Community Health Assessment

Answer

Homelessness in St. Lucie County in the State of Florida

The objective of this paper is to provide background information and data on the issue of homelessness in St. Lucie County in the State of Florida to assist the nurse executive get a brief overview that the organization is serving. The scope of the paper includes review of demographic and socioeconomic profile, heath status profile, and assessment of the health status of homeless people in  St. Lucie. Besides, areas of unmet needs have been highlighted and that suggestions for possible interventions as well as policy recommendations have as well been provided.  This paper is important in discerning the kind of services that are required by homeless people with the aim of growing business.

The economic and socioeconomic profile of Saint Lucie County, FL, with focus on homelessness is as follows. The current population of the County is 178,778, with a population growth of 1.78% per annum. Population’s median age is 41.9 and poverty rate is 12.1%. The most common ethnic or racial group living in poverty in Port St. Lucie, FL, are Whites (15,416±1,470) followed by the Hispanic (5,622±983), and lastly Blacks (4,141±714). About 78,927 people are employed; however, employment rate is low at 4.28%.  In addition, the median household income in the County is $54,046 per year with a growth of 6.33%. Median property value grows at a rate of 8.9% with the current value of $167,700 (Port St. Lucie, FL, 2020).

Health status profile is as follows: Healthcare coverage of the general population in the County in 2017 was 37.5% were being covered by the employer, 15.6% by Medicaid services, 13.5% by Medicare services, 15.7% BY non-group insurance, 2.38% by the military or Veteran Affairs, and 15.3% were uninsured. In addition, per capita personal health care spending increased by 5.05% in 2014 ($8,076) compared to 2013 ($7,688) (Port St. Lucie, FL, 2020).

An assessment of the health status of homeless people in the County is provided below: In 2016, the Point-in-Time Count indicated that a total of 1,016 individuals from families of veterans their children were living in homelessness in St. Lucie. These were 712 adults and 304 children (St. Lucie County, 2015). In 2018, it was estimated that 784 people were homeless in St. Lucie County, whereas 29,717 were homeless in the whole of Florida (Florida Health, 2020). Children from homeless families or unstable housing tend to have unmet mental and physical health needs. Children tend to experience long-term effects of homelessness (Jetelina et al., 2018).

The areas of unmet needs for the population of interest have been identified.  Unmet needs among the homeless population include the need for counseling and advocacy services, legal assistance, mortgage assistance, utilities assistance, and rental assistance. Other needs include inadequate mobile clinics, alcohol and drug abuse issues, child care issues, HIV/AIDs, mental health counseling, and the need for cold weather shelters, clothing, pantry, and food (St. Lucie County, 2015). Unmet healthcare needs for homeless adults include inability to obtain surgical or medical care, mental health care, prescription medications, dental care, and eyeglasses. Other unmet needs include lack of health insurance, out-of-home placement as a minor, food insufficiency, and vision impairment (Baggett et al., 2010; Zur & Jones, 2014). Besides, substance use disorders are some of the major unmet health care issues that impact the homeless populations (Zur & Jones, 2014).

The above identified unmeet care needs can be solved through consideration and implementation of the following suggestions for possible intervention: Training, education, and counseling services need to be designed specifically to meet the needs of the homeless population in St. Lucie County. These services will aim to address alcohol and drug abuse, mental health issues and improvement of coping mechanisms/abilities (St. Lucie County, 2015). Besides, there is a need for advocacy campaign and provision of guidance and legal support for the homeless to help them address or manage issues such as mortgage, legal matters, rents, and perhaps get cold weather shelters and supply of food and clothing (St. Lucie County, 2015). Healthcare organizations ought to work with the homeless and other stakeholders to help address issues such as lack of health care insurance, and food insufficiency as well as to increase access to prescription medication, surgical, mental, and dental services (Baggett et al., 2010; Zur & Jones, 2014).

            The issues faced by homeless people in the County can be addressed through implementation of policy recommendations. The first recommendation is change in policy in support of construction of affordable housing complexes that can be afforded by the poor (St. Lucie County, 2015). The second recommendation is establishment of an educational, housing, and/or employment schemes for the homeless in the County, which can be funded by charity organizations, philanthropists, the State, and/or the Federal government.  The third approach is provision of an income program for the deserving homeless people to help them afford basic needs and at least leave a decent life. The last policy recommendation is extensive research to inform policy on factors or determinants that contributes to homelessness. Such causes and determinants should then be addressed through enactment of new policies or through change of existing policies.