Custom «Accessing Healthcare» Essay Paper Sample

Vulnerable population refers to the uninsured, the low income earners, those at high risk of certain disease or those people living in the adverse life situations. The thesis of this paper is basing on the increased risk for poor health because of the economic status, the place of residence age or ethnicity. The vulnerable population is affected by many barriers which affect the personal healthy and their ability to access the healthy care. To improve the healthy conditions of these individuals there has been the establishment of community based programs to aid in the provision of the medical facilities to the population. The program is aimed at providing of the medical service to the low income earners. The project has led to the development of health workers that can work with the communities without any difficulties (Bodenheimer, 2008).

The most affected population is mainly found in the rural areas where there are inadequate medical facilities poor social infrastructure and high illiteracy levels. The community based program to be used in this situation seeks to establish more healthy care facilities in the rural areas. The program will focus on bringing many people closer to health facilities. To help the larger population in the rural areas, the community based programs are providing education to the people in the community to provide the services. The scheme has been trying to get the vulnerable population and keep them in the healthy centre’s that are available.

The program also aims at helping the population to take insurance covers that will enable them to access the medical facilities. The program is to ensure that, the needed medical care by the low income earners is achieved, address the physiological cultural barrier to access the health care by individuals (Aday, 2003). They also seek to improve the accessibility of the medical facilities in the rural areas through the improvement of the transportation means and they establish the clinically appropriate patterns to provide medical care.

The organization may face the following barriers in its quest to offer health services to the intended population. The first barrier that the organization is likely to face is lack of adequate funds. There are a myriad of issues underlying health in the impoverished sections of the population that the organization may not be able to predict. The funds available may not enable it to finance the whole project swiftly. There is a huge task of coming up with the healthy facilities to serve the whole population. In the rural areas there is a high population that is vulnerable hence requiring large amounts of capital to implement the project. The organization will lack the capital to come up with new medical facilities in the area as those that exist are not enough and there is need to be improved.

The geographical location of the area is another major problem that the organization faces. Most areas are inaccessible because of the poor transport network. In some areas the population is scattered, this means, that to accessing the targeted people may be a problem. To access such areas, the organization will face many difficulties and more time will be spent on the settling logistical challenges. Some of the remote areas are vulnerable because they can not develop the health facilities in such areas (Bodenheimer, 2008).

The other problem that the organization will face is communication barrier. The language used by the locals may not be understood by the organization hence there will be difficulties in the understanding of the population and the organization. Communication is important hence the language need to be understood between both parties. Communication barrier can be attributed to the level of education of the individual, cultural differences or even healthy conditions. There is also a possibility that most people do not trust any help and treat it with suspicion. Most people in remote areas feel impoverished by their governments and therefore they do not trust any kind of assistance from any organization. The agency will have to prepare people psychologically to effectively achieve their objective.

The economic status is a barrier to the individuals to access the medical facilities in the following ways. The low income earners are required to be insured for them to access the medical services being offered. This puts them at an increased risk of not getting the required healthy care. The low income earners in most cases fail to insure themselves so that they are able to access the medical services required. In some cases, the society may be required to raise some amount so as to facilitate the provision of the services. Lack of income also leads to lack of the professionals amongst the population to provide the service because the community cannot afford to educate people (Bodenheimer, 2008).

The geographical location of the individual may be a barrier to the individual in the sense that, there may be no health centre’s being established in the area because of inaccessibility of the area. The poor transport means to the area will make the service providers unable to reach the area hence the individuals in that area will no receive the services. Individuals in some areas will be required to travel for a long distance in order for them to access the needed medical services.

The communication barrier because of the language used or cultural differences may cause misunderstanding between the individuals and the service providers. The locals may misunderstand the intention of the service providers hence making them to reject the service being offered. Communication barrier will cause the professionals to move away from the community because the intention of them being in the midst of the vulnerable population will be misunderstood.

In solving the above problems there is need to employ the following strategies; the government should over additional funds to improve the healthy facilities in the affected areas. The community based organization should also seek funds from other non-governmental organizations so that to enable them improve their service provision. More funds should be directed in the development and the evaluation of the health care facilities in the vulnerable populations. There should be adjustments of the payments for healthy premiums for the low income earners so that they can afford to be insured. The federal government should collaborate with the stake holders so as to provide health covers to vulnerable individuals (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2003).

In solving the problem of geographical location, there should be establishment of healthy centers in the rural areas so as to provide the required services to people within the area. This will cushion people from having to travel long distances in search of health services. The transport systems also need to be improved in order to make the areas accessible by those offering services.

The last strategy that should be employed to solve the problem of communication, there should be use of interpreters where language is the barrier to communication. The organization should employ professionals from the society to provide the services and educate the community on the importance of healthy care. The service providers should accept the culture of the community for them to be accepted by them.

In conclusion it is found that the community based organizations main aim is to improve the healthy standards in the vulnerable population. The most vulnerable individuals are found in the rural areas where there are inadequate medical facilities and most of the people are low income earners. However, they face some problems in their quest this include financial problems, geographical and communication barriers among other challenges.