Lafayette General Health: Enhancing Healthcare Approach

This document provides an overview of Lafayette General Health, a nonprofit healthcare system in Louisiana. It discusses their services, collaborations, and population-based care services. It also explores the unique health needs of rural, urban, and migrant populations. The document includes information on the demographics of Louisiana, health departments, approaches to healthcare access, and barriers to access. Additionally, it touches on the topic of homelessness and mental health facilities in Lafayette.

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Part 1
Lafayette General Health
Lafayette general health is a health care system which is striving to enhance strive in
building health care approach which offers excellent care and outcomes. The facility serves
south central region of Louisiana through aligning the various facilities in the Acadian
cultural area. The facility is a nonprofit corporation which does not pay any revenues to the
shareholders as profits.
Care services offered
Lafayette General Health provides a full range of services to the community across
South Louisiana. Its services range from trauma care and emergency services to preventive
outreach. The facility continues to expand its services and investing in types of equipment
which bring positive patient outcomes and producing tangible results to the community
across the region it covers.
Collaboration
Lafayette General Health has extensive network base as it manages various hospitals
and clinics such as St Martin Hospital and Abrom Kaplan Memorial Hospital. Further, it has
several affiliations across various facilities across Acadian.
Further, it has build affiliations across South Louisiana in offering top-level care
services. Further, it has a cancer center of Acadian, and various clinics in Mamou, Abbeville,
Crowley and Lafayette in offering local oncology services.
Further Lafayette General Health (LGH), offers expertise to various institutions such as
Opelousas General Health system, Cardiovascular Institute of the South, Bunkie General
Hospital and the Franklin Foundation Hospital.
Population-based care services
LGH center has entrenched population health and has its starting point at the
neighborhood level; hence it finds it critical in growing and building a network across many
hospitals and communities as possible. Some of the population-based services range from
weight loss management, corporate health care, and health promotion services.
Part 2
Aggregate Populations: Rural, Urban and Migrant Populations
i) Rural migrants vulnerability
- There is a great renaissance of the migrants being subjected to the vulnerable life of
the urban set ups.
ii) The urban and suburban centers are becoming more racially and diverse

- American cities are continuously becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. This
has shifted the trends of demographics in cities and urban set ups.
- In urban setups, there is a decline in the share population of the whites due to
increasing trends of the other populations especially Hispanics in the US. In rural
settings, the populations have decreased and other groups have increased.
iii) Social justice and ethnic
- There are noticeable changes in the demographic shifts which are reshaping the urban,
suburban centers. The aging population, changes in ethnic makeup which have to lead
to significant changes in relation to access to education, employment, and poverty
levels.
iv) Population growth of suburbs
- The changing demographic shift has led to rising in suburbs due to the high cost of
living in the suburbs centers. This has led to a strain in terms of resources which are
being offered.
Similarities
Cross-cutting key demographic issues which have emerged to shape the US population
has been noted and categorized into three areas that are, growing racial and ethnic
differences, high immigration and increasing population of the older adults. As much as these
issues are cross-cutting, they cut across the rural, urban and migrant population.
Ethnicity, education and income levels
Ethnicity

Income levels
There has been observed increased poverty levels among the various groups
Education levels
There is a growing share of ages 25 and above across all types of US communities.
There is a wide level of education acquisition across the three population groups;

Health needs
Rural population
The rural population in the US face unique health issues compared to those in urban
setups. Rural setups have fewer access to health care resources such as medical doctors and
specialists availability. Rural areas face high rates of chronic diseases compared to urban
setups. Further, they have a higher rate of various types of cancers due to the exposures of
farm chemicals.
Urban population
The development seen in urban setups has led to tremendous health care challenges
facing the urban population. There is a high dependence on the obesity epidemic and high
rates of chronic diseases. This has a huge effect on the financial strength of the urban
dwellers in managing these health conditions.
Migrant Populations
The migrant population contributes to face a myriad of challenges. These include post-
traumatic stress disorders, anxiety, depression, cancers, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and
hepatitis B these put them on heavy risks of mortality and ill health.
Health care access
Factors affecting health access among the rural population revolved around payment
policies. Reshaping the payment models allows the rural provides to work within adjustable
margins for effective health care utilization. Increase on health care workforce is vital and
reshaping the delivery of health is key in strengthening and improving health care access.
In urban setups, population characteristics by lower socioeconomic status and minority
populations have been observed to lack health insurances. These groups face significant
barriers in access to care and quality of care, (Schiller, Lucas & Peregoy, 2012.
Among the migrant populations, issues are diverse and many. They have access
challenges in terms of mode of acquisitions as the majority of them do not have any insurance
covers to cater for their health care needs.
Demographic set of Louisiana
The demographic trends of Lsousinana indicate that the rural population has an
estimate of 757,126 persons. There is an estimate of 3,000,000 persons living in urban
settings. Based on the last data review, there was an estimate of 186,369 immigrants
representing 4% of the population.
Health departments in Louisiana
The state department of health in Louisiana comprises of five agencies which include

public health, the office of behavioral health, office citizens or developmental disabilities, the
office of aging and adult services and healthy Louisiana- Medicaid.
Louisiana health care facilities in rural places
Based on data.HRSA.ov, Louisiana has 27 critical access hospital care facilities, 144
rural health clinics, 85 federal qualified health centers and 39 short term hospitals situated
outside of urbanized areas.
Approaches to health care access
Louisiana State has developed a comprehensive plan in improving the health care of the
underserved population. Implementation of wider health coverage insurances is aimed at
improving access to health care. Further improving on health care resources has been a key
driver for enhancing and optimizing health care access.
Barriers to health care access
Barriers to access to health care among the three distinct populations in this state cuts
across to health care expenditure. The high cost of health has limited access to health care.
Further inadequate insurances have hindered access to appropriate care as most cannot afford
to pay the huge health care premiums.
Migrant Workers and Mental Health Discussion reflection
Based on the video, the lives of migrant persons has been for a long time been ignored
and their workforce being exploited by the rich who don’t care any respect to human dignity.
Human rights and social justice have eroded in the current society. The subjection of the
migrant workers to deteriorate health environment has continuously and will continue to put
the health of the migrants at jeopardy. There is a need for urgent attention from all spheres
including the Human rights watch, government agencies and employers who engage the
migrants in the modern day slave trade. Further poor working conditions of the migrants
continue to put huge risks and affect significantly the quality of life they live.
Part 3
Homelessness
Homelessness in Louisiana
A snapshot by the U.S department of housing and urban development estimates that
about 3,059 people are homeless in Louisiana in 2018, a decline compared to the previous
years. The report further states that the homeless were located in emergency shelters and
transitional housing units, (Frieden, 2013). The Louisiana state has reported a significant
decline in homeless however the population of migrants has risen to by about 8% among the
veterans compared to the previous year, (Terry, 2018).

Homelessness facility
Lafayette City Housing Authority Lafayette
Lafayette, LA 70501
[phone]
Housing Authority, Low Income Affordable Housing, Public Housing
Homeless issue and job layoffs
The economic downtown of Louisiana has greatly affected and lead to rising in
homeless of the wider population of the state. Increased layoffs have led to increased poverty
levels as families no longer can sustain themselves in rented shelters thus leading to rising in
homelessness.
Community assessment needs of the homelessness
Persuasive arguments
- The need for taking care of homelessness in our society is aimed at reducing the crime
levels when there is high homeless, idleness tends to creep in and this populous tend to
engage distractive activities.
- Homelessness is a community problem and this group of persons tends to suffer and
their quality of life deteriorates thus affecting the quality of life and leading to more
resources to manage their health straining health care resources available., (Lee, 2012).
Community needs assessment
Nightingale's environmental theory
There is a need to act and utilize the environment of the patient so as to assist them in
the recovery process. The need to consider environmental settings for the homelessness is key
in restoring their health care state, (Pirani, 2016).
The key priorities for health include;
- Ensuring that the homeless get clean water
- Acquire good standards of cleanliness to attain good health state
- Ensuring the consumption of clean water and clean drainage systems where they stay.
Part 4
1. Vulnerable groups
i) Buras and empire
Health status
Money - They are financially poor as they often have mobile homes.
Status - They have the lower economic and social status they have
Vietnamese ancestry.

Social connections - They have a huge proportion of their pollution who do not
speak English.
- The Buras and Empire situated in Plaquemine’s Parish are socially vulnerable due to
their distance to access various resources such as health care, hospital, density population and
people living in mobile homes.
- There are various parish owned facilities and recreation facility and other services
which serves this vulnerable group, there are limited social economic resources for this group
of persons.
ii) Centrality, Lower 9th Floor, New Orleans East
Health status
Money - High poverty levels thus deprived economic power.
Status - Have a higher percentage of residents living in poverty.
Social connections- Have a larger percentage of person’s being older than 64 years or
younger than 5 years
- They have a high resident’s percentage living in poverty and further are socially
vulnerable. There are limited community resources facilities serving these vulnerable groups
documented in the literature.
iii) Garyville
Health status
Money - Elevated levels of poverty in the population power.
Status - Have high population faced with poverty
Social connections- Situated in the rural areas of St John the Baptists Parish
Community
- Due to their remoteness, they have limited access to resources. Help obtained is
sourced from St John the Baptist Parish who offer foods subsidies at times and visitations and
lower grade education levels.
iv) Killona
Health status
Money - Residents faced with abject poverty
Status - Live in remote places and located in the rural areas of St Charles
Parish Community
Social connections- have limited social connections due to their rural nature.
Killona community has limited access to community resources and deprived socio-
economic status, thus affecting their already low poverty levels.

2. Mutual sharing avenues
Mutual trust is a key element for successful teamwork. Building a rapport with a
community nurse is key in knowing the community better. In order to establish and create
mutual sharing the following approaches will be utilized;
Asking open-ended questions
It is essential to leave assumptions thus enhancing opening up and sharing more in this
way you gain trust through a listening ear.
Being vulnerable
The vulnerability is a way of ensuring credibility and trust. By sharing my parts to my
colleague allows the beginning of building trust.
Offering a listening ear rather than speaking a lot
This allows for ensuring that the other partner can express and show that you are really
interested in his/her viewpoint.
Mental health facilities in Lafayette, Louisiana
There are several mental facilities situated in Lafayette Louisiana. One of this facility is
Genesis behavioral hospital, (Genesis, online). It offers mental health services for inpatient
and outpatient health care services under a structured program which offers an intensive and
structures clinical service process.
History of Deinstitutionalization of the Mentally Ill
The repealing of the mental act of 1980 has had major setbacks in the progress of
addressing mental health across the US. Failure to address the key issues of mental health
lead to victimization and this entrenched behaviors as seen increases the mental health state
leading to more harm to many patients and citizens. The repeal has major its effects and
impacts on policy frameworks of how mental health is viewed, thus neglecting core issues.
Vulnerable population community collaborations
Currently there is limited collaboration among the various groups which could assist
the vulnerable at the Louisiana state. There is gap observed among mentally ill patients.
Despite this, there are key organizations which can engage in collaboration services such as
the National alliance for the Mentally Ill, American Psychology Association, Substance
Abuse mental health services and other community faith based organizations. Enhanced
collaboration among these entities could play an important role in the development of plans
and organizing pre event messages.

References
Genesis Mental Health services, online. Retrieved on 18/02/2018, at
https://www.genesisbh.com/.
Lee, R. C. (2012). Family homelessness viewed through the lens of health and human rights.
Advances in Nursing Science, 35(2), E47-E59.
Frieden, T. R. (2013). CDC health disparities and inequalities report-United States, 2013.
Foreword. MMWR supplements, 62(3), 1-2.
Pirani, S. A. (2016). Application of Nightingale’s theory in nursing practice. Annals of
Nursing and Practice, 3(1), 1040.
Schiller, J. S., Lucas, J. W., & Peregoy, J. A. (2012). Summary health statistics for US adults:
national health interview survey, 2011.
Terry, Y. R. (2018). Homelessness in America: Heading Home Homeless Agency.