Horizon Community Assessment

This document provides an assessment of the Horizon community, including its location, population, and attractions. It also discusses the health issues facing the community, such as extreme heat, falls among the elderly, and drug and alcohol abuse. The document explores the social determinants of health in the community, including the residential environment, socioeconomic status, and support services. It concludes with recommendations for addressing these health challenges and improving access to healthcare.

Horizon Community Assessment
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Horizon community
Horizon community is located in the South East Coast of South Australia. The community has
an estimate of 30,000 residents. This community sits in a well established regional center
which offers the residences and tours with ambient facilities and tertiary level hospitals and
complementary health care facilities in health care. It has a wide range of services in health
care such as radiology, pharmacy, pathology, and physiotherapy services. The community
values the overall multicultural diversity among its population and its heritage. The community
has educational resources centers with a Junior and primary school campus located in the area.
The horizon community has an attraction for local tourists due to its location and center of
tourist attraction sites such as the newly expanded Horizon Mall which offers an array of social
amenities. The community further has a variety of recreational facilities such as fishing, hiking,
sailing, biking among many others.
Health issues facing the community
The rural communities are facing various challenges with regard to health access and
acquisition. Climate change has continued and increased per the rennet years and has emerged
to be an additional stressor on health systems. Extreme heat can have dire consequences on the
overall substantial morbidity and mortality among the population affecting adverse health
status. The impact of extreme heat affects health services affects to the community. Extreme
heat duration often affects the discharge delay and affects the overall recovery process of
patients (Williams et al., 2013).
Another fundamental health issue affecting the Horizon community entails rise of falls and
harm injuries among elderly persons. Horizon community has a large proportion of the offer
people and thus them encounters an estimate of 42 reported fall among the older persons in
public hospitals and get injuries after the falls (ABS, 2014a).
Further, the community is faced with drug and alcohol abuse trends. There are a high
proportion of persons who experience health issues relatedg drug and alcohol abuse among the
Horizon community (AIHW, 2014a).
Social determinants of health
Residential environment

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The residential environment has a direct impact on health access through influencing resources,
safety and positive behavior on health. Horizon community has adequate access to basic goods
and services which are socially cohesive in nature and promotes both physical and
psychological wellbeing and enhancing the natural environment of the residents (ABS, 2013).
The general residential environment, however, does not allow and give ambiance for the
elderly population who tend to experience high falls and injury.
High socioeconomic status of the community
The horizon community socioeconomic gradient state of health is depicted by the general
profile of the community. The general characteristics of the community are well developed and
socioeconomically stable. There a few levels of the population who are unemployed.
Unemployed persons tend to face high risks of lower health status compared to employed
individuals. Thus there is improved the social economic status of the general population in the
Horizon community. His has been indicated with increased levels of alcohol and substance
abuse among the few unemployed persons and those having high wealth status in the
community (Shepherd, Li & Zubrick, 2012).
Improved environmental health status
The general community of Horizon has adequate resources in terms of infrastructure with
regards to social amenities services such as housing, infrastructure, and emergency
management. This is key determinants in ensuring that there is the access of health care to the
general population. The state of the Horizon community allows it to have positive health care
access s and be able to have improved health care in the general population. The adverse
climate conditions are thus affecting utilization and maximization of attainment of the better
environmental status of the Horizon community. Despite the good efforts undertaken in terms
of the infrastructure and social care services, adverse climatic conditions tend to deteriorate the
health status of the community (AIHW, 2014b).
Diverse group
In the Horizon community, social and cultural determinants tend to have an impact among the
Aboriginal and Torres Islander people in Horizon community. The parity in terms of
employment, economic development, housing issues, and welfare are affecting the overall
general health status of the indigenous persons in this area. In the acquisition of health among

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this diverse group, various services are available to facilitate health care and improved state of
living among the Aboriginal and Torres Islander persons. Aboriginal home support groups are
continuously offering access and facilitating improved health care state among this key
population set up (ABS, 2014b).
Support services
The horizon community area is committed in the overall improvement of health care outcomes
among the Australians. Among the indigenous persons tend to have poor health outcomes and
are more exposed due to risks factors affecting them. Among the general population there key
avenues which tend to address the key determinants affecting the general health status of the
populations. Evidence has indicated that there are increased health care plans, illness
prevention and chronic disease management avenues among the population as a way of
addressing negative health status.
The key strengths which tend to facilitate this improved health outcomes entail improved
infrastructure access which facilitates the easy provision of health care services. Further, the
availability of health personnel to deliver improved health outcomes tend to be more associated
with increased access to health thus improving on the social determinants of health.
The key weakness affecting social services provision as observed from study reviews
undertaken is lack of coordination among the diverse health care services available. There is a
need for a coordinated care provision approach for the Horizon community in order to facilitate
improved health care access. Further another, access to the indigenous community to access a
wider range of health care services offered by various organizations is impacting negatively on
the general health status of the Horizon community.
Conclusion
The general health status of the Horizon community has been observed to be influenced by
various factors. The general environment perspective of Horizon community facilitates access
to health care services and improved health outcomes. However, despite this, the community
tend to encounter various health challenges such as adverse climate, increased falls among the
elderly and drug and alcohol abuse. There is a need for support and address towards these
social determinants of health and improved access of the indigenous community towards health
outcome among the Horizon community.

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References
ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) 2013. Australian Health Survey: physical activity, 2011–
12. Cat. no. 4364.0.55.004. Canberra: ABS.
ABS 2014a. Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey: biomedical
results, 2012–13. ABS cat. no. 4727.0.55.003. Canberra: ABS.
ABS 2014b. Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey: physical activity,
2012–13. ABS cat. no. 4727.0.55.004. Canberra: ABS.
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) 2014a. Australia's health in 2014.
Australia's health series no. 14. Cat. no. AUS 178. Canberra: AIHW.
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) 2014a. Australia's health in 2014.
Australia's health series no. 14. Cat. no. AUS 178. Canberra: AIHW.
Shepherd CCJ, Li J & Zubrick SR 2012. Social gradients in the health of Indigenous
Australians. American Journal of Public Health 102(1):pp. 107–17.
Williams, S., Bi, P., Newbury, J., Robinson, G., Pisaniello, D., Saniotis, A. and Hansen, A.,
2013. Extreme heat and health: perspectives from health service providers in rural and remote
communities in South Australia. International journal of environmental research and public
health, 10(11), pp.5565-5583.