Community Health Assessment & Improvement Process Paper

Community Health Assessment & Improvement Process
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Background
Community health assessment and improvement plans are necessary to identify the health needs of a community and addressing them. Implementation of community health assessment is associated with improved health outcomes focusing on taking based on the local health needs identified (Rabarison, Timsina, & Mays, 2015). Additionally, the priority health status are identified within a specific geographical areas including the person who are vulnerable, their unique health status, people living in the community and the problems that are presented. The communal benefits activities include improving access to health care provision, improving public health outcomes. After identifying the health needs, an implementation strategy is identified to address the community health needs. The community health assessment plan will focus on the area of Queens Borough, New York based on the report by St John’s Episcopal Hospital.
Community Health Assessment
The NYS Prevention Agenda (2013-2017) is a policy initiative to improve the health outcomes of New York by taking into account the health care needs, and it has been adopted by health and community-based organizations in New York (St John’s Episcopal Hospital, 2014). Proper planning and assessment is a long-term initiative to addressing the health care problems by focusing on the community health assessment and the improvement process plan (Plescia, Koontz, & Laurent, 2001). Such initiatives are crucial to developing new policies and promoting health. Adopting and implementing a policy framework through the community health improvement plan facilitates collaboration among stakeholders to address the health issues of the people for a specified time frame and covering specified geographical area (Rabarison, Timsina, & Mays, 2015). Community health partners also rely on these plans to make decisions about how to use resources, set priorities and coordinate activities to achieve a common goal of improved health outcomes.
Statistics
The population of the Queens borough was estimated to be 2,339,150 in July1, 2014. The population of Queens is the most diverse in the country, with no racial group having the 50% threshold majority (Census.gov, 2016). In 2014, the White alone category accounted for at 49.1% of the population, the Black population was 20.8%, Asians accounted for 25.8% and the Hispanic population was 28.4% (Census.gov, 2016). New York as a whole is one of the most favorite destination by foreign-born immigrants, and this has influenced the demographic profile of the area over years. Because of differences in the population and access to information there are health disparities among different groups residing in the borough. The county health rankings and information from the New York Department of Health provide information about health indicators.
Socioeconomic indicators
There were health disparities in the borough by racial, economic and a place of residence. Poverty was mostly concentrated among the minorities, and those with low education attainment were more likely to suffer higher illness rates, disproportionately and report...