Demographics and Population Health Assignment

Demographics and Population Health Assignment Mona Odiakosa Health Science 301 Winter Quarter 2013 January 17,2013

Demographics and Population Health Assignment Part A

The U.S. Census Bureau provides valuable and reliable data about the nations people and economy. Upon examining the Demographic characteristics, I found some interesting information regarding race and ethnicity. The total population for race in San Bernardino County amounted to 2,023,452. As well as one of the races making up majority of the population of 1,934,410. So I begin to wonder what race is making up majority of the population? And why? That majority one race was the white people. The second leading race were the black people. Basically, San Bernardino Countys population is made up of Whites, Blacks and other specific races. In relationship to race, peoples age groups also make up the population. The most populated age groups ranged from 25 to 34, 35 to 44, and 45 to 54 years old. Which means that these people are adults with either careers and or children. This means that most of the county should be mature adults. As for the genders in San Bernardino County, there is a ratio of 1:1 for females and males, meaning there is an even amount of each gender in the population. When it comes to the Social Characteristics, there is a subject of different households. In San Bernardino County there are still people who have families with there own children under 18 and are still married. Which is surprising because Im sure in other places there are many broken homes. This allows the health outcome to more positive for both the family and the children. These are the parents and children who will most likely be educated and successful in life. In the subject for the martial status, it showed that there are males 15 years and over who are now married, except separated at about 49.1%. This may be a healthy indicator, because more men are believing in marriage and now be able to build a safe home if they have any children.

Demographics and Population Health Assignment The most shocking information was that of the Education Attainment, with about

317,530 out of 1,198,562 who are high school graduates. That means that there are more than half of the population who either drop out of high school (143,774) or have a graduate or professional degree. This indicates poor health, because people younger than 25 are not excelling in school. With having a only a high school diploma you cannot get far in life. This means perhaps a future in low income and government funding. After reading the Race vs. Ethnicity vs. Culture document, I now better understand how these terms are defined. To my understanding, the term race means that you are an person with physical features that is viewed by todays society. Which distinguishes you from other people. When I think about the word race, I imagine a group of people with the same features and that are able to identify with each other because of their similarities. The term ethnicity is a group of people who share the same values and language as a race and as people. A culture deals more about where you come from ( state, country, parenting styles). I see culture as a set of values, customs and religions that you are born into, and chose whether to follow it or not as you get older.

Part B (1) According to the Monthly Morbidity Report for February 2011 the top five

Demographics and Population Health Assignment diseases reported in the county for the year to date are Chlamydial Infections, Respiratory Syncytical virus (RSV), Hepatitis C, Lapse of Consciousness, and

Gonococcal Infections. Chlamydia is a disease caused by the bacteria, Chlamydia trachoma is. The people being infected with Chlamydia are ages 20 to 24, which means this age group is having unprotected sex or having oral sex. People in this age group are also either sexually active and have multiple partners. (2) The median household income for San Bernardino is $55,845. In comparison to California, the median is $60,883. The county gets its findings from The U.S. Census Bureau: State and County Quick Facts, and the data from the American Community Survey. Which means that this information is not made up and legit. According to the Disparities Dashboard, adults with health insurance are aged from 45-64 (75%). This means that older people and senior citizens have access to health care and can seek medical attention when needed. Another interesting thing that I saw was that all Cancer incidence rates by gender was higher among men with 512.9, and women with 381.6. I think that a great deal of the cancer comes from smoking cigarettes, because men tend to do so more than women. On the community dashboard represents how communities are doing in comparison to other communities. There is a chart of colors that represent the distribution of values from the reporting region. The red indicates the worst quartile, which shows that San Bernardino is not doing well in that area. As it is being compared to the Health Plan 2020, we have not reached our goal in any of these specific areas. Our goal is to be at 100%, but we are at 71.7% for adults with health care.

Demographics and Population Health Assignment

Part C The Emergency Department Use in California, reports information on Medi-Cal visits, avoidable emergency visits and emergency department visits in different counties. The San Bernardino county seems to be pretty average when it comes to these different medical departments. Medi-Cal is a public health insurance program that provides the needed health care services for people with low-income. San Bernardino has 45.1% for Medi-Cal visits, means that about a little less than half of the population has paid medical services and uses it. There are 12.9% for Avoidable Emergency visits and also about 29.1% of the population for Emergency department visits. Which means that only a few people in the population ever attend the emergency room, and are careful individuals. Its surprising that the percentage in San Bernardino is average compared to county like El Dorado. What is possibly in El dorado that people are using these services more frequently than San Bernardino? Perhaps maybe the counties with higher percentages have more people living in poverty, so they are more likely to visit these medical facilities more often.

References

Demographics and Population Health Assignment

County of San Bernardino Department of Public Health Morbidity Report. (2002) Retrieved January 162013. http://www.co.san-bernardino.ca.us/pubhlth/documents/2011morbidity reports/February. PDF

Emergency Department Use in California (2011), Retrieved January 16 2013.

http://www.ppic.org/main/dataSet.asp?i=868