Comm Final: Day one presentations Flashcards
(114 cards)
-Job loss, mental illness, natural disasters, spouse passing and main breadwinner, drugs and alcohol, medical bills, Poverty
Homelessness and Poverty
Causes
having insufficient resources or funds to meet basic living expenses such as food, shelter, clothing, transportation and health care
General: homelessness and poverity
live in dangerous environments, be underemployed/work high risk jobs, eat less nutritious foods=whatever they can, have many stressors
-Can lead to homelessness
Poverty
More likely to:
Decreased earnings
Increased unemployment rates
Changes in retirement benefits/labor force
Increase in female-headed households
Inadequate education and job skills=3 jobs to support
Inadequate antipoverty programs/welfare benefits
Weak enforcement of child support statutes
Declining Social Security payments to children
Increased number of children born to single women
Poverty Factors that effect a growing number:
People become homeless for a number of reasons
Families are especially at risk for becoming homeless
-Typical sheltered family is made up of a single mother with 2-3 children
Many once had homes and survived on limited income
Includes every age, sex, ethnicity and family type
Homelessness
- Lives marked by hardship and struggle
Homelessness transient/episodic; brief stays in shelters or other temporary accommodations
Crisis poverty
- Typically chronically homeless
Many have mental or physical disabilities along with alcohol/drug abuse, severe mental illness, chronic health problems, or chronic family problems
Lack money, family support and need economic help, rehabilitation, ongoing support
Persistent poverty
Poor health can contribute to being and being can lead to poor health
Cycle hard to get out of
Limited health care makes worse
Try to provided support: what is provided isn’t always going to help them
Health promotion activities are a luxury for individuals
Poor health outcomes are often secondary to barriers that impede access to care: increased infant mortality rate, increased hospitalization,
Homeless & health
inconvenient clinical hours, attitudes of health care workers toward poor clients
homelessness and health
Barriers:
- -Alcohol abuse, high sodium foods
- -Intravenous drug use, risky sexual practices
- pneumonia and tuberculosis, wound and skin infections
- Crowded living conditions, poor hygiene, lack of first aid, no clean place to fix up wound
homeless and poverty Common diseases 1. hypertension 2. AIDs 3. viral and bacterial infections
- Higher rates of prematurity, low birth weight, and birth defects
- Increased incidence of traumatic death and injuries, nutritional deficits, iron deficiency anemia, elevated blood lead levels, infections
- Lead to more hospitalization and more stress
Effects of poverty and health of children
- Approximately 26% of all homeless have severe and many are not being treated
- Overall, about 6% of American adults have serious
- Many with severe live in poverty or are homeless because lack ability to earn/maintain suitable standard of living: cycle hard to break need health care but can’t afford it
- Serious mental illness disrupts ability to carry out essential aspects of daily life
- May prevent people from forming and maintaining stable relationships or cause them to misinterpret others’ guidance and react irrationally=Results in pushing away family, caregivers and friends
- These factors + stress of mental disorder make these people more at risk to become homeless
Mental Illness and Homelessness
-Moved many from state psychiatric hospitals to communities
Community-based services were not often in place when persons released into community or not affective
Families were not prepared for the treatment responsibilities
Staff in nursing homes and personal care settings often lacked adequate knowledge and skills
Some were released into rooming houses and single-room occupancy hotels=Little to no help or no supervision: taking meds
Others placed in prisons and jails: Estimated that 14% of males and 33% of females in jail suffer from mental illness
Deinstitutionalization
mental illness poverty and homeless
-Create trusting environment
Show respect, compassion, and concern
Do not make assumptions
Coordinate a network of services and providers, resources they can use
Advocate for accessible health care providers: can’t afford won’t go
Focus on prevention: keeping them from becoming in first place
Role of the Nurse
homeless and poverty
Concept of who is poor has changed
Income is usually a qualifying factor for programs
Federal Income Poverty Guidelines determine whether a person is financially eligible for assistance
Some families earn slightly more than the government-defined income levels and are not eligible for government assistance programs, but are unable to meet their living expenses
Who Can Help?
homeless and poverty
mission is to prevent homeless, protecting civil rights
The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH):
help families with children under 19, help maintain jobs, medical assistance, transportation, food stamps
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF):
promote, health screening, counseling, promote breast feeding
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC):
: largest funding
Medicaid
snack-alleviate hunger and easier to afford, now electric card given monthly
Food Stamps:
: huge organization, help with homeless, donate coats, safe places, addiction counseling, homeless find work
Salvation Army
: federal program, school readiness from birth to 5 years old, receive help regardless
Head Start
house families that have to stay for long time, can’t afford housing, 15$ a night
Ronald McDonald House:
: case managers to veteran to get back on feet, help find jobs
HUD- Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH)