Community health promotion programs are very important in complementing primary care. Notably, they help enhance preventive care measures and promote community wellness. They also help improve health-seeking behavior and enhance the sharing of health-related knowledge and information. Cities should, therefore, establish and fund community-based health promotion programs to achieve comprehensive coverage.
Cardiovascular diseases are leading causes of death in Brooklyn and, generally, in the United States. The cardiovascular disease covers several heart conditions, including coronary heart disease, diseases affecting the heart valves, and congestive heart failure. In 2014, cardiovascular diseases contributed about 40% of all deaths in New York state. About 7.4% of adult New Yorkers reported experiences of a heart attack, stroke, or angina in the same year. Also, 1 out of 5 New Yorkers above the age of 65 reported having experienced a type of cardiovascular disease. In 2015, heart disease contributed 24% of deaths of persons below the age of 65 ( Jackson et al., 2015 ). A person's early likelihood of death from cardiovascular diseases has correlations to the cumulative exposure to certain social-economic elements and physical environments that influence personal behavior and access to certain resources. Among key resources is early screening and preventive measures. Some of the risk factors associated with cardiovascular diseases include diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and high sodium diets. Also, consumption of alcohol, smoking, and physical activities may increase the risks.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, New York, has a program that serves the people and helps promote cardiovascular health. As a form of corporate social responsibility, the institution has developed a free program that can be accessed by all adults around the area. To help the patients have their cardiovascular risks evaluated, the healthcare workers at the clinic conduct a comprehensive cardiac risk assessment to establish vital measurements that help establish cardiovascular disease risk. Some of the taken measures include blood glucose levels, height, weight measurements, blood pressure, and cholesterol ( Mieszczanska & Budzikowski, 2018). All patients receive comprehensive information and instructions on prevention. The instructions include nutritional advice and recommendations on lifestyle modifications. There are handouts and softcopy guides as part of the educational literature that promotes measures for heart health. Depending on the assessment outcomes, the patients are referred to the Center for Health Care Services at Brentford Stuyvesant or Family Health Services and other cardiovascular field specialists. The program takes place n Wednesdays from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. except for holidays in the SUNY Downstate Medical Center.
This program has been a major success, and for the participants who have undergone the screenings have benefited from the preventive measures. However, the program has limited coverage since most people cannot walk in and access the services and book in advance. The other limitation is that this program can only be accessed on Wednesdays, which also minuses its impact on the entire society.
Another Community based initiative that is taking shape is developed by the Community Care of Brooklyn under the Center for Healthcare Strategies Inc. The program aims at providing preventative measures to rural communities and the underserved regions of Brooklyn. Notably, they found out that Central Brooklyn leads to the rise of cardiovascular disease rates from their study. The program relies on participatory research and aims to integrate the community's voice in their model to reduce cardiovascular disease prevalence rates. CCB aims to establish the reasons as to why patients around Central Brooklyn are struggling with cardiovascular diseases, and their participatory action research is their way of rolling out a beneficial program.
The first participatory action project that came to an end in 2016 was focused on two areas that neighbor Brooklyn, East New York, and Brownsville. The study needed to establish how the people assessed their health and identified the community resources that can help advance preventive measures against cardiovascular ailments. The residents contributed actions that could be pivotal in health promotion to address the concern of increased heart conditions.
For CCB, they involved high school students and college students across Brooklyn based on the entire community's on-the-ground engagement. Prat and MIT researchers participated alongside the students who did in-person interviews for the purposes of safety. Recommendations were then forwarded to the Center of Healthcare Strategies (CHS) for adoption by community based cardiovascular health organizations under the CHS. Some of the concepts that the Center has now implemented in the community include promoting the establishment of a community wellness hub and transforming the local food system.
There are apparent gaps in cardiac risk assessment programs in Brooklyn and most parts of the United States. Most of these programs lack a sufficient input of cardiovascular health experts and community healthcare workers. There are also few community care centers, which further makes the framework for healthcare promotion weak. Cities have low allocations towards cardiovascular health promotion, which means that most reported cases are picked at advanced stages, which compromises the outcomes following treatment ( Boutin-Foster et al., 2008 ). Cities and the health departments must recognize the roles that community-based initiatives play to complement cardiac care. Structures should be elaborate to ensure that programs are well integrated into the community with good research. It is also important to integrate the rural communities and residents of color to ensure collective progress in tackling cardiovascular diseases, a leading cause of death in Brooklyn.
References
Boutin-Foster, C., George, K. S., Samuel, T., Fraser-White, M., & Brown, H. (2008). Training community health workers to be advocates for health promotion: Efforts taken by a community-based organization to reduce health disparities in cardiovascular disease. Journal of Community Health , 33 (2), 61.
Jackson, C. L., Redline, S., & Emmons, K. M. (2015). Sleep as a potential fundamental contributor to disparities in cardiovascular health. Annual review of public health , 36 , 417-440.
Mieszczanska, H. Z., & Budzikowski, A. S. (Eds.). (2018). Cardiology Consult Manual . Springer International Publishing.
