Community Health Needs Assessment - Free Essay Sample

Introduction

Community health needs assessment is a tool in health that guides healthcare stakeholders on essential healthcare needs that the community needs. The non-profit hospitals use the community health needs assessment information to make decisions on which healthcare services to provide to the community living in a given community. The CHNA entails involving the community to analyze and identify community needs and come up with a plan to deal with the community needs. Non-profit hospitals partner with other stakeholders in the healthcare services to help the needy people and communities in society—the non-profit hospitals' partner with sponsors that want to help vulnerable people in the community.

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Saint Thomas Stones River Hospital

Saint Thomas Stones River Hospital is a hospital in Woodbury, Tennessee, that provides healthcare services to needy people living in Woodbury, Tennessee. Saint Thomas Stones River Hospital conducted the community health needs assessment to identify the main challenges affecting people living in Woodbury, Tennessee, that is unable to access healthcare services (St. Thomas Stones River Hospital, 2018). There are various factors that make people unable to access medical care. The assessment was done in 2018, where the hospitals seek to have a strategic plan to help needy people in Woodbury, Tennessee, that needs medical access to be able to continue with their lives. Saint Thomas Stones River Hospital seeks to come up with a strategic plan that will deal with the health challenges affecting the urban poor.

Geographic Community

The geographic community described by the CHNA includes the young and old people who are addicted to drugs and want to stop using the drugs; such people live in Woodbury, Tennessee, and the neighboring areas (St. Thomas Stones River Hospital, 2018). There are many people that live informal settlements and do not have the resources required to pay for the medical services and rehabilitation centers. The CHNA targets mainly young people that are increasingly becoming drug addicts, and it seeks to save the young people before they become full addicts of the diseases.

The CHNA data that surprised me is the high number of people who are not able to afford rehabilitation fees and other related medical services that they require to heal from drug abuse. The majority of the drug addicts live in poverty, and therefore they cannot afford medical services because they even do not work; therefore, they do not have a source of income. St. Thomas Stones River Hospital Riverside partners with well-wishers who finance the hospital for the costs that the hospital incurs when offering therapy and medications that help the drug addicts to quit drug abuse. I was also surprised by the high number of patients that the hospital treats will make little effort by the state to help the patients.

The positive factors in the CHNA that affect the population are that many drug addicts get the opportunity to get the treatment they require to stop drug addiction. Saint Thomas Stones River Hospital targets the population that is more vulnerable and not able to access medication because of a lack of resources. The hospital has helped vulnerable people to regain soberness and resume their normal lives (Loscalzo et al., 2017). The negative factor in the CHNA that affects the population includes many people abusing the drugs because they know they will get the opportunity to reform, but they later become drug addicts and are unable to stop misusing the drugs. The people of Woodbury, Tennessee, have been given the opportunity to reform by the hospital to reduce the number of drug addicts in Tennessee.

Health Needs

The health needs identified include the need to carry out public awareness that will make the public know the dangers brought by drug abuse and the measures the community can take to reduce drug abuse in the community (Loscalzo et al., 2017). Another priority that needs attention from the relevant authorities from the government includes the affordability of healthcare, where there are only a few people who can afford healthcare at the current price rates (Loscalzo et al., 2017). The high costs of insurance and hospital bills are denying many people the opportunity to access medical care whenever they are in need. The priorities will ensure all people are able to access healthcare regardless of their social and financial status.

I agree with the identified priorities where the Saint Thomas Stones River Hospital has identified the needs affecting the community and implemented measures to ensure the challenges are dealt with. There are very few hospitals in Tennessee that free and affordable medical care services to the people depending on the diseases that affect more people in the community (St. Thomas Stones River Hospital, 2018). The health priorities will help eliminate the main health challenges affecting people living in Tennessee that are unable to afford expensive healthcare services from private and expensive hospitals. The priorities supplements services offered by the state in healthcare in dealing with health challenges affecting the people.

One of the health priorities that I would like to explore further is the research on chronic diseases, their causes, and their relationship with drug abuse. The majority of people affected by chronic diseases and drug abuse are mainly living in urban areas. Therefore, there is a need to further the research and identify the causes (Hasani et al., 2020). The research will help healthcare stakeholders to develop strategies that will mitigate the challenges that make people result in drug abuse and cause lifestyle diseases. The lifestyle of the people has been increasingly changing over the years, and the increased urbanization has led to increased chronic diseases. People with chronic diseases have reported having abused different drugs at some times in their lives.

The article evaluates the relationship between drug abuse and chronic diseases by evaluating various studies done to evaluate the causes of chronic diseases. For example, cardiovascular diseases have been associated with smoking, where tobacco is believed to be causing cardiovascular diseases (Hasani et al., 2020). Patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases are encouraged to stop abusing the drugs for them to manage the diseases they suffer from. For instance, patients are encouraged to stop smoking for them to manage cardiovascular. Drug abuse includes alcohol abuse that is associated with liver and intestinal diseases. The article evaluates various diseases and their associated chronic diseases that the drugs cause to the patients.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would recommend the state to implement the recommendations on drug and substance abuse to ensure vulnerable citizens who cannot afford rehabilitation costs and other related costs. The assignment educated me on the relationship between drug abuse and chronic diseases. There are little efforts done by the state to help the drug addicts living in Tennessee recover and get healed. The recommendations made, when implemented, can help reduce the number of people living with the drug addiction who contributes to the society ills experienced by communities.

References

Hasani, A., Bariki, M. G., Seyedi-Andi, S. J., & Saberi, M. (2020). Evaluating the relationship between the severity of chronic diseases and the severity of drug use in elderly referred to addiction treatment clinics. International Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, 12(3), 519-525.

Loscalzo, E., Sterling, R. C., Weinstein, S. P., & Salzman, B. (2017). Alcohol and other drug use in older adults: results from a community needs assessment. Aging clinical and experimental research, 29(6), 1149-1155.

St. Thomas Stones River Hospital. (2018). Community Health Needs Assessment by St. Thomas Stones River Hospital. St. Thomas Stones River Hospital - Woodbury, TN. Retrieved 10 September 2020, from
https://www.drug-rehabs.org/rehab-center/St.-Thomas-Stones-River-Hospital_Woodbury_TN.htm.