Las Vegas Nevada Community Assessment

Community Assessment

Las Vegas

Las Vegas Nevada Community Assessment

Community Demographics

According to U.S. censor board Las Vegas city has population was 2,643,085 with majority of white (80.3%) while almost 8% African Black . About 60% of the population have their own homes. Poverty level as of 2008 statistics, 11% people living below poverty level.

As regards risk and hazards management, amongst the 35 major cities, Las Vegas was found to be having lowest rations for mutually property and violent crime.( U.S. Census Bureau). There are currently fifteen fire stations and 522 firefighters and paramedics situated all through the City offering 24-hour fire and emergency medical service (EMS). Las Vegas has Seven Metropolitan Police Department substations, out of which four situated within the City limits, holding more than 2,000 uniformed officers, offering 24-hour police response within 5 minutes.

Education

Nevada ranks last of all states in the United States for the number of high school students who go to college directly after graduation (National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, 2006). Nevada also ranks 45 out of 50 states in the percentage of residents who are over 24 years old and have attained a college or professional degree (Census Scope, 2006). Nationwide, college enrollment rates are significantly lower for high school students whose parents do not hold a college degree than for high school students whose parents completed a college degree (Choy, 2001; National Center for Education Statistics, 2001).

The nature of the job market in Las Vegas is service industry oriented. Las Vegas is a rapidly growing city with a large number of job opportunities that do not require a college education. Many jobs in Las Vegas are in the service sector, such as casino and hotel positions. A review of the employment classified section of a Las Vegas newspaper found 15 of 19 pages advertised job opportunities were in the service sector, such as casino, hotel, construction, and hospitality (Job Classified Section, 2007). Few job advertisements in the classified section indicated that a college degree was required (Job Classified Section, 2007). Nevada ranks 45 of 50 states and the District of Columbia in percentage of residents who are over 24 years old who have attained a college or professional degree (Census Scope, 2006).

In 2000, approximately 15% of the working men and women in Las Vegas worked in the art, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, and food industries (Population Studies Center of the University of Michigan, n.d.). The national average in 2000 was 4% for entertainment and food, 4% professional, and 7% in manufacturing (Population Studies Center of the University of Michigan, n.d.). The unemployment rate in Nevada in April 2007 was 4.4%, compared to the national average of 4.5% (United States Department of Labor, n.d.). The unemployment rate in Las Vegas was 4.3% in April 2007 (United States Department of Labor, n.d.).

Also, results of a study by Lee, Sax, Kim, and Hagedorn (2004) utilizing 5,000 students from nine campuses of the Los Angeles Community College District, reported varied proportions of minority students across parental education levels. Lee (2004) reflected that Latino/a and Mexican-American students were in all likelihood designate of first-generation position, and the maximum percentage of the students' parents had completed only junior high school level of education or less.

Health Issues

Like all over the U.S.A., obesity has become the major health issue in Las Vegas Nevada Community. Then there is mental illness, almost 28,000 are mentally ill. According to disease statistics (2005-2009), mostly cased recorded of Influenza, RSV, Chlamydia and HIV.

On issue which this report going to discuss in detail is the lead hazard. Extensive amounts of data have been collected from areas of the country with known lead hazards, hazards that have been identified through hundreds of thousands of elevated blood lead levels and through research studies. There is also evidence of the presence of traditional and some non-traditional lead hazards in the housing and commercial building stock of Clark County, Nevada, USA

The analyses suggest that the pre-1978 structures in Clark County Nevada, USA do not follow national trends pertaining to the prevalence of lead-based paint, and lead in dust and soil. Only a small portion of the childcare center screened had traditional lead hazards, while a slightly higher portion of centers had non-traditional sources such as tile, and playground equipment.

Due to the importance of this issue the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) received a local Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPPP) grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2006. This grant provided for the creation of the CLPPP in Southern Nevada that will be improved upon and eventually expanded to encompass the entire state of Nevada. One important aspect of the program is Primary Prevention which aims to determine what lead hazards exist in a community and how to abate those hazards to prevent children from being exposed to lead. It is estimated that after the third National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) was administered in 1988-1994 that there were 1.7 million children in the U.S. with blood lead levels (BBL) above 10µg/dL (Myers, Davidson, Weitzman, & Lanphear, 1997). A BLL ? 10µg/dL can severely affect a child's health and well being and lower values may also cause harm (Canfield, Henderson, Cory-Slechta, Cox, Jusko, & Lanphear, 2003). The CDC estimates that there are currently 250,000 children with blood lead levels above 10µg/dL (Department of Health and Human Services; Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008).

Health Effects

The human body has no beneficial uses for lead, there is no nutritional value, and it is highly toxic (Williams, James, & Roberts, 2000). Lead has been shown to cause neurological damage to both animals and humans alike. The most susceptible human populations to lead poisoning are young children and occupationally exposed workers (Williams, James, & Roberts, 2000; Goyer, 1990). Exposure to lead in high enough doses can, and has, lead to death (Nadakavukaren, 2006; Williams, James, & Roberts, 2000).