Introduction
Access to health care has always been considered as one of the most decisive factors when assessing the overall well-being of a nation. Indeed, according to researchers, inequities in the paradigm of health care serve as a reflection of the bigger socio-economic picture, especially when it comes to the patterns of an expensive and complicated system of US health care (Wheeler & Bryant, 2017). For this reason, over the past years, much attention has been paid to the notion of community health in the context of ethnic and racial minorities across the country. In terms of the present presentation, the community health assessment will be focused on the health state of the Hispanic and Latino community in the state of Florida and Broward County, in particular. The overview of the community’s position will be analyzed through the prism of an interview conducted with a community health nurse in Hollywood, Florida.
Community Description
According to the statistics, the Hispanic population remains one of the most rapidly growing communities in the US (Pew Research Center, 2020). As a result, this ethnic group accounts for more than half of the total population growth in the US since 2010. Although the state of Florida is not considered as a community with a high Latino share, Broward County’s demographics demonstrate almost 30% Hispanic population (“Demographics,” 2020). However, even despite such statistical evidence and a steadily increasing population, the Hispanic or Latino community remains one of the most vulnerable groups in terms of access to health care and acceptance within the community (Castañeda & Díaz, 2017). Thus, it is vital to dwell on the socio-economic state of the Hispanic population in the US.
Regarding the fact that the socio-economic status of the community is inevitably related to the patterns of health care access, it is necessary to dwell on the economic potential of the Hispanic community. According to research, the Hispanic population, although willing to work, experience higher unemployment rates and earn 26% less money for the same workload when compared to non-Hispanic whites (Joint Economic Committee, 2019). The level of education, although experiencing rapid positive development, remains quite unoptimistic, with almost 30% of the population not having a high school degree (Joint Economic Committee, 2019). Such daunting statistics result in lower rates of economic stability and limited access to health care and proper insurance.
According to the statistics, the Hispanic population obtains the highest uninsured rate among the US residents (Castañeda & Díaz, 2017). When speaking more in detail, it becomes evident that Hispanic older adults who are expected to have their governmentally covered Medicaid or Medicare insurance are limited in their access to insurance, with almost 19% lacking coverage. The situation is even worse with young adults aged 19-24, as 35% of the population does not have a medical facility to address. Finally, there is a significant gap in terms of the medical facilities available for the Hispanic community and non-Hispanic white population, with the latter having more opportunities to address private medical facilities and doctor’s offices.
Community Barriers
The aforementioned community description vividly demonstrates the extent to which the Hispanic community is limited in terms of health care access. However, besides the explicit economic hardships, the Hispanic community struggles with a variety of ethnic and racial prejudice and language barriers. According to researchers, the Hispanic population is more likely to delay health care due to the fact that they feel discriminated against during the treatment process (Oh et al., 2020). The major health access barrier concerns language, as the vast majority of Hispanics born outside the US have difficulties in terms of communication in English, whereas the health facilities rarely provide patients with the opportunity to express their concerns in Spanish. Another significant barrier is the issue of generalization of the community, with many people living with the impression that all Hispanic population has severe issues in terms of financial status. For this reason, even well-to-do Hispanics feel rather undermined by the healthcare providers, as the latter implicitly treat people as if they had no opportunity to secure proper medical intervention.
Summary of Community Assessment
Given the provisions highlighted in the Functional Community Health Assessment, it is necessary to outline some of the most relevant findings in the context of the Hispanic community in the state of Florida. The highlights obtained may be observed on the slides.
Value/Belief pattern: The vast majority of Hispanic population are Roman Catholics. The major values include family ties and preserving Spanish language.
Health perception/Management: Some of the predominant health issues include liver failure, obesity, and heart diseases. Latinos have generally lower death rates when compared to the non-Hispanic whites.
Nutrition/Metabolic: Due to socio-economic disparities, Hispanic populaiton is generally less likely to access healthy nutrition. Hispanic culture places major emphasis on meal as means of unity.
Environmental health concerns: The living conditions for the vast majority of Hispanic population are not safe in terms of precaution practices. The overwhelming majority of the community works in construction, being exposed to unsafe conditions and high noise levels.
Activity/Exercise: The obesity levels indicate the prevalence of sedentary lifestyle. Although Hispanic community has access to a range of physical activity centers, they often save money for more basic needs.
Sleep/Rest: The rest rates are relatively poor due to longer work shifts, high rates of tobacco use that leads to cardiac and respiratory health issues.
Cognitive/Perceptual:
- The existence of communication barrier.
- Poor access to education (lower compared to the national level)
- Available education grants tailored for Hispanic community.
Self-perception/Self-concept: The cultural value of Hispanic community is undermined drastically by the necessity to assimilate in order to be accepted within the national community.
Role/Relationship: Hispanic community struggles with implicit prejudice both from the other community members, public and law enforcement institutions.
Sexuality/ Reproductive:The population increase defines proper reproductive health rates. The overall notion of sexuality, safe sex, and prevention of STDs is limited by the lack of education.
Coping/Stress: The rates of violent behavior, substance abuse, and stress are critical for the community. The present support resources are not enough in the context of the issue scopes.
Considering the aforementioned data retrieved from the official CDC statistics, it may be concluded that the overall patterns of Hispanic lifestyle in the community are primarily predetermined by the existence of a socio-economic gap. Once it is eliminated through the eradication of systemic racism, the overall community health outcome will improve radically (Colen et al., 2017). Thus, it is necessary to dwell on the existing resources that secure assistance and guidance for the Hispanic population in Florida.
Funding Sources and Community Partnerships
In terms of the modern Hispanic community context, there is no direct need to provide direct financial help to the population. Instead, it is necessary to secure a sufficient number of assisting tools and resources that would help community representatives to learn the ways to obtain health insurance and promote individual health. For this reason, Florida-based public health institutions are aimed at creating educational programs and support systems. A part of these initiatives is funded through the Closing the Gap Grant Program.
Summary of the Interview
In order to obtain a better perspective on the matter of Hispanic health in Broward County, the decision was made to communicate with the health care provider in one of the general hospitals in Hollywood, Florida. The position currently occupied by the interviewee is the director of nursing, which means that a major part of her job is dedicated to the direct communication with patients as well as analysis of nurses’ communication with Hispanic diaspora representatives. Thus, the interview was comprised of fifteen questions related to three major topics: the interviewee’s personal experience of Hispanics and health care, subjective evaluation of the current health care scenario, and potential solutions for this scenario.
The first block of questions was dedicated to the description of the provider’s experience with Hispanic patients and overall perception of the community within the setting. The vast majority of responses were revolving around the idea outlined in the present quote. Such responses justify the idea that despite the absence of explicit racism and ethnic discrimination, some professionals tend to undermine the importance of ethnic affiliation either because they are not willing to pay attention to because they are afraid of asking Hispanic residents about their ethnic and cultural affiliation. Such a pattern contributes to the increase in the already existing gap between the Hispanic community and quality health care assessment.
The next block of questions concerned the provider’s subjective evaluation of today’s health care in terms of cooperation with the Hispanic community. Most responses were related to the issue of modern practitioners’ inability to embrace the need to adapt to the needs of a considerable part of the state population, claiming that it was not their sphere of responsibility to adjust the community health patterns according to the patients’ individual needs.
Arguably the most important aspect of the interview concerned the discussion of the possible solutions to the existing issue. According to the provider, the number of Hispanic patients had been increasing dramatically in Florida over the past years, whereas Spanish-speaking providers were more of an exception than an anticipated regularity. For this reason, it may be concluded that it is vital for the professional medical community to create a training curriculum dedicated to cultural awareness and the ability to interact with ethnic and racial minorities.
Identification of the Issue
Considering the data presented above, it would be reasonable to assume that it is challenging to outline only one issue that needs to be addressed in order to eliminate the current gap. However, while the overwhelming majority of these issues require intervention at the federal level, such aspects as the enhancement of professional training may be tackled on the level of the medical facility. Thus, the primary issue outlined in the current scenario is the lack of professional training on the matter of communication with Hispanic patients while respecting their cultural values, language, and community-specific health challenges.
Identification of the Opportunity for Health Promotion
After considering the answers obtained during the interview, it became evident that the current healthcare system already had no choice but to partially adapt to the new reality of providing quality care. However, this adaptation was not embraced positively and systematically, as it mostly concerned individual professionals who had a certain level of cultural awareness. Thus, the opportunity for health promotion lies in the attempt to modify these instances into systematic cultural awareness training.
Given the statistics that the population of Broward Community includes almost 30% of Hispanic residents, it would be safe to assume that there already exists an extensive social network aimed at assisting the Hispanic community. Thus, in order to move this assistance further, community health providers are to establish partnerships with these communities in order to promote healthy behaviors and to learn from these networks about the Hispanic culture and values. In such a way, the Hispanic community would feel safer about addressing healthcare facilities and medical professionals who are sensitive to the subject of ethnicity and race.
Conclusion
Having considered all the aforementioned aspects of the Hispanic community within the context of the US and the state of Florida, in particular, it may be concluded that despite the impressive population numbers, Hispanic community health has a variety of environmental challenges. Some of them include disproportional pay, limited access to health care, lack of insurance, and ethnic discrimination. As a result, the Hispanic community struggles with health perception, nutrition, cognitive and sleep patterns, self-perception, and stress.
Undeniably, the vast majority of these issues are to be addressed on the level of governmental institutions. However, in order to understand the scope of responsibility that health care should obtain, an interview with the director of nursing was held. It was established during the interview that the primary task of the medical professional in the context of communication is the development of cultural sensitivity, awareness, and respect. Such results may be achieved through meaningful cooperation with community-oriented organizations and networks, along with collaborating with Hispanic patients in non-discriminating and non-biased ways.
References
Castañeda, X., & Díaz, V. (2017). Access to health care for Latinos in the Unites States [PDF document].
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]. (2020). Health of Hispanic or Latino population.
Colen, C. G., Ramey, D. M., Cooksey, E. C., & Williams, D. R. (2018). Racial disparities in health among nonpoor African Americans and Hispanics: The role of acute and chronic discrimination. Social Science & Medicine, 199, 167–180. Web.
Demographics. (2020). Web.
Joint Economic Committee. (2019). The economic state of the Latino community in America [PDF document]. Web.
Oh, H., Trinh, M. P., Vang, C., & Becerra, D. (2020). Addressing barriers to primary care access for Latinos in the US: An agent-based model. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 11(2). Web.
Pew Research Center. (2020). US Hispanic population surpassed 60 million in 2019, but growth has slowed. Web.
Wheeler, S. M., & Bryant, A. S. (2017). Racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care. Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics, 44(1), 1-11.