Community Health Care

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer looks at the issue of community health in the city of Lacey, Washington. The writer explains that Lacey is located in Thurston County and has an approximate population of just over 31,000 people. The writer notes that the average income within the city is $43,000 and there is a diverse population comprised of primarily white, Black, American-Indian and Asian individuals. The writer points out that hospitals within the area have been tasked with providing care for this population and in recent years the issue of charity care has been increasing in Lacey and the surrounding communities. The writer maintains that this has become a local issue because of the cost of care that is absorbed by the hospitals, the care that is received in emergency rooms that should be provided for in community health centers, and the inability of impoverished people to receive the full scope of care that is needed to address their health care concerns.

From the Paper:

"Although there are other community health clinics in the surrounding areas, the residents of Lacey have this alternative to emergency room care as their sole choice in regular health care, other than the hospital systems that exist in the county.
"The program creation with funding from Senator Murray's financial allotment will ultimately only serve the community by providing coordination of health care services between the hospitals and those in need of medical treatment. This program will not ensure, however, that low income and impoverished people will be capable of having consistent health care throughout the community. Given the fact that under RCW 70.170.060 there is a requirement for alternative community health care to be developed, the minimal existence of this community health care adversely impacts the population. This is evident in the extensive costs associated with charity care that continue to rise in the county and the continued reliance of the impoverished population on emergency room care in the county."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hospital based emergency care: At the breaking point. (2006). Board on Health Care Services. Retrieved January 2, 2006, from http://orsted.nap.edu/openbook/0309101735/html/29.html
• Hospital data. (2006). Washington State Department of Health. Retrieved January 2, 2006, from http://www.doh.wa.gov/EHSPHL/hospdata/CharityCare/
• Lacey, Washington. (2006). City Data. Retrieved January 2, 2006, from http://www.city-data.com/city/Lacey-Washington.html
• Sen. Murray secures over $7.3 million for Washington state health care, child card and workforce development priorities. (2006). United States Senate. Retrieved January 2, 2006, from http://murray.senate.gov/news.cfm?id=259038
• Quick facts. (2006). U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved January 2, 2006, from http://www.infoplease.com/us/census/data/washington/lacey/

More papers on Community Health Care:

• Research Paper # 40292 : "Community Health Care Education"
• Research Paper # 26371 : "HIV-AIDS Patients and the Health Care System"
• Research Paper # 25731 : "Minority Groups and the American Health Care System"

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