Community Health Assessment & Improvement Process Paper

Community Health Assessment & Improvement Process
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Background
Community health assessment and improvement plans are necessary to identify the health needs of a community and addressing them. Implementation of community health assessment is associated with improved health outcomes focusing on taking based on the local health needs identified (Rabarison, Timsina, & Mays, 2015). Additionally, the priority health status are identified within a specific geographical areas including the person who are vulnerable, their unique health status, people living in the community and the problems that are presented. The communal benefits activities include improving access to health care provision, improving public health outcomes. After identifying the health needs, an implementation strategy is identified to address the community health needs. The community health assessment plan will focus on the area of Queens Borough, New York based on the report by St John’s Episcopal Hospital.
Community Health Assessment
The NYS Prevention Agenda (2013-2017) is a policy initiative to improve the health outcomes of New York by taking into account the health care needs, and it has been adopted by health and community-based organizations in New York (St John’s Episcopal Hospital, 2014). Proper planning and assessment is a long-term initiative to addressing the health care problems by focusing on the community health assessment and the improvement process plan (Plescia, Koontz, & Laurent, 2001). Such initiatives are crucial to developing new policies and promoting health. Adopting and implementing a policy framework through the community health improvement plan facilitates collaboration among stakeholders to address the health issues of the people for a specified time frame and covering specified geographical area (Rabarison, Timsina, & Mays, 2015). Community health partners also rely on these plans to make decisions about how to use resources, set priorities and coordinate activities to achieve a common goal of improved health outcomes.
Statistics
The population of the Queens borough was estimated to be 2,339,150 in July1, 2014. The population of Queens is the most diverse in the country, with no racial group having the 50% threshold majority (Census.gov, 2016). In 2014, the White alone category accounted for at 49.1% of the population, the Black population was 20.8%, Asians accounted for 25.8% and the Hispanic population was 28.4% (Census.gov, 2016). New York as a whole is one of the most favorite destination by foreign-born immigrants, and this has influenced the demographic profile of the area over years. Because of differences in the population and access to information there are health disparities among different groups residing in the borough. The county health rankings and information from the New York Department of Health provide information about health indicators.
Socioeconomic indicators
There were health disparities in the borough by racial, economic and a place of residence. Poverty was mostly concentrated among the minorities, and those with low education attainment were more likely to suffer higher illness rates, disproportionately and report poor health outcomes. Poor families and individual’s found it difficult to access health care with no health insurance coverage, while also more likely to buy unhealthy foods. Additionally, the literacy level influenced the purchasing decision of the people and how they manage their health. In 2014, 19.2% of the population under 65 years of age did not have health insurance compared to the national average of 12% (Census.gov, 2016).
Vision of the plan
The rationale for the Community Health Needs Assessment and Community Service Plan 2014– 2017 articulates that there is a need to have safe and equitable health care, with institutions that support improving health outcomes (St’ John’s Episcopal hospital, 2014). Despite the need for more robust policies targeting the community, health disparities and poverty levels higher than the national average are a stumbling block to achieving this. Additionally, the plan focuses on improving ability and capacity to address community health concerns the implementation plans are strategic as they integrate the role of health sectors in chaining the health outcomes in the county and the state of New York. Hence, the action plans highlight improving physical and mental health care, addressing social determinants of health, improving healthy lifestyles, preventing violence and family health.
Improvement plan
In developing a community health assessment plan various stakeholder need to be brought together to bring about changes in the society, as community health assessment is a key pillar to improving better health outcomes (St’ John’s Episcopal hospital, 2014). The health planning process has focused on various plans, and hospitals have also articulated their own plans based on the community health information available (Rabarison, Timsina, & Mays, 2015). A city –wide effort to assess the community health needs of residents in Queens borough highlight that community players play an important role in health improvement as they were necessary for the coordination efforts and response to health needs based on understanding about the community needs. Consequently, the improvement plan highlights the data available to inform the stakeholders about the intervention process. There is concern that rising poverty rates will pose a risk towards reducing the health disparities in the city for both children and adults. This is particularly for residents living in areas that have high poverty concentrations.
The community health stakeholders surveyed in the study by St John’s Episcopal Hospital played a crucial role in implementing the plan, and there were community meetings to gather information and determine the concerns of the community members of Rockaway a part of Queens, the plan proposes changes to be effected in the years 2013-2017 (St’ John’s Episcopal hospital, 2014). consequently, the study’s participant found out that mental health needs improving service coordination, education, mental health and the participation of elected officials would ensure that the community health sector are able to meet the community health needs. Since public participation made it easier to prioritize on area that required improvement, the interventions were undertaken.
Substance and alcohol abuse
To ensure the success of the interventions the document first identified public health priorities and concerns. Promoting mental healt...