy people and that the obese people can only enjoy eating. However reality is different. The obese people are neither completely healthy nor they can simple sit and eat rather their daily routine jobs are more of a burden for then than for a normal person. Because a normal weight person is more active and gets tired late. I found that people of America are in serious need of weight control awareness and intervention programs. The people of America are most obese globally. The healthy eating, activity and lifestyle patterns will help maintain a healthy and most productive weight. The people will also be safe from many diseases and health disorders. The people and administration of Lansdowne should recognize that they are ahead of majority Americans in weight race. They should admit that it is in their hand and not only hormones to control weight. This can be done by taking weight reduction programs seriously and working out. The citizens can set an example for other Americans too to reduce weight and have a healthy lifestyle. The role of medical staff particularly nurses is vital in the success of weight reduction programs.