Major Community Health Issues

Community Health Issue

Each segment of the population plays a helpful role in a healthy society. All ages are important in one way or the other as they all have something to contribute to the greater well-being of one another. Today's population reflects an imbalance of sorts. Today many of the elderly people are retiring and requiring more healthcare attention. This segment of the population has the potential to drain the resources of a community in all types of matters. Keeping our senior citizens healthy and active remains a priority for those wishing to see a healthful environment. I've chosen to investigate the senior citizens health problems as a reason to enhance the health of a total society. Specifically investigating into the falls of senior citizens and the problems and opportunities they present will help increase learning and understanding him towards a great potential.

According to the World Health Organization "fall related injuries are more common among older persons and they are a major cause of pain, disability, loss of independence and premature death." Specifically, the WHO attributes risk factors as a useful tool in solving this problem. Whether the risk factors fall under the category of behavioral, environmental, biological or socioeconomic, they all have something to contribute to why an older person would fall down and the impacts of that fall. Although it may seem obvious, there are many factors that contribute to why someone would fall down. It is important for us to understand this due the fact that healthcare resources siphoned away from more important tasks is detrimental to any society and healthcare methods.

Another reason to investigate this is the impact of population growth into the elderly groups. The World Health Organization stated "that the numbers of falls increase in magnitude as the number of older adults increase in many nations throughout the world. Falls exponentially increase with age related biological change, therefore he pronounced number of persons are of the age of 80 years will trigger substantial increase in false and fall injury at an alarming rate." For these reasons it is important to address this subject and understand what these risk factors are and how they contribute to these falls.

It seems that the best approach for eliminating falls in the elderly segment of population is prevention. Prevention will most likely cure all ailments and problems within an individual's life but in this case specifically, even more. Understanding one's own environment and how he or she reacts to certain stimuli will no doubt be helpful in understanding how to keep one's balance in a time of imbalance. Lessening the impact of falls will also help diminish unnecessary strain on healthcare resources as well. Treating one another with respect and patience, especially towards the elderly is required in this approach. Understanding that as time progresses certain physical capabilities may diminish but should not be totally ignored or forgotten either. Encouraging confidence within the elderly segment of the population will no doubt help increase the quality of their life, and at the same time make them feel more healthy. This approach of taking prevention should be utilized as much as possible.