Week 8 Assignment

Point Mar Case Study Congratulations! You have been hired by the Vista County Health Department as their new health educator. This county has never had a health educator and is only minimally staffed with three public health nurses, a sanitarian, two community health workers and a physician health officer who all occupy the small public health department to which you are assigned. Your resources are limited as this is a relatively poor county economically. Your public health department is located along the Pacific coast in the southern part of the state. The county has an overall population of approximately 100,000 with the main population center located in the port city of Point Mar. Point Mar has a population of 37,500 while the other five towns in the county have populations ranging from 2,000 to 9,300 and, in addition, there are scattered pockets of people living in many unincorporated areas of the county who are involved in a variety of economic pursuits. The principle sources of income for Vista County are derived from agriculture, commercial shipping, fishing, tourism, and small to medium businesses. The population of Vista County is 43% Caucasian, 33% Hispanic, 12% Asian/Pacific Islander, 10% African American, and 2% American Indian. There has been a recent influx of Southeast Asians into Point Mar and there is a regular Latino migrant farm worker population employed in the County’s agricultural areas. In general, the road systems are adequate to connect all the towns in the county. The distances between towns range from 8–20 miles and all towns and most outlying areas have telephone, electricity, sanitation, and water services. In addition, there are two major newspapers, three radio stations, and one cable television station serving the county. Of these, one newspaper, one radio station, and the cable TV station are located in Point Mar. There are three high schools, four middle schools, and five elementary schools in the county with one-third of the children in the county being bussed into these schools. There are three hospitals in the county with two of these (Vista County Hospital and San Sebastian Regional Medical Center) located in Point Mar. There are also ambulance services, fire and police services, and other governmental agencies serving the entire county. Based on your needs assessment you have identified five potential health issues in the Point Mar community. These include:

An increase in Chlamydia infections among teens in the community