Health

Availability of accessible health services at all times contributes to improved health of the residents of an area. The fact that there exist no hospitals within zip code 32246, highly contributes to the reduced healthiness of individuals in this area. An additional problem is lack of a public health agency within zip code 32246. The public health administrators have neglected this area as can be witnessed by the complete absence of government health agency. Additionally, there exist no long-term, continuing or extended care facilities in this area. The number of birth rates in Florida County has been increasing due to little or no education regarding birth controls. For instance, in 2010, the percentage of teen births per 1,000 live births was 8.9 percent. This indicates decreased health educational within the community. However, the infant mortality rates have been decreasing, for example, in Florida County the infant mortality was 6.4 percent per 1,000 births which decreased to 6.1 percent in 2012. Infant mortality is a measure majorly used to determine improvement in healthcare of a particular area, thus, zip code 32246 is experiencing deprived but improving healthcare delivery.

It is clear that there are no resources directed towards healthcare delivery in zip code 32246. This is proven by a number factors. Firstly, the absence of healthcare facilities in this area is proof that much has been invested in healthcare delivery. Secondly, the increased number of deaths resulting from cancer, heart diseases and diabetes along the increasing infant mortality numbers indicates lack of resources. The health concerns of people of this region encounter a lot of difficulties which include:

• Health insurance losses along with rising number of the uninsured
• Inadequate prevention funding 
• Absence of dental coverage for the entire population
• Absence of assisted living beds

The factors that lead to a high mortality rates in zip code 32246 regards the prevalence of chronic diseases, which contributes to a lot of deaths. In Florida county key indicators show considerably elevated rates of unfavorable health conditions amongst the population. The health concern in this county is heavily impacted by reduced access to the inexpensive healthcare and the disparity of health resources within the region (Senkubuge, Modisenyane & Bishaw, 2014).  Additional factors that contribute to the reduced health is the poverty rates in this county are also quite high, which have been motivated by the ever-rising unemployment rates.

In Florida County the top five health concerns are:

1. Cancer
2. Heart disease
3. Chronic Lower Respiratory disease
4. Accidents
5. Stroke

Considering that zip code 32246 is within Florida County, the statistics of the county apply to this area. Chronic illnesses are heavily affecting Florida County population at extremely alarming rate, for instance, the 2012 data indicating the number of deaths per 100,000. Cancer was on the lead with 160 deaths per 100,000 individuals in Florida County, this is a very huge number comparing to the neighboring St. Johns County which recorded 136 deaths out of 100,000 individuals. The second top killer in Florida County is heart diseases, which recorded 155 deaths out of 100,000 comparing this to the neighboring St. John’s County which at the same period of time recorded 130 deaths per 100,000 individuals shows Florida county is recording a lot cancer-related deaths.

The population of the residents of zip code 32246 is majorly whites who make up a population of 71.76% followed by African- American comprising of 15.96% and the percentage of Asians is 6.57 percent. Others include Hispanic, mixed races, American-Indians among others constituting 9 percent. In zip code 32246 there exists disparity in terms of health such that the minority races record high rates of deaths resulting from the prevalent diseases. The whites who form a major part of the population in this area record reduced rates of illnesses across the board.

Access to healthcare in zip code 32246 is limited by factors such as poverty which in 2012 was recorded as 15.6 percent in Florida as compared to just 9.8 percent in St. John’s. The increased levels of unemployment coupled with the rising healthcare costs hinder access to decent healthcare. For instance in 2010 the unemployment rate was 6.7 percent and in July 2014 it was 7 percent. Numerous diseases inclusive of the leading ones mentioned above are all associated with obesity, absence of exercise, poor nutrition and other poor lifestyle factors. Owing to the health problems complexity along with disparities it is evident that solutions cannot be simplistic in nature. There should an elevated consideration of multiple levels leading to poor health in zip code 32246. Geography, socio-economic status, race and lack of proper education are interrelated in contributing to the reduced health of this area’s populace.     

There exist challenges of preventing illnesses along with improving the health of people in this area. The ability to meet these challenges is hampered by the capability of the health public system. Additional reasons include deficiencies in health promotion, education and empowering residents on matters regarding personal health (Senkubuge, Modisenyane & Bishaw, 2014). There also exists absence of mechanisms to link individuals to the required health services.

References

Senkubuge, F., Modisenyane, M., & Bishaw, T. (2014). Strengthening health systems by health sector reforms. Global Health Action, 71-7. doi:10.3402/gha.v7.23568