Health Needs

INCREASE HEALTHY LIFESTYLES INDICATORS

The physical health and wellness of the residents in a neighborhood is directly associated with the residents' ability to actively participate in empowering its community. A neighborhood composed of a high percentage of teen pregnancies, uninsured, under-insured, unemployed, under-employed, and medically under-served residents has a lower capacity to support and maintain its neighborhood. 

The goal of the neighborhood leaders and residents should be to increase the ability of youth, families, and neighborhoods to improve their physical health through coordinating resources and programs (click a link below) that include:

1) Health Awareness Training

2) Health Clinic Services

AHCCCS patients have a harder time accessing the care they need. Initially, patients were allowed 30-45 days after enrollment to choose a provider. Although categorically eligible patients still have 30 days to choose their gatekeeper, as required by the federal waiver, freedom of choice for the medically indigenous or medically needy has been sacrificed to the budget. Because of this assignment on the basis of postal zip code, some patients who live five miles from the rural Marana Health Clinic must go to Casa Grande 40 miles away (Orient, 1986).

Housing Units Without Vehicles - Housing Units that do not own vehicles. (Source: Census 2000)

Medicare - Amount of people on Medicare in 2007 (Source: Pima Health Department)

Primary Care Area (PCA) Score - Calculated by the State of Arizona Department of Health Services, the index consists of the totaled score for each Primary Care Area of 14 weighted items including points given for:

The greater the number items, the greater the medical need is. The highest score possible is 121. Arizona Medically Underserved Areas have PCA scores that are greater than 55. (Source: Pima Health Department)

Sliding Fee Clinics/ School Based Clinics - Amount of sliding fee or school based clinics in the area. (Source: Pima Health Department)

Teen Pregnancy - Amount of pregnant women who were between the ages of 14-20. (Source: Pima County Health Department) (Total: Total amount of pregnant women in the area.)

Teen Pregnancy serves as a marker for sexual behavior that brings a substantial risk of contracting AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Teen pregnancy leads to teen childbearing, long-term costs, are often severe for the adolescents involved for their offspring and for the larger society, with estimates of total societal costs of teen parenthood ranging from $9 to $29 billion annually (Allen, 1997).

Uninsured - Amount of people Uninsured in 2000. (Source: Pima Health Department)

Uninsured <18 - Amount of under 18 years olds uninsured in 2008. (Source: Pima County Health Department)

Children aged 15-17 years were more likely to be uninsured than children 1-4 years old. Children without health insurance coverage were less likely to use health care services, and when they did their rates of utilization and expenditures were lower than insured children (A. Elixhauser 2002)

Uninsured Births - Amount of uninsured births in 2000. (Source: Pima County Health Department)