Health Care Systems for Small Populations, Part 3

HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS 6

Health Care Systems: Community Healthcare Centers

Name

Institutional Affiliation

Community Healthcare Centers

Situation

The healthcare system offers services to the public that improve and check their well-being. Health in a community is a priority when designing the access to essential services that benefit the public. Therefore, a community health center offers services to people in a certain region, in collaboration with general practitioners and nurses. The network offers the patients basic medical care that includes dental, pediatric, family practice, optometry, pharmacy and laboratory testing. Health care systems offer cheap services to all the members of the community that cannot afford insurance coverage and medical covers.

Background

Ozark Community health center provides the essential health care services to all the members of the community. The facility developed a system of service that catered for the poor and the less privileged in the community. The community’s demographic includes a majority white (non-Hispanic), 92%, and minority Hispanic, Black and Asian people. The region is located in Missouri Ranges of mountains called The Ozarks. The region living standards rank among the best in the United States of America (USA) with a population of 18,000 people. The location of Ozarks offers the residents a small town experience that includes several industries, such as Simclar.

Picture of Ozark Community Health Center: (Google Maps)

The region lacks comprehensive mental and psychological treatment facilities, which leads to expensive treatment out of town. The people suffering from mental illnesses fail to receive the required treatment at the center because the facility lacks professional practitioners that manage the conditions. The people in the Ozarks face minimum interruptions from the metropolitan lifestyles that include drug abuse and broken family systems that contribute to the psychological and mental disorders. The emphasis on the facilities continually is undermined in the community, which fails to cover the needs of the people.

Assessment

The region requires a comprehensive and structural efficient program that helps the community reduce the cases mental illnesses in the community. The younger generation is exposed to many issues that affects their performance in the world, which contributes to depression and a variety of mental issues. The people born with mental issues do not get help in the Ozarks but travel into other metropolitan regions of Missouri to get medical care. The practitioners at the community health center are able to provide services if the right facilities are built for them. A separate and quiet environment dedicated to the suffering patients will offer the required opportunity for people to get help. The medical supplies needed for such an establishment will improve the delivery of health services and boost the community’s response to mental illness.

The responsibility of each person in the community will include learning about the issues that face the mentally challenged to decrease stereotypes, and improve the recovery of patients. Training programs will increase the information in the community and encourage volunteers in the community health center. The approach of the community towards the issues of mental illnesses will build a capacity for the community to develop sensible structures that manage the suffering amongst the members in the community (Bruckner, 2019). Mental health contributes to a high number of loss of life in the USA, where young people commit suicide and indulge in dangerous behavior to reduce the pain suffered. Mental illness destroys the life of people and stagnates a community when people cannot function properly according to the standards of the society.

Recommendation

The lack of facilities in the region that offers services to the mentally challenged increases the costs paid by the patients when seeking medical services. The local government and the community-based leaders should increase their involvement in the development of facilities that offer healthy environments for their people. An increase in the services offered should be viewed as an opportunity to maintain quality lifestyles of the people in the society. The community healthcare center should include insurance covers for the patients visiting to identify the potential opportunities that help the patients. An insurance cover reduces the financial strain that the people face when seeking medical attention (Huguet, 2017). A community health center offers a standardized measure of treatment that can be specialized in collaboration with the local hospitals and local healthcare systems available. The local administration should include the community health centers in their local government financial budgets to increase the response agility on issues concerning mental health.

References

Bruckner, T. A., Singh, P., Snowden, L. R., Yoon, J., & Chakravarthy, B. (2019). Rapid growth of mental health services at community health centers. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 46(5), 670-677. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-019-00947-w

Cole, M. B., Wright, B., Wilson, I. B., Galárraga, O., & Trivedi, A. N. (2018). Medicaid expansion and community health centers: care quality and service use increased for rural patients. Health Affairs, 37(6), 900-907. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.1542

Huguet, N., Hoopes, M. J., Angier, H., Marino, M., Holderness, H., & DeVoe, J. E. (2017). Medicaid expansion produces long-term impact on insurance coverage rates in community health centers. Journal of primary care & community health, 8(4), 206-212. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2150131917709403