Healthcare in the State of Maryland is one of the most improved sectors in the United States of America. Maryland State has a very fascinating history owing to its endowment with vast resources ranging from public healthcare resources, production companies, administrative centers and serene natural environment which contributed immensely to its popularity. It boasts with the most improved healthcare systems despite being one of the most populous States in the United States of America. Surprisingly, it is among the smallest States with a geographical coverage of 12, 406.68 square miles which is equivalent to 32, 133.2 square Kilometers (Aiken & Nathan, 2004).
In brief, the State of Maryland consists of 23 counties. It has an average county population of about 237,000 people with densely populated cities and suburban centers. Some of the major Maryland cities are Washington, DC, and Baltimore which is actually the most populous of all other cities in the State of Maryland, followed by Washington, DC. Despite these factors which are known to pose great challenges to healthcare service provision, the State of Maryland has an established healthcare system. It has a decentralized healthcare system running from the State level to counties through Maryland Healthcare Commission (MHCC), which is bestowed with the responsibilities of healthcare planning and instrumentation. As such, Maryland’s population is usually provided with adequate and reliable healthcare services (Fox, 2009).
In general, the State of Maryland has a long public health history with very remarkable events and high dynamic health changes which have shaped its overall image. However, it is important to note that, the state of Maryland like any other State in the United States of America have had great healthcare challenges in the past and even at the present moment. Nevertheless, its efforts to establish a well streamlined healthcare system have recorded tremendous success, especially in the last few decades. Maryland’s healthcare success can be attributed to the well established and modern healthcare infrastructure and other essential resources such as adequate healthcare personnel in virtually all healthcare facilities across the State. Success in healthcare has also been realized through designing of effective public healthcare policies and regulations which have improved healthcare service provision thus establishing a sense of homogeneity and consistency. However, all the success realized in Maryland State’s healthcare sector has not been sorely by its own but under the assistance of the U.S National Government: particularly in establishment of healthcare facilities and supply of essential medical resources. As a result, Maryland State has so far emerged to be one of the top States in the United States of America with the highest concerns on public health (Fox, 2009). Therefore, Maryland’s population enjoys high quality public health. This is so because the State has also focused on sanitation and natural environment in addition to the highly developed healthcare system so as to ensure that its large population faces minimal health risks.
Significant events in Maryland’s public health history include numerous activities that have been carried out by the Maryland Healthcare Commission and other local public health agencies such as public health training institutions. Precisely, the entire history of public health in Maryland can be explained by the history of Maryland Public Health Association (MPHA) which have stood the test of time and remained as a symbol of integrity and reliability with regard to general public health. Maryland Public Health Association is affiliated to the American Public Health Association which comprises of public health professionals from across the Nation (Young & Sultz, 2010). Since its conception in February, 1897, the Maryland Public Health Association has been very instrumental to the State’s public health improvement and rapid growth. More important to note is its role in establishing public health infrastructure with main objective of providing reliable public health services to Maryland’s ever increasing population. Much success has been realized through collaboration with various organizations specifically Public Health Training Institutions including universities and local colleges. For example, John Hopkins University located in the city of Baltimore has been on the fore-front in designing public health initiates as well as conducting health research programs through the University’s Department of Health under which lies the famous John Hopkins Hospital (Fox, 2009).
Conclusively, a comprehensive comparison between public health and community health in Maryland State gives an overall feature of health systems in the entire State. Maryland’s public health systems are designed to enable effective disease control and prevention thus promoting human health. However, community health has for a long time been faced with a number of inadequacies, ranging from lack of highly skilled health professionals to laxity of the general healthcare staff. This is a very great contrast to the well established public health systems. Therefore, community health is not well implemented, basically due to human related issues such as professional incompetence and poor medical practices. As a result, Maryland State’s population lacks some essential health services even though healthcare facilities are of outstanding standards (Kotecki et.al. 2011). Therefore, efficient community health needs to be established at the community level particularly in community health clinics.
References
Aiken, C. & Nathan, J., (2004). The American Counties: Origins of County Names, Dates of Creation, and Population Data, 1950-2000. Lanham: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Fox Carroll, (2009). Public Health Administration in Baltimore. Memphis: General Books LLC.
Kotecki, E., McKenzie, J., & Pinger, R., (2011). An Introduction to Community Health. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Young, K., & Sultz, H., (2010). Health Care USA. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.