2023 The Final Word I reside in a quiet residential community in Hollywood Florida

The Final Word

            I reside in a quiet residential community in Hollywood, Florida. The community is filled with working class people trying to survive. Several of the neighbors upon our leaving or arriving home may speak, not because they’re not friendly it’s because everyone has their own priorities in life. Many of us live in communities and have never been to a community or town hall meeting. We as individuals take a lot of things for granted. It is time for us to become proactive in community involvement to learn strategies that will help build and flourish our communities.

            The health status of Hollywood, Florida in my opinion is fair to above average. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the citizens of our community have been living a sedentary lifestyle due to restrictions implemented for social distancing. Substance abuse and mental illness has plagued this community for years. The opioid crisis has devastated many communities in Florida over the decades and Hollywood is not an exception. Individuals’ addiction to opioids, alcohol and other illicit drugs has a high risk for mental illness being diagnosed or undiagnosed. There are resources in the community such as Behavioral Health Units, Drug Rehab centers, Inpatient clinics, Outpatient clinics, short-term, long-term residential treatment facilities to assist individuals in the treatment of their addiction. The city of Hollywood offers free community meeting resources: Alcohol Anonymous, AL-Anon, and SMART (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration). Finding the best resource to facilitate your recovery is an individual choice (firststepbh.com, 2020).

            The city of Hollywood’s major strengths lies in their community resources. This city is committed to assuring that the residents are knowledgeable about the resources and assets that are available to them. The city is in a redevelopment phase, construction sites are increasing daily in Broward, County.

            My hopes for the city of Hollywood, FL is for continued growth and development becoming economically viable. I want this city to be diverse in its cultures and ethnicities. A city that will allow people of different financial statuses the ability to become homeowners, provide excellent educational opportunities and resources to our children. A community that protects its citizens from danger especially the most vulnerable. A Strategic Plan was developed by the city of Hollywood to encompass the city’s vision to become “South Florida’s top city to live, learn, work, invest, and play” (hollywoodfl.org).

            What has resonated with me was the discussion on vulnerable populations. I am included in the group due to age and disability. In my clinical rotation I was blessed to complete my clinical hours at an adult day care. This experience was humbling. The vulnerable clients at the adult day care were disabled, severely mentally ill, and the very old. The Community Health discussions were varied from family assessments to ethics in technology, but the only thing that resonated with me was caring, showing love and compassion to those clients, societies most vulnerable. Nurses working with vulnerable populations must become proficient at identifying risk that are amenable to intervention as well as those that require greater effort to overcome and those that are not alterable (Maurer & Smith 2013).

References

City of Hollywood Strategic Plan for the Future. (2020). City spotlight. http://hollywoodfl.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3873 (Links to an external site.)

Firststepbh.com (2020). Drug, alcohol, and treatment resources in Hollywood, Fl.

https://firststepbh.com/locations/drug-alcohol-and-treatment-resources-in- (Links to an external site.)  hollywood-florida.

Maurer, F. A., Smith, C. M. (2013). Community/Public Health Nursing Practice: Health for families and Populations. (5th ed.). p. 528. Elsevier. ISBN 978-1-4557-0762-1.

REPLY2 

In the IOM report, it was written that “ensuring that members of society are healthy and reaching their full potential requires the prevention of disease and injury; the promotion of health and well-being; the assurance of conditions in which people can be healthy; and the provision of timely, effective, coordinated healthcare.”  (IOM, 2010).  There have been many issues identified within a community that can affect the community services offered to the public.  Some of which can be within the organization itself such as physical structure and work structure, community coordinations, partnerships within state and local government, the interconnectedness of public health activities, community services themselves, marketing, and funding. 

Overall the health in my community needs more education and more opportunities available.  There are many community health organizations we need to encourage people to utilize these services.  I also believe there is room for improvement to advertise more health promotion rather than alcohol, drugs (such as marijuana clinics), and tobacco.  You see people smoking, leading a sedentary lifestyle, consuming over the daily recommendations of alcohol, getting pregnant at an early age without proper resources available, gang violence, and drug use.  Some strengths within the community appear to be that there are new businesses that are being developed and new housing which are bringing in new jobs and more family-oriented communities to help build a healthier community. 

There are a number of things that resonated with me during this course but probably the most resonating was my clinical experience.  I had the opportunity to meet a number of women at all different stages within their lives and from all different backgrounds that came into Agape for different reasons.  Some were ordered by the courts, some ordered from DCFS, and some who volunteered to get the help needed to regain control of their lives.  They came for help with their mental health disorders whether it be bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, schizophrenia, or some other mental health disorder or a combination of them.  Some of them had very small children that stay with them at agape.  There was one child that was their with his mother that was being treated with mental illness as well prior to coming into Agape and I couldn’t help but wonder if his mental health illness was really a genetic trait or if this was a mental health disorder that had been a product of how this baby was being raised.  It just truly broke my heart.  A lot of them keep their children mostly for the assistance that they get because of their children.  Things such as food stamps, section 8, WIC, child support, and/or government financial assistance.  The struggles they face in their lives are very real.  As a community, we are supposed to help each other, support each other, and care about one another. Agape and its staff really do this.  It is a faith-based organization that truly tries to help the women they serve.  

My hope for the community that I live in is a future of wellbeing, support, and proper education opportunities to especially the children.  The children are our future and I truly hope that the community development projects within our community will help with flushing out the activity for drugs, gangs, and violence due to the increase in jobs, income, and prosperity. That the people of this community will come together to make positive changes for the future.  

Institute of Medicine (2010).  The Future of Nursing. Leading Change, Advancing Health. 

Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, 

at the Institute of Medicine. Copyright National Academy of Science.