Rasmussen University Important Considerations of The Impact of Health Disparities Discussion – Description
For number one and two , These replies must demonstrate engagement in the discussion board by asking open and closed ended questions, as appropriate, or by referencing material from the readings or outside sources. (Please make sure that you cite these resources if you use them.)
1. Respond to Rebeka.”This week’s topics offer important considerations of the impact of health disparities within our own communities, particularly the impact on individuals with mental health disorders. This writer lives in a small, rural-based farming community called Havana, Illinois. Havana is home to approximately 2,963 people (United States Census Bureau, n.d.). The demographics are predominantly white with 96.04% white, 3.12% two or more races, and .85% African American (United States Census Bureau, n.d.). Central Illinois offers a large, agriculture market, but has limitations regarding non-farming positions. Many citizens may drive to urban cities to seek employment, given the resources to do so. In the community, the largest concern is the poverty rate of 28.56% and low socio-economic status (United States Census Bureau, n.d.). The remote environment with limited resources can challenge individuals with mental health disorders to be able to meet their basic needs and seek out health care services. Many individuals in the area have difficulty with transportation and may seek public transit. Recently, the local hospital reduced its admission of patients due to a staff shortage. This has forced many citizens to re-establish other hospital systems and travel outside the community for medical treatment. This has potentially limited the service availability for this population in my area.Unfortunately, my small community does not have four resources solely located in the area. Therefore, I will include the closest neighboring community resources too. The primary sources in Havana include the Grief Share group which is a support group to explore grief and loss. This group is available to all ages and is held at the Nazarene church in Havana. Second, we have the Senior Behavioral Health Center, which is employed by a third-party company, but the building was paid for and sponsored by the hospital. This service includes 12 to 16-week intensive outpatient services that seek to treat mental disorders with pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment. Canton, IL, which is seventeen miles from Havana, offers more mental health services. Canton offers the North Central Behavioral Health Systems which provides group therapy, DBT, CBT, for all ages. This service provides the most expansive outpatient services for all ages in the area. Lastly, Canton has the Watson Center for Wellness, a private mental health practice that is Medicare accepted at this time. This group provides a wide variety of community outreach, individual therapy, and school-based services focused on mental health support.The city does not have much information available on the city website for guidelines related to the treatment of individuals with disabilities. This writer located a plan that outline the continued acknowledgement of the need for housing that offers equal access to those with disabilities and the elderly populations (City of Havana Comprehensive Plan, 2016). This plan noted the application for grant-based funding to increase affordability and accessibility of housing for all citizens (City of Havana Comprehensive Plan, 2016). The resources listed on the county resource page are primarily surrounding community resources as noted in previous discussions above. The resources to seek out protection for individuals with disabilities include counseling services, auditory support, domestic violence resources, and suicide support and prevention. Community members may seek out children’s counseling services through the Mason County Advocacy Center and adult services through neighboring hospital systems including Memoria Behavioral Health (Mason County Resources, n.d.). Also, Fulton-Mason Crisis Service offers suicide support and resource connection for domestic violence with the bi-county area (Mason Country Resources, n.d.). The work as a psychiatric hospital social worker in my community would present many challenges. The largest challenge is the lack of mental health services, inpatient and outpatient, for all ages. Many individuals with mental health and substance use disorders seek out treatment in Springfield or Peoria area hospital systems. This writer would seek to find service providers that are willing to serve within the area to increase services within the community. This would help access and increase the likelihood of individuals receiving the necessary help and services.
2.Respond to Logan..” 1. I live in Peoria, IL. The estimate of the current population is 111,021 as of 2022. 51.6% of the population is female. 58.7% of the population is white, 26.7 is African American, and 6.8% is latino. The median household income for Peoria is $53,568. The percentage of persons in poverty is 19.7%, which is alarmingly high.
2. From the research that I conducted on https://211hoi.myresourcedirectory.com/index.php/Mental, there are a variety of services and resources available to those who may have a mental health condition. These include mental health hotlines, talklines, text services, treatment programs, counseling, anger management, support groups, addiction treatment, detox programs, harm reduction and opioid antidote distribution programs.
3. The city acts in accordance with the Americans Disabilities Act. It does not discriminate on the basis of disability while hiring or employing individuals. They are making efforts to improve access to technology and information. The city of Peoria has a ramp program that provides ADA-accessible ramps to qualified homeowners.
4. The Equal Opportunity Office works to ensure that everyone has equal and fair opportunity. They protect against discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. They are also responsible for developing and implementing strategies that prevent discrimination in recruitment, selection, training, and personnel practices. They ensure that the differently abled and disabled have access to the programs, services and facilities that exist to support them,
5. The challenge that I might want to address to increase the likelihood of my clients success upon discharge would be founding a program that helps to support the family members of those who suffer with mental illness to help create a support network not only for the families but to strengthen the support of the clients by educating and supporting their families.
*for number three and four- Your response to your classmate’s posting must be approximately 100 words; and be thoughtful, substantial, and polite – not just a “well done” phrase or “I agree.”In each of your two responses, provide one additional informational resource on this topic, such as a news article, report, documentary, or short video describing this issue. Describe what you got out of the resource and why others should take the time to read/view/listen to it.
3.Respond to kaari,” A social issue that is important to me is Pro-Choice abortion rights and the overturn of Roe vs. Wade. I think everyone is impacted truthfully by this overturn. I think a common misconception is that women are using abortion just because they don’t want a baby and while that may be the case for some, a majority decide to terminate pregnancy out of what is in the best interest both health and emotion wise for both mother and child. There are women in high risk pregnancies, life threatening ones who may not want to go to term and if the baby survives, leaving families without mothers to care for their children, leaving children who may not be brought up in the best environments or placed in the system where they may or may not have the chance to be adopted. In some cases leaving parents with children who may have special needs they may not be prepared to care for. It is a never ending cycle that ultimately in my eyes is not a legislators place to decide. It also forces people to take dangerous measures to take matters into their own hands, which could still end up a life threatening situation. Right now the country is divided, there are policies in place protecting womens rights to abortion throughout pregnancy, there are some limiting the time that a woman is eligible to get an abortion only up to a certain point and there are some policies in some states that prohibit abortions at any time. The two different viewpoints are pretty simple, some people think the fetus is a child from conception and consider abortion murder, the other side either does not view it the same way, there is a complication with the pregnancy, or they are not ready to have a baby so terminate while they still consider it a fetus and not a baby.
4. respond to cara “Though it’s a monster of an issue, climate change is so incredibly important to me, and though I don’t work in this area of social justice specifically, it’s something I’m very personally invested in.
Who is impacted?
Every single person on this planet is impacted by climate change.
How are they impacted?
There are so many ways that we’re impacted. Rising temperatures, extreme weather, and changing sea levels and precipitation patterns can lead to increased natural disasters, displacement, and health impacts. Particularly, low-income communities often face disproportionate impacts due to limited resources and infrastructure. One of the things a lot of people don’t think about is the fact that climate change really threatens our food security. Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns can disrupt growing, reduce crops, and impact livestock. It’s a HUGE issue that can and will lead to food shortages, price increases, and increased vulnerability to hunger and malnutrition (especially in developing countries) if we don’t make some major changes.
What policy or policies are related to this issue?
There are many, many policies related to climate change, locally, nationally, and globally. One of the most important policies, right now is the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which Biden signed into law last August. By investing $369 billion to support the urgent need for clean energy and a greener economy across the country, it’s “the most transformative climate and energy law to pass in US history,” (Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program, 2022).
Describe a central debate in perspectives on this issue, including a brief description of one or two points on either side along with relevant citations.
The overarching thinking used to be that Republicans, generally speaking, denied that humans contribute to climate change, but this isn’t really the case anymore. Today, most Democrats (90%) are in favor of policy change to slow climate change, and the Republican party seems to be slowly coming around: “ Two-thirds of Republicans under age 30 (67%) favor the U.S. taking steps to become carbon neutral, but about the same share of Republicans ages 65 and older (64%) oppose this,” (Funk, et al., 2023). It is crazy to me that we’re still so divided, but I have to remind myself that progress is progress, however slow.
Recommend two actions your classmates can take if they also care about this issue, and provide relevant links for them to take action.
There are many things, both big and small, that we can do to take action.
1) First and foremost, we can continue speaking out and raising awareness. Signing up for the UN’s Act Now Speak Up campaign, which offers easy, actionable ways you can do your part for the planet in all aspects your life, is a great way to do that. Anyone can sign up here! https://www.unep.org/interactives/things-you-can-do-climate-emergency/#see-all-ideas
2) This isn’t for everyone, but eating less meat and dairy is a great way to do your part to reduce carbon offsets. Lots of people are surprised to learn that “meat and dairy specifically accounts for around 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO),” (Dunne, 2022). You don’t have to go vegan to make a difference- even committing to eat meat just once a week makes an impact.”
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