The community that was chosen for the assessment of the healthcare needs was Southwest Florida Community. Carrying out a needs assessment in the community is important to identify the current health needs that are being met and needs that have not been met. Such an analysis can assist in the formulation of a proposal in order to meet the healthcare needs of the community. This can improve the overall health of the community. This assessment will take an in-depth look at the South West Florida community and the findings should go into the formulation of a proposal with recommendations that should be adapted by healthcare providers so as to better meet the community needs.
Community Healthcare Needs Assessment
The South West Florida Community was chosen for the needs assessment. The geographical location of the community is at the Southwest Gulf Coast of the state of Florida. The region has a population of approximately 1.3 million people (“South West Florida – Demographics”, 2019). The age distribution of the population involves 71 percent of being below 65 years while 51 percent are between the working years of between 20 and 65 years. The race demographics vary such that 83.1% are white, 13.6% are Black, 12.2% are Hispanic, and 1.2% are Asians. The mean income household for the population is $79,499. Approximately 28% of the residents have a Bachelor’s Degree (“South West Florida – Demographics”, 2019).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The analysis of the community shows that the healthcare needs that are being met include prevention and treatment of infectious disease and access to healthcare. The prevention of infectious diseases has been made possible through the use of childhood vaccinations and vaccination against various diseases. For instance, Lee County in South West Florida showed that 71.6% of its seniors received a flu shot within the past year. Additionally, only 13.2% of newborns did not receive vaccination (“Community Health Needs Assessment Report, Lee County, Florida”, 2017). The improved prevention of infectious diseases has been facilitated by various programs and specialists such as infectious disease specialist at USF Health program. Through the program, specialists have been able to provide effective diagnosis and treatment for acute and chronic infectious diseases among infants, children, and youth (“Infectious Diseases”, 2020). Access to health care has improved in the region with the presence of multiple healthcare facilities. Several individuals have increasingly found it easy to access healthcare services.
The analysis of the South West Florida Community shows that the health care needs that have not been met include poor access to mental healthcare and prevention and provision for chronic diseases. Poor mental healthcare in the region is evidenced by 22.1% of the residents in Lee County in South West Florida indicating that they have been diagnosed as having a depressive disorder (“Community Health Needs Assessment Report, Lee County, Florida”, 2017). The proportion of those that have been impacted by mental health care has been growing and one of the barriers is a poor access to mental health services. Additionally, the community continues to experience problems with chronic diseases and heart disease. There has been an increase in the prevalence chronic conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes. This shows that there is a need to have a preventive approach to these chronic diseases and to improve the healthcare system so as that it can address those needs.
The healthcare need that has been chosen for analysis is access to mental health services. Mental health can be described as being in a state of successful mental performance resulting in performing productive activities and fulfilling relationships (Galderisi et al., 2017). Mental health disorders involve health conditions associated with mood and behaviors associated with impaired functioning. Mental health is closely related to physical health as it can impact the ability of any individual to maintain a good physical health. Mental illnesses can also impact the ability of people to participate in health-promoting behaviors. This makes it critical to address the problem of mental health in the South West Florida Community.
MISSION: To Improve the Mental Health of South West Florida Residents
Program Design
EFFECTS: Improved health, wellnesses, and resilience of the residents
OUTPUT: Increases mental healthcare services and programs. Reduced prevalence of depression and suicide.
RESOURCES: Public awareness campaign through social media and a community mental health facility. Online platform to carry out survey of 300 community residents.
CONSTRAINTS: Funding and time to facilitate the various programs.
ACTIVITIES: Mental health public awareness campaign. Establishment of mental health care facilities. Diagnosis of residents in the community.
CONTEXT: Evaluation of quality of mental health care provided.
The mission of the program was to improve the mental health status of residents of South West Florida Community. The condition that this should be achieved is that health care facilities in the region should provide quality health care services. This should be achieved through improving access to mental health services and improving the prevention, diagnosis, and intervention of mental illness. The resources and raw materials that are required by various programs include social media to carry out the campaign, equipping the healthcare facility with the ability to provide mental health services, and to conduct an online survey of the 300 community residents. The constraints for carrying out the project will include the funding and the time required to facilitate the program.
The various activities required to carry out the program would include a mental health public awareness campaign, an establishment of mental health care facilities, and the diagnosis of mental health status among residents in the community. It is expected that the output of carrying out these services is that there will be an increase in mental healthcare access through services and programs. Additionally, there will be a reduced prevalence of depression and suicide. The overall effect is that there will be an improved health, wellnesses, and resilience of mental health (Cabassa et al., 2018). All these different factors will positively impact the residents in South West Florida community.
Implementation Plan and Funding
The long-term goals of the project were as follows
To improve access to mental health services.
To improve prevention, early diagnosis, and intervention of mental illnesses
The specific objectives for the long-term goals were as follows.
To improve access to mental health services
To create a program and build capacity for mental health services.
To improve strength and capacity of mental health organizations
To improve accessibility and utility of mental health services
To improve prevention, intervention, and treatment of mental illness
To lower incidences of mental illnesses and suicide.
To enhance the resilience and wellnesses of individuals
To reduce stigma and discrimination of mental health services.
Data Collection
In order to ensure that the objectives have been met, a survey of the residents of South West Florida Community will be undertaken. The collection of the data will be undertaken through an online survey that will target approximately 300 community residents. The survey will involve various questions that seek to identify the availability and access to mental health services and the prevalence of mental illness. It is expected that the community residents should report that there are aware of mental health programs and services. The prevalence and incidences of mental illness within the population is also expected to have reduced.
Funding
A successful implementation of the project will require funding. There are various sources of funding that could be used to fund the program. The health department of the state government and donors interested in the mental health sector should provide funding. These sources of funding should effectively raise the required funds to complete the project (Watson et al., 2017). The required funds to implement to program is expected to be a minimum of $300,000. The plan is to use these sources of funds to raise awareness about mental health and to improve early diagnosis and treatment of mental health programs.
Completed Program Proposal with Reflection
Administrative Process
The development of the program provided insight to the various administrative process required to plan and implement a healthcare program. It was identified that finding the mission of a program first was critical to achieving its success. Other critical steps of the program included identifying the resources, constraints, activities, outcome, and effects of the program. The conditions required for the program to be successful were also identified to be critical for the effectiveness of the program. All these steps and processes were critical for the proper functioning of the human services.
Reflection
The development of the program proposal for mental health services was an interesting, informative, and exciting activity. The introductory section involved conducting a community needs assessment of South West Florida community and it provided insight regarding the demographic and statistical information of the county. The program design provided analysis on the mission, mission, context, and various resources required in the program. The implementation plan and funding provided insight regarding the objectives and goals of the program and the funding sources and amount that would be required. The data collection to investigate the success of the program could be done through an online survey of 300 community residents.
The development of the program addressed various aspects of leadership such as proper planning through having goals and objectives. Every leader is expected to have a vision as seen through the goals and objectives of the program. The future leadership role that will be required involves having the right vision by selecting the right approach that the program should take. One of the challenges that was encountered with the development of the program was the estimation of the total costs that the program would undertake. Having a proper timeline to implement the project was also difficult to estimate.
References
Cabassa, L. J., Manrique, Y., Meyreles, Q., Camacho, D., Capitelli, L., Younge, R., ... & Lewis-Fernández, R. (2018). Bridges to Better Health and Wellness: an adapted health care manager intervention for Hispanics with serious mental illness. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research , 45 (1), 163-173.
“ Community Health Needs Assessment Report, Lee County, Florida”. (2017). Retrieved from http://lee.floridahealth.gov/about-us/_documents/community-report.pdf
Galderisi, S., Heinz, A., Kastrup, M., Beezhold, J., & Sartorius, N. (2017). A proposed new definition of mental health. Psychiatria Hungarica , 51 (3), 407-411.
“ Infectious Diseases”. (2020). Retrieved from https://health.usf.edu/care/pediatrics/services-specialties/infectious
“ South West Florida – Demographics”. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.swfleda.com/demographics/
Watson, C. R., Watson, M., & Sell, T. K. (2017). Public health preparedness funding: key programs and trends from 2001 to 2017. American journal of public health , 107 (S2), S165-S167.
