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Introduction
This community assessment was conducted in Naples community within Collier County, southwest Florida. The main objective of conducting this assessment was to evaluate the general health status of the target population. Accordingly, this would lay the ground for developing appropriate mechanisms for resolving the issues identified. The assessment used Public Health Nursing Assessment Tool (PHNAT) to gather relevant data about the community. PHNAT was used to guide the assessment process in order to facilitate an effective evaluation of the community’s general health status (Curley and Vitale, 2012). The PHNAT also explores other related statistics such as the quality of life and wellbeing, disparities in accessing health, and different factors that affect health of the population. This assessment is based on the first and second sections of the PHNAT. The data collected using PHNAT is analyzed in the following sections of this paper.
Determinants of Health
This section of the PHNAT focuses on gathering data about various factors that determine the health status of the population. The determinants of health include biological factors, social behaviors, physical environment, and social environment (Curley and Vitale, 2012). According to the US Census Bureau, the population of permanent residents in Collier County is estimated to be 324,422 while that of Naples is 19,939 people. The entire state of Florida’s population for permanent residents is estimated to be 19,057,542. The population of Collier County has increased significantly in the last few years due to various factors such as immigration and natural population increase. The population density of Collier County is estimated to be about 125 people per square mile. The biggest segment of the population in the county is made up of non-Hispanic whites. However, the county is also highly diversified with several people from other cultural and racial backgrounds living in the area as well.
The population data for the community can be tabulated as shown below:
The population of Collier County can be further analyzed into different age groups, races, and sex as shown below:
The data above indicates that Naples and the wider Collier County area is mostly comprised of older people. Most of the population is made up of white-non Hispanic majority with other races making up the other minor percentages of the residents in the region. With a median age of 42%, most of the residents in Collier County are older citizens. The largest segment of the population is aged 25 years and above.
Another crucial factor in assessing the health of the population is income (Upvall and Leffers, 2014). Income of the population or the economic situation of the community affects how the residents access health services. According to statistics collected in 2010, the median income of the county is at $58106 while that of the broader state of Florida is at $47661. Moreover, the rate of unemployment in the region has been worsening in the past few years. In 2011, the unemployment rate was at 10.3%. Similarly, about 12.2% of the area’s population lives below the poverty line. However, most of the residents in the county are well educated; with education levels of people aged above 25 years with high school diplomas is at 95.4%. Those aged above 25 years with college degrees are about 48.9%.
Social behaviors of the residents also have a significant impact on the general health status of the residents. Some of the most popular social behaviors in the county include swimming, tattooing and other recreational activities such as drinking alcohol and tobacco smoking among others (Curley and Vitale, 2012).
The environment in the county can be broadly understood as consisting of the beaches, sceptic systems, biomedical wastes, industries, farms and recreational parks among other areas. These places bring different health risks to the people. For instance, beaches pose a threat of vibrio vulnificus, a disease cause by vibrio bacteria found in salt water (Novick, Morrow, and Mays, 2008). Biomedical wastes come from funeral homes, salons, tattoo establishments, nursing homes and other similar places (Curley and Vitale, 2012). If not properly disinfected and disposed of, these biomedical wastes pose a serious challenge to environmental health.
Analysis of Heath Status
The data collected in the first part of the PHNAT can be analyzed to determine vital statistics about the community, common diseases and causes of death. These factors will help to paint a clear picture of the general health status of the community (Upvall and Leffers, 2014).
Collier County is recognized among the healthiest counties in Florida. However, the county encounters several health challenges like most other counties in the state. Some of the most common communicable diseases in the county include chlamydia, gonorrhea, tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS (Novick et al., 2008). The riskiest population is the elderly people aged over 65 years. Frequent occurrence of these ailments is also owed to the fact that they are associated with the age of the patients (Upvall and Leffers, 2014). The rates of these communicable diseases in Collier County can be compared with the statistics in the county as shown in the table below:
Among some of the leading causes of death in the county include cancer, coronary diseases, chronic respiratory ailments, cerebrovascular diseases (CVA), unintentional injuries, and Alzheimer’s disease. According to the US census Bureau report (2010), malignant neoplasm cancer was the leading cause of cancer, accounting to about 730 deaths in Collier County. Heart disease followed closely resulting in 634 deaths. Suicide and motor vehicle accidents follow distantly at 17 and 19% respectively. Most of these risks are associated with lifestyles of the people as well as their ages.
Other important statistics in assessing the health status of the county is the morbidity and mortality rates. The county attracts immigrants and refugees from many other countries and regions. Most of these immigrants and refugees may not be immunized from certain key diseases, hence posing a threat to the wellbeing of the other residents in the area (Novick et al., 2008). Nevertheless, about 94.5% of the kindergarten students in the county have been immunized. The mortality rates in the county have been on the decrease in the past few years and are, in fact, comparable to the national statistics from the Federal government. On the other hand, Collier County’s birth rate, at 13.6%, is one of the worst in the country. The preterm birthrate is at 11.6%. Infant mortality rate in the county is at 2.8 per 1000 births. Collier County is one of the few counties that boast of a longer life expectancy. Life expectancy in the Southwest Florida region is estimated to be at 85 years for women and 81 years for men (Curley and Vitale, 2012).
How Community/ Public Health Nurses Can Utilize the Data
The data discussed above is crucial for delivery of public health. This information is valuable for community nurses because it enables them to understand the community better. For instance, the nurses can use the information on demographics to understand how different ages are associated with certain ailments (Novick et al., 2008). Similarly, the epidemiological information helps the public health nurses to understand the particular health challenges the community faces. The information is vital to the planning process for public nurses as well as in the implementation of various public health strategies.
References
Curley, A. L. C., and Vitale, P. A. (2012). Population-based nursing: Concepts and competencies for advanced practice. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Co.
Novick, L. F., Morrow, C. B., and Mays, G. P. (2008). Public health administration: Principles for population-based management. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett.
Upvall, M. J., and Leffers, J. (2014). Global health nursing: Building and sustaining partnerships. New York: Springer Publishing Co.
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