Introduction
The Healthy People 2020 initiative addresses numerous issues that affect some or all populations across the United States. Some of them are prominent in Miami, Florida, and, more specifically, in the neighborhood with the zip code 33127. For this review, the author has chosen the Educational and Community-Based Programs, Early and Middle Childhood, and Physical Activity goals of the program. All of them show some concerning tendencies in the area, and so, interventions will be necessary to address them and improve the citizens’ well-being. This paper presents each of the concerns above in more detail and discusses possible responses per the principles of the Healthy People 2020 program.
Educational and Community-Based Programs
Schools and other educational facilities teach students the skills necessary for them to succeed in life. The information provided incorporates essential knowledge about health and disease prevention that help people be healthier in general. However, many adult residents of the area have never finished high school and so may not have received the appropriate knowledge. It is impractical to try and send them back to school, but there are not enough adult education courses in the area to accommodate the demand. As such, it is necessary to create services that both accommodate adults’ educational needs and are attractive enough that the target population would choose to attend.
Healthy People 2020 suggests using existing social structures to address the educational needs of the population. As such, it would be preferable to create community-based teaching programs for adults, enlisting the help of local residents. They may be familiar with their students and know the issues that should be addressed in the process as well as be able to attract them. Furthermore, Prins and Clymer (2018) suggest the use of career pathways and support services to get the attention of people who lives in poverty. With these methods, disadvantaged people, who are at high risk of illness, will be able to improve their lives and become healthier.
Physical Activity
Many people in the community do not exercise sufficiently for a variety of reasons. As such, they are at risk for many different issues such as obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, falls, and others. Alonso (2019) claims that regular physical activity can slow down the onset of dementia and degenerative conditions, improving one’s autonomy. However, many senior adults in the neighborhood consider their low amounts of daily exercise sufficient and do not try to work out more. As such, there must be programs that teach people about the benefits of physical activity and encourage them to participate in it more frequently.
The Healthy People 2020 initiative notes that expectations of benefits, social support, and access to adequate facilities are conducive to exercise. As such, public authorities should ensure that there is a dedicated area in the vicinity of every residence and that the area’s residents are informed about the benefits of physical activity. Senior adults may also be concerned about the lack of social support and transportation, as well as the fear of injury. A community program where workers regularly gather older adults and transport them to exercise areas, then oversee their activities and help them wherever necessary would be beneficial.
Early and Middle Childhood
Health conditions among children are particularly threatening, as they may interfere with their development if left unaddressed. As such, parents and teachers have to watch over their growth diligently and teach them the necessary skills as they become older. However, many children in the area have developed ADHD, especially those in disadvantaged populations such as poor people and minorities. The tendency is consistent with the study by Rothe et al. (2016), who also note that many families are too disadvantaged to afford to take their children to a dedicated psychiatric clinic. As such, it is necessary to develop interventions that will address the needs of the populations at risk, such as cost.
Healthy People 2020 proposes better prevention methods, which involve the use of improved surveillance tools. The groups mentioned above should be of particularly high interest to any analysts due to their tendency to develop issues as mentioned above. Corso, Visser, Ingels, and Perou (2015) propose a specialized preventive program that addresses potential ADHD and behavioral issues in children who live in poverty. It has been applied in Miami already with significant effects for the other issue, and so an implementation to address ADHD may be useful.
Conclusion
The community described in this paper is affected by several of the issues described in the Healthy People 2020 program. Education, physical activity, and childhood disorders are the most prominent ones. They are complicated by factors such as high numbers of people who have not finished their education, poverty, and age. The initiative’s responses to all three are unified in their emphasis on the community as the medium of the preferred intervention. As such, it proposes several different programs for education, exercise, and child issue prevention. All of them are likely to benefit the recipients considerably, though the costs should be taken into consideration.
References
Prins, E., & Clymer, C. (2018). Career pathways in Chicago, Houston, and Miami: Key features and support services among adult education providers. Journal of Research and Practice for Adult Literacy, Secondary, and Basic Education, 2018(S), 28-51.
Alonso, S. L. (2019). Analysis of physical activity as an integral element of active aging. International Journal of Development Research, 9(1), 25330-25336.
Rothe, E. M., Lewis, J. E., Aftab, A., Mehdi, S., Lages, L., Sharma, R.,… & De Ray, M. (2016). An assessment of comorbidity and social demographics in a primarily African-American and Hispanic population of boys with ADHD treated in psychiatric/non-psychiatric and public/private clinics in Miami, Florida. Journal of Child and Adolescent Behavior, 4(1). Web.
Corso, P. S., Visser, S. N., Ingels, J. B., & Perou, R. (2015). Cost-effectiveness of Legacy for Children™ for reducing behavioral problems and risk for ADHD among children living in poverty. Journal of Child and Adolescent Behavior, 3(5). Web.