Staten Island New York

Name

Institution

Introduction

The health of individuals majorly depends on the decisions they make. The healthcare workers have the responsibility of working with the community members to ensure active participation as it concerns their health. Through this, community members can understand the importance of healthy living and thus adopt healthy lifestyles. The document discusses the available resources of Staten Island New York and the different partnerships in the community. It also highlights the partnership that has worked well, the challenges, and provides suggestions for further improvement.

Current Local Community Resources

The Island has various support groups and health organizations that give hope to clients. Through these groups and programs, people can create awareness to the public and refer individuals for health services that they require. The groups are formed based on various conditions like Alzheimer’s, cancer, diabetes, heart conditions, and HIV. For instance, the Alzheimer’s Foundation of Staten Island is an organization that aims at educating people and their families about the consequences of Alzheimer’s disease (Silive.com, 2015). The program has also formed support groups for caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease, where they are provided with information on how to care for such people.

Moreover, The American Cancer Society also has support groups, educates people on the prevention of fatalities, and conducts research and advocates for the clients’ rights. The Diabetes association provides outreach services to individuals in the community who need them. The Staten Island community has partnered with the American Lung Association of New York City to create awareness of respiratory conditions. It has collaborated with AHA to provide education services in learning institutions, businesses, and community settings. Besides, the community has various agencies that deal with substance use and mental health treatment. Adolescents are some of the people who have been severely engaged in substance abuse despite the various efforts to reduce substance use (Tooker, 2017). Individuals who wish to donate blood at the community level can do that through blood drives. The activities ensure that all the necessary materials are available for blood donation. Furthermore, the Community Health Action of Staten Island provides comprehensive services for individuals with HIV/AIDS and those at a higher risk of HIV.

Community Partnerships

The community has collaborated with various organizations that deal with issues of psychological well- being and drug and substance abuse among the community residents. Examples of some of the agencies are; Staten Island Mental Health Society (0-19), Silver Lake Behavioral Health (18+), and Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services (All ages) treat psychological problems. The SI PPS has collaborated with Coordinated Behavioral Care (CBC) to implement HEALTHi (Helping, Engaging, and Linking to Health interventions) (Staten Island PPS, n.d.). HEALTHi involves approaches to ensuring the protection of people with sophisticated long-term illnesses and inadequate knowledge on health matters, food insecurity, and housing problems. Addressing these problems has helped in increasing access and utilization of health services among vulnerable groups.

Another partnership is the Staten Island Community Partnership Program (SI CPP), which consists of different healthcare workers, local community members, and other grassroots organizations (SI CCP, n.d.). The project helps to strengthen families in the community through active participation, capacity building, and suitable solutions to their problems. The project works with the residents, health care workers, and the local administration to increase access and utilization of health care among people and strengthen relationships among medical providers and community members.

There have been efforts to improve the education system of Staten Island, which has recorded low rates of students who complete studies. The Staten Island Educational Partnership was formed to attain at least thirty thousand college degrees by 2025 (Fanuzzi et al., 2015). Through this, community members can access education.

Collaboration That Is Working Well

The community has various organizations that have worked to ensure quality health among community members. Among the many Performing Provider Systems (PPS), SI PPS has been reported as one of the most yielding programs in New York City (Myers et al., 2019). The program consists of medical and social service providers. It aims at changing the lives of individuals who are not covered by health insurance and those covered by Medicaid (Staten Island PPS, n.d.). The project also has developed new programs to promote service provision and to increase access to services.

Challenges

Despite the efforts to enable the community’s residents to reach health services, the culture of the people has been a significant obstacle (White, 2016). For instance, people with mental illness do not seek medical care because they feel embarrassed, and they do acknowledge that they have a problem and thus seek solutions. Another barrier fear and mistrust of the people willing to help the community members; hence they resist assistance provided. Besides, some people feel stigmatized for being assisted by the different organizations in the community.

Recommendations

Some of the strategies I would recommend are conducting studies to identify the community needs of people in a particular setting and working with the community members to develop practical approaches to solving the problem. Besides, approaches that can work in a given community may not be practical for another community.

Conclusion

Empowering the members of a community helps them understand the importance of adopting healthy lifestyles, and thus they can be able to change. It is thus essential to engage community individuals to understand their beliefs and perceptions and build rapport with them. Through this, they can trust the persons implementing community activities and do as they have been educated. The implementers should also be prepared to handle certain impediments that occur during their work in the community.

References

Fanuzzi, R., Seigel, S., Cuccia, C., Kress, M., & Sanchez, S. (2015). 30,000 Degrees: Steps Toward the Formation of a Staten Island Higher Education Partnership. Metropolitan Universities, 26(1), 155-172.

Myers, N., Burke, G. C., Sharp, M., Gilman, M., & Shearer, C. (2019). DSRIP Promising Practices: Strategies for Meaningful Change for New York Medicaid.

SI CCP. (n.d.). State Island Community Partnership Program. Retrieved from http://sicpp.com/ournetwork

Silive.com. (2015). Staten Island health services: Support groups and organizations available to assist patients. Retrieved from https://www.silive.com/guide/2015/03/staten_island_health_services.html

Staten Island PPS. (n.d.). Partnering for Better Health. [Press Release] Staten Island PPS and CBC are Partnering for New Program – HEALTHi. Retrieved from https://www.statenislandpps.org/press-release-staten-island-pps-cbc-partnering-new-program-healthi/

Tooker, P. (2017). A Community in Crisis: The Opioid Epidemic on Staten Island. Metropolitan Universities, 28(4), 131-147.

White, G. F. (2016). Sandy on Staten Island. Natural Hazards Observer, 40(5).