Question

Kimberly’s story will wreck the hardest of hearts. Kimberly has lived on the streets since the age of 7, which is when her father murdered Kimberly’s mother for being a heroin addict.

I met Kimberly in San Diego. She has terminal cancer and has to wear a colostomy bag. Because of that, there are no services to help get her off the streets. Kimberly only has four months left to live.

Kimberly hopes to come into some money so she and her husband can buy a small RV and travel for what little time she has left

How typical is this family’s situation based on what you know about the prevalence of homelessness in the United States? Include relevant statistics.

What barriers to healthcare might this family face because of homelessness, unstable housing, or food insecurity?

Has mental illness affected the family you chose? In what ways do you see mental illness affecting the family’s future? If no mental illness is noted in the family, consider how the social structure of your chosen family serves as a risk factor for mental illness and what can be done on a family level to mitigate that risk.

As an NP working in a federally qualified health center, what interventions can you do for this patient during a clinic visit to improve patient and family outcomes?

Answer 1

70% of people expreince homelessness as a individual and other 30% of people with family with children living homelessness. Homelessness failure to receive support and health care service for service system. poor housing make risk of become homelessness, it increase the risk of acute and chrnoci illness. As a disease progress and leads to more serious health issues this people can not work and unable to pay rent.homeless affect more than 3 million individuals and 14% US population.
  They are most disadvantaged population with respect to access health care and preventive service. this homeless individual encounter barrier to health care for cost, transportation,personal barrier, mental illness, competing needs, poor availability of health services, and medical provider. they are suffering with chronic illness because there is no chance for them to visit the physician within the past year. not only the access to health care increase the burden of cancer among the homeless but also due to poor knowledge about their current cancer prevalence measures practice among them increase the risk, it makes the high risk for cancer within the homeless than the general population.
  Male persons above 50 years caucasian and African Americans with poor family background with a lack of education and income are the major populations living with cancer burden in homelessness. lack of physical exercise, not eating healthy foods, poor cancer-related knowledge, attitude, and belief increases the greater risk of cancer.
Major impact of homelessness on mental illness from the effect on the mother of the family, leads to the highest risk of homeless. substance abuse and family psychiatric disorder, history of homelessness increase the incidence for children to become homeless.
Social structures like poverty, poor affordability for paying housing rent, lack of physical and mental health, family breakdown, unemployment, economic structure cause the high risk for mental illness. homeless is a societal problem. failure of society to ensure adequate system, funds, support access to the house, and health care causes homelessness. Access to affordable housing, employment, justice, and health care service, government housing projects improve homeless people's health and decrease the rate of homelessness. federal housing policy can do investment for housing on the incentives-based program for affordable housing. social welfare services, education, and funds reduce this burden.
Federally qualified health centers provide care for medically underserved people, it addresses the health disparities through federal funds community-based programs that provide support for cancer population increase screening, diagnostic procedures, and provides treatment for the patient with cancer and reduces the barrier to receive care.