Fulton County is an established county found in Atlanta, Georgia. The county has a population of approximately 950,000 making it one of the highly inhabited counties in Georgia (Georgiawatch, 2011). With this high population it is obvious that concerns of health are bound to arise. The county must have a proper health structure that will effectively cater for the population. This paper will analyze various factors that influence delivery of health care services to the county. The overall need of having quality health care delivery is to ensure that the population can access proper medical care as well as adopt proper management and preventive measures that guarantees a health population.
Factors Influencing Health
There are several factors that affect the overall health of the community of Fulton countyGeorgia. The first is diet.
Diet and Nutrition
What one consumes play a crucial role in determining their overall healthy. A healthy well balanced diet equal to a healthy life that is free of dietary diseases. A poor diet on the other hand is the root of most underlying conditions. Most of this health conditions are fatal if not properly managed. In Fulton County, the occurrence of obesity is high. Obesity is excessive accumulation of body fat (Whitney, & Pinna, 2010). It is mainly associated with poor eating habits. The individual consumes a lot of calories and carbohydrates. In many instances the calories consumed are more than the body needs and the result is the conversion of these calories into fat.
The fats are then collected all over the body leading to increased weight gain to unhealthy standards. Having obesity weaken the immune system of an individual. It also causes conditions such as heart diseases, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels as well as type II diabetes (Whitney, & Pinna, 2010). All the mentioned conditions are difficult and costly to manage. If not well managed, they can be fatal. Other dietary concerns in Fultonrefer to proper nutrition to the expectant mothers as well as children below five years. Several programs have been established with the intention of enhancing the diet of the community at Fulton. One example is the nutrition WIC program (Turner, 2009). The program targets pregnant women from low income areas, breast feeding moms as children below the age of five. The program focuses on individual who look vulnerable and at risk. This is determined by their economic status.
Pregnant women, mothers and children from low economic backgrounds are assisted through nutritional counseling, breastfeeding support, and food vouchers. Other than nutritional program there also are numerous health facilities, health professionals such as nutritionists and dietitian who are readily available to serve the Fulton community. Overall it can be said that Fulton is on the right path in term of achieving a healthy community.
Vulnerable Groups
This is the second factor that affects health at Fulton County. Vulnerable groups refer to groups of people who face specific health risk due to their condition/status. Some of the people categorized as vulnerable groups include; adults with minimal levels of education. With minimal education such individual may be misinformed on where and when to seek medical attention. They may also lack adequate knowledge on various health issues such as diet, immunization and hygiene. Such issues dispose them to numerous health risks (FultonCountyGA, 2011). Unemployed individuals are also categorized as vulnerable. Without employment, these individual lack a reliable source of income. Without fiancés, they not access basic amenities such as food, shelter and medication. In the end, they are exposed to diseases and illnesses.
Individuals over the age of 65 are also categorized as vulnerable. As one ages, they requires special needs and care. Some of these elderly persons need round the clock attention so as to survive. Without such care they are at risk of diseases and poor health. Having adequate data on the specific number of vulnerable groups in Fulton goes a long in ascertaining that there are enhanced services and strategies to manage these groups (Georgiawatch, 2011). The establishment of homes for the elderly is one way to manage this group. At the homes, the individual can receive utmost care thus prolonging their lives and ensuring they live a healthy satisfying life.
Psychosocial Management
Psychosocial management is the third factor that influences health of Fulton County. There are numerous issues that can lead to concerns over one’s mental status. Occurrences of stress and depression should be managed in order to have a functional society. It is estimated that close to 70% of all health care visits in Fulton County are as a result of psychosocial factors. Unfortunately, the patients arrive at the health facilities with physical symptoms. These physical symptoms are then treated ignoring the underlying psychosocial issues.
There are various causes of psychosocial factors. They are drug and substance abuse, mental disorders and work or home related stress. The ability to make the correct diagnosis in patients with underlying mental conditions is one way of saving on expenses. A lot of finances are spent on treatment of physical symptoms. This is a wrong approach to handling psychosocial issues as the condition will persist. Ignoring mental illnesses leads to the occurrence of other underlying conditions such as heart conditions that are fatal. Mental illnesses reduce the lifespan of the patients by almost 20years (FultonCountyGA, 2011). Managing the overall mental health of Fulton County community should be a priority for medics and other health care providers.
Effects of Economy on Health Care Access
It is undeniable that accessing quality health care service in Georgia is a problem. Treatment and medication are exorbitantly priced and very few citizens can afford it. This is especially so in this harsh economic times where there is need to save on costs. Accessing insurance cover is also very costly and thus unaffordable to many residents of Fulton County. It is approximated that 23% of all adults at Fulton are uninsured (Turner, 2009). This is regardless of the fact that they qualify for medical cover with the existing choices such as Medicaid.
Conclusion
It is about time that counties look into ways of improving health care services among their citizens. The state of Georgia has among the largest number of citizens that are uninsured. This means that they cannot access quality medical care as it is unaffordable. In FultonCounty, the economic downturn has adversely affected the community’s ability to access quality health care. With lack of quality health care, the overall health and well being of the society significantly reduces. Other than the economic concerns other factors such as the diet and nutrition of the population, care for the vulnerable groups and psychosocial management are among issues that should be addressed. These three issues influence the health of the population of Fulton County. A healthy population equals increased productivity and prosperity.
Reference
Georgiawatch, (2011). Health care affordability in Georgia. Retrieved from
http://www.georgiawatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/georgia-watch-healthcare-affordability-in-georgia.pdf
FultonCountyGA, (2011). Health and wellness. Retrieved from
http://www.fultoncountyga.gov/dhw-home/
Turner, K. (2009). Transforming services to address health disparities: Fulton county:
Georgia. Retrieved from http://www.csg.org/knowledgecenter/docs/health/FultonCounty.pdf
Whitney, E. & Pinna, K. (2010). Nutrition for health and health care. Cengage Learning
