Introduction
The community in Collier County, Florida, faces certain ethical and legal challenges and issues that directly affect the delivery of health care in the region. Such ethical issues as the unfair distribution of health care resources and the inadequate disease prevention practices were identified during the community assessment process. Furthermore, some legal issues, including ineffective waste management and drug and substance abuse, were identified as negatively affecting the wellness of the community’s representatives. It is important to reflect on the identified ethical and legal issues and describe resources and programs that can be utilized to address the problems.
Discussion of Ethical and Legal Issues
The assessment of the community indicated that its members suffer from the unfair distribution of health care services and resources associated with the lack of health care facilities and competent employees in the county. As a result, the community’s representatives are unable to receive the necessary and bias-free assistance in time. Inequalities in access to health care services lead to increasing rates of respiratory and heart diseases because persons cannot receive timely consultation and treatment (Finkelman & Kenner, 2014, p. 112). This ethical issue is directly connected with inadequate disease prevention practices characteristic for the community. The respondents participating in the assessment stated that they did not receive adequate information on risks associated with different types of diseases to prevent their development. For instance, the community’s members have no access to the appropriate information on Trichomoniasis and diabetes.
Ineffective waste management and drug and substance abuse are legal issues that need to be discussed in relation to the community. It was found that the management strategies regarding biomedical waste and other types of hazardous waste are not discussed by community representatives as effective. In addition, such a legal issue as drug and substance abuse is discussed as the primary cause of the high percentage of suicides among the community’s youth. These legal problems require a multidimensional approach to be resolved (Trujillo-Londirgan & Lewenson, 2013).
Programs or Resources Available
Even though Collier County implemented several programs to address the ethical and legal issues in the community, there is still a lack of resources to respond to the problems of drug and substance abuse and disease prevention. To overcome the problem of unfair distribution of services, the local authority supports programs initiated by Neighborhood Health Clinic to provide them equal access to health care services (Trujillo-Londirgan & Lewenson, 2013). Furthermore, specialists in biomedical waste work to support the Hazardous Materials Management Program in the county. Still, existing disease control and prevention campaigns are ineffective to inform the population about infectious diseases and risks of substance abuse.
Available Resources
The identified ethical and legal issues can be addressed effectively with references to the resources that are not utilized currently (Finkelman & Kenner, 2014, p. 114). Thus, to overcome the problem of substance abuse in the county, it is important to focus on the proper implementation of strategies developed in the context of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health (SAMH) Program followed in different counties of Florida. In addition, the problem of using ineffective disease prevention strategies can be addressed with the help of resources identified in the Florida State Health Improvement Plan.
Conclusion
The development of ethical and legal issues in Collier County is a result of the ineffective use of resources, strategies, and programs that can be helpful to improve disease prevention and influence legal aspects such as waste management and substance abuse.
References
Finkelman, A., & Kenner, C. (2014). Professional nursing concepts. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Trujillo-Londirgan, M., & Lewenson, S. B. (2013). Public health nursing: Practical population based-based care. Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.