Health Indicators: Substance Use, Adults With Cancer, and Healthcare Insurance Coverage

Questions 1 and 2: Indicators
Author's Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course/Class:
Tutor:
Date:
Questions 1 and 2
Question 1
Oakland is the county seat of Alameda County, California, USA. Being the largest city in the county, the standard of health is an imperative aspect of the quality of life for the large urban and suburban population. According to Trudel-Fitzgerald et al. (2019), the health of a community integrates the essential elements of complete physical, mental, and social well-being among the people and not only the absence of diseases. The different categories of health indicators offer an opportunity to measure and track the trends of the health status in the community and offer insights that can help to identify the appropriate interventions that should be adopted based on the prevailing health challenges. While various health indicators are available to assess the situation at Alameda County, this paper focuses on Substance use, Adults with cancer, and healthcare insurance coverage among adults.
Figure 1 below shows that visits to the emergency department associated with substance abuse have dropped recently, as evident between the 2012-2014 and 2016-2018 periods. The trend implies that drug abuse and related health challenges have reduced in Oakland.
Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1. Substance abuse as a health indicator in Oakland CITATION Off22 \l 1033 (Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD), 2022)
Figure 2 shows that the number of adults with cancer in Oakland increased by 0.1% between 2018 and 2019. From these insights, the challenges posed by cancer in a growing population might be a challenge for public health.
Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 2. Adults with cancer in OaklandCITATION Con22 \l 1033 (Conduent Healthy Communities Institute, 2022a)
Figure 3 shows that the number of adults without health insurance increased between 2018 and 2019. This trend can be detrimental to public health by limiting the number of people who have access to care services and increasing pressure on the government and families to meet the health care obligations.
Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 3. Adults without health insurance in OaklandCITATION Con221 \l 1033 (Conduent Healthy Communities Institute, 2022b)
Among the health indicators, assessed improvements have been experienced in substance abuse, while cancer and lack of health insurance remain a threat. Two critical prevalent preventable diseases are COVID-19 and the Flu.
COVID-19 is still prevalent in the community, as highlighted by the emergence of new valiant. It requires individuals to be immunized and observe prevention measures such as social distancing and high levels of hygiene. Flu is another common preventable disease that requires immunization and proper hygiene (Hafeez et al., 2020). The chronic diseases linked to the challenges in public health are cancer and diabetes. There are various forms of cancer, with breast, colon, lung, pancreatic, prostate, and rectal cancer posing the highest risk of death. Diabetes is prevalent in the community due to high-risk factors that include the ageing population, substance abuse, alcohol use, tobacco use, and poor nutrition, among others.
Question 2
The key indicators that are important in the community health needs assessment (CHNA) include:
1 Substance Use Rate. This is important because it sheds light on the extent of drug abuse and its social and health impacts on the population.
2 Adults with Cancer. Treating cancer is costly and challenging for the well-being of individuals and the community. Understanding the prevalence offers an opportunity for improved planning and response that can save lives.
3 Health Care Access & Quality. This is an essential indicator in showing how health services should be expanded to meet the needs of all people.
4 Health insurance. The rate of health coverage among the people determines the quality of care they can access and the commitment by governments and families to addressing healthcare needs.
5 Health Information Technology. With the incre...