Evidence-Based Community Interventions

Introduction

Florida is a state found in the Southeastern side of the United States. This research paper is a study with a setting of Hillsborough County, which is a Florida Metropolitan.  Hillsborough County had a population of 1229226 by the year 2010. His county, together with Pasco, Pinellas and Hernadi comprise the Tampa Saint Petersburg.  In terms of physical size, Hillsborough is the largest county in the Saint Petersburg Metropolitan area. The county in question for this research paper has an urban setting, although there is a large population of poor and uneducated citizens. The most common Health system used in Hillsborough County, Florida is Medicaid. Medicaid is the Health system used in the entire United States and receives funding from the federal government to finance the medication of the poor and people of the average class. The paper uses the evidence corrected to examine the health issues in Hillsborough and suggestions on how to improve the same. In the healthcare sector, Florida Hospital Health Care System covers so many people of Florida and is big employers of the citizens of Hillsborough County. It employs nurses, doctors and other medical practitioners.

Health People 2020 is an initiative of the United States to have a healthy population by the year 2020. It focuses on diseases such as diabetes, obesity and HIV aids which have been rampant in the United States. The article has a framework that will lead to the implementation of vision.  The model in which Health People 2020 is based aims to establish national health objectives. This model also provides cities in the United States such as Hillsborough County, with a chance to use the provided data and tools to enhance the achievement of this dream.  The frame work created allows for a chance to mobilize health partners so that they can be more flexible in their working (Morris 2008). The 5 MAP-IT, also aims at tracking the community progress and creating a system to enhance of this vision, together with assessing the community needs. MAP-IT appears as a rational and implementable frame work towards the achievement of the 2020 vision.  The health indicators that ensue here are; Increased birth rates, decreased death rates that result from Coronary and heart diseases. The leading Health indicators communicate health issues being accorded a high priority in the American society.

The healthy people 2020 vision focuses on the twenty indicators such as Increased physical activity of the people, reduced populations of the overweight and obese people, reduced tobacco use, reduced drug and substance abuse, Responsible sexual behavior, Improved Mental Health reduced Injury and violence especially Homicide, Improved environmental conservation by protection of ozone and controlling pollution, Improved immunization against diseases and Improved access to healthcare (Roberts 2007).

Data Analysis Interpretation and Priority

Hillsborough County as a city in Florida is a faces several health issues. The level of education, especially the people with a high school diploma, is relatively low as it appears in the analyses of this research. Therefore, the levels of illiteracy are relatively high. To achieve the vision 2020 Health People, it is necessary to consider increasing levels of literacy in Hillsborough County. Another challenging factor to the health concern in Hillsborough County is the levels of poverty in this city. The level of poverty is alarming, and the government and private entrepreneurs should try hard to ensure that they create more jobs for the youth, so the economy becomes more stable to finance the health system in Hillsborough County. The three strengths that this County have a city has is the fact that it has a stable governance at the county level (Brownson 2011). This enhances cooperation between the people in all grounds. The health system in Hillsborough County is easy to improve because their society is not in conflict by any chance. This appears prioritizes the leading health indicator in Hillsborough County as drug and substance abuse. This is because this disease takes away so many lives in the Hillsborough County. Some health indicators articulated by the HP2020 show a significant strength in Hillsborough County’s situation of Health. These scenarios include the level of obesity in Hillsborough County, Drug and Substance abuse and the use of tobacco in this county. In the recent past, the rates of abuse of tobacco have relatively reduced in Hillsborough County. This is a notable strength to indicate that if the same trend continues, Hillsborough County would increase its chances to achieve the Healthy People vision by 2020 (Truglio-Londrigan 2012). Also, the manner in which the rates of Obesity and diabetes have been reducing in the recent past shows that Hillsborough County is progressing positively towards the achievement of the HP 2020 vision. This is a significant progress towards the health Status of this county and the entire Florida. This is because the improvement of health system reflects to the same improvement in terms of economic development and educational stability at large.

The abuse of drug and substance in Hillsborough County has reduced in the recent past. This percentage is expected to reflect on the factors. The priority Health issue of this research is drug abuse. This is because, in the recent past, the deaths resulting form have increased rapidly. To achieve the vision 2020 on time, it is noteworthy that the health practitioners of Hillsborough County should consider reducing drug abuse in this county since analysis show that at least 26% of the high school students in Hillsborough County had tried Marijuana by 2010.Also, 8.2% of the same students population was reported to have tried taking prescription pain relievers in order to get high (Burns 2002). There have also been instances of recreational use of oxycodone.

The determinants of Health model hold that factors such as economic stability, genetics, educational level and our income materially affect our health. The determinants of health include; the social economic environment we live, the physical environment and the person’s individual characteristics. This model can be used productively to analyze the health concern in Hillsborough County. The abuse of drugs is rampant because of the social economic factor surrounding the people of Hillsborough County. The economy of this city runs using a massive amount of cash flow, and this reflects to the children having a lot of money and a lot of time being idle.   The low level of education among the people of Hillsborough County translates to increased rates of drug and substance abuse. This also has a bearing on the crime patterns and trends in this city. Therefore, the society of Hillsborough County experiences some instability which causes the city to develop at a slow rate.

The population of Hillsborough County at large gets predisposed to a high risk of drowning their children to the vice of drug and substance abuse if care is not taken. Therefore, it is necessary for this population to change their behavior in terms of their lifestyle and the environment. For example, children who get brought up in a surrounding that is prone to immorality and drug abuse are likely to behave in the same way. Therefore, the residents of Hillsborough County should consider improving the environments in which their children are brought up. The determinants of health model al simples that education is an essential aspect of life in relation to a person’s health status and stability. An intervention should be made to improve the quality of education in Hillsborough County so that the state of health and the rates of drug abuse reduce by a substantial percentage.

Interventions

The society of Hillsborough County should make interventions solve the predicament of drug and substance abuse. To solve this problem, the nurses, the government and people should intervene so that the problem can be solved.  The role of nurses in these interventions should be to ensure that they respond immediately to the issues concerning the patients of drug abuse. Also, the nurses have a responsibility to sensitize the people against drug and substance abuse. This is a crucial t intervention by the nurses. The government should intervene to cases regarding drug abuse in Hillsborough County (Burns 2002). Funding rehabilitation systems for the victims of drug abuse and conducting initiatives and crusades to campaign against drug abuse is a valuable intervention. This intervention should entail the use of empirical data as evidence to prove the people of Hillsborough County that their society and the economy get profoundly affected by their drug abusing trends.

Conclusion

From the foregoing, this paper proposes Health policy that should be formed to ensure that the patients of drug abuse in Hillsborough County receive the required medication and rehabilitation on time. This is a key policy since it enhances medication of the poor people in Hillsborough County and reduces the death rates that result from drug abuse. Also, it enhances the creation of a society of a drug free Hillsborough County. It should also be improved so that it funds the medication of more people in Hillsborough County. Therefore, evidence based findings can be a hugely influential asset to ensure the production of a society whose health system is wholly functional. The health policy proposal should cover the medication of people below the line of poverty and enhance that people affected by drug abuse rectify their behavior through rehabilitation attempts.