Introduction
The paper aims to assess Panorama City’s community health and well-being. The area of focus for the assessment is health management, which is included in Gordon’s typology of functional health patterns (as cited in Edelman et al., 2013). According to Gordon (2011), eleven interdependent functional patterns affect a person’s health (as cited in Edelman et al., 2013). This typology can also be applied to a community and used for the current assessment. Although one cannot get a holistic understanding of Panorama City’s community health without evaluating all of the patterns, one can make preliminary conclusions judging by the state of health management.
Panorama City’s Community Health and Well-Being Assessment
The assessment of Panorama City community health would rely on the information available on the websites of local medical organizations, legal sources, and newspapers. This information would help assess the accessibility of healthcare services, such as well-child care and family planning, and the acceptability of sex education at schools. Apart from that, one would also observe some general healthcare management trends in the Panorama City community.
The community’s strengths include the availability of well-child clinics. One of them is Panorama City Esperanza Clinic, which provides healthcare services to underserved social groups (El Proyecto del Barrio). All the services, including family planning counseling, are accessible and affordable for the population (El Proyecto del Barrio). Family planning services are also available at many other community medical organizations (Centre for Family Health & Education; Lanark Family Medical Clinic; Kaiser Permanente). Another strength of Panorama City’s community health is the local attitude to sex education that is not only acceptable here but is required under the California Healthy Youth Act (2015) (California Legislative Information). In brief, Panorama City’s community has access to vital medical services and sex education, which positively characterizes its healthcare system.
Nevertheless, certain concerns related to health management in Panorama City became evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary issue is understaffing in medical organizations, but the administration of Kaiser Permanente Hospitals and Medical Centers did not provide adequate support to their staff in a critical situation (Smith, 2021). Instead, the staff’s wages were cut allegedly for hiring more personnel (Smith, 2021). Kaiser Permanente’s team threatened to organize a strike, but, fortunately, two sides of a conflict managed to find a compromise and sign an agreement (Smith, 2021). One should note that understaffing is a serious problem that affects medical personnel’s mental health and professional performance, which, in turn, negatively impact the community’s health. Thus, this situation might demonstrate the hospital administration’s inability to make efficient steps in emergencies or lack of interest in community health, which can be considered a weakness.
The COVID-19 is still the primary health concern worldwide, and Panorama City is not an exception. The number of hospitalized people in LA County still increases due to the Omicron outbreak (Grigoryants, 2022). The first major barrier that hinders overcoming the disease is medical personnel shortage. The local government should provide more educational programs for healthcare staff and attract new employees to medical organizations. Moreover, it is important to ensure that healthcare personnel has adequate working conditions that do not worsen their mental health and performance.
Another barrier is the lack of community awareness of the preventive means. According to Dr. Christina Ghaly, the LA County health services director, most infected people are not vaccinated (Grigoryants, 2022). Moreover, healthcare workers urge the population to wear masks and abstain from close contact with unmasked non-household members. The community needs to understand that healthcare professionals cannot fight the COVID-19 without their support and collaboration.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the assessment identified strong and weak points in the health management of Panorama City’s community. On the one hand, the local population has access to important medical services and facilities, including well-child care, family planning, and sex education. On the other hand, the COVID-19 crisis revealed some weak points in health management, such as understaffing and lack of support for healthcare staff. The COVID-19 is the community’s current primary health concern, which should be addressed by dealing with healthcare personnel shortage and raising the population’s awareness of preventive measures.
References
California Legislative Information. (n.d.). Chapter 5.6. California Healthy Youth Act [51930 – 51939]. Web.
Centre for Family Health & Education. (n.d.). Centre for Family Health & Education. Panorama City, CA. Web.
Edelman, C. L., Kudzma, E. C., & Mandle, C. L. (2013). Health promotion throughout the life span (8th ed.). Elsevier.
El Proyecto del Barrio. (n.d.). Panorama City Esperanza Clinic. Web.
Grigoryants, O. (2022). Tale of two surges: Omicron outbreak playing out very differently for LA County hospitals.Los Angeles Daily News. Web.
Kaiser Permanente. (n.d.). Panorama City: Primary care. Web.
Lanark Family Medical Clinic. (n.d.). Family planning. Web.
Smith, K. (2021). Kaiser, unions reach tentative agreement, averting Monday strike.Los Angeles Daily News. Web.