the homeless population

The Homeless as a Marginalized Demographic in San Francisco

The paper examines the homeless as a marginalized demographic in San Francisco, a city in California State, by assessing the group’s health and economic issues. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the city’s homeless population has increased. People who are homeless do not have a safe place to rent, such as an apartment or a building. Homeless individuals are often unable to meet their basic needs, such as wellbeing, housing, clothes, and food. Homeless people are at a high risk of sickness and death. The community has set various services to help the homeless such as creating community organizations that provide the vulnerable group with food, shelter, clothing, and health services. Some government organizations also offer the homeless with jobs to enable them to provide for their needs.

Health Risks Faced by the Homeless

Homelessness increases the risk of developing problems in the health of individuals by exposing them to various body disorders which can result in the likelihood of suffering. Homelessness also exposes people to the rape or other forms of physical assault. The problem of malnutrition may also arise since the individual does not have a balanced diet to provide for body needs. The poor nutrition may eventually lead to various chronic conditions such as weakness and fatigue in the initial stages. Such individuals experience the joint pain (Brickner, 2015). However, treating any chronic condition for the homeless is very difficult they live on the streets and have poor sleeping environments. The poor environments and use of drugs such as tobacco result to respiratory illnesses such as bronchitis and pulmonary disease among others. Additionally, the homeless are at high risk of unintentional injuries and mortality. The injuries such as burns, cuts, and bruises are likely to occur due to fall or when hit by a car. The individuals may even die due to an accidental use of alcohol or drugs. The weather condition also increases their death rates, during the cold season they die out of freezing and during the hot weather they die due to heatstroke or excessive sunburns. Foot and skin problems are also common conditions for those experiencing homelessness. The foot problems such as immersion foot, corns and callouses commonly result to negligible trauma, lengthy exposure to wetness, and footwear. Additionally, the skin diseases like impetigo, body lice, cellulitis among others are likely to occur to the homeless. The problem of the skin also extends due to lack of bathing frequently and failure to maintain body hygiene. Poor hygiene and lack of restorative care may also result in dental problems causing diseases such as tooth decay and other mouth problems.

Infectious Diseases and Teen Pregnancies among the Homeless

The infectious diseases are also common among the homeless as a result of overcrowding in their shelter, poor hygiene and nutrition, and weak immune system. Such diseases include HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. The homeless involve themselves in use of drugs and survival sex which brings about the increased spread of the diseases. The teenagers who are homeless appear to have more than one sexual partner placing themselves at a greater risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. The early participation of sexual activities increases the teen pregnancies. The teen pregnancies are very stressful due to lack of support system and poor health condition (Persal, 2014). The infant born in such environment have low survival rates since the young parent has no enough even on her own and she wakes up early to look for breakfast while the child’s care is not entirely met. The homeless in some cases involve the mentally ill individuals who may have been freed from jails and hospital without appropriate family or community care. However, the homeless do not agree to change their behaviors such as the use of drugs to improve their health conditions which make it difficult to address their health problems. The barriers that exist for the homeless people is the inadequate community resources to meet their problems.

Efforts to Address Homelessness in San Francisco

Notably, the homes may receive community resources to provide for their needs. The city leaders in San Francisco take different methods to solve the problem of homelessness for example through supportive housing programs. The government has launched initiatives to house all the homeless families in the coming years. There are other programs such as Continuum of Care Program that fund local networks of companies to house the homeless persons. The program reduces dislocation and trauma caused to the homeless and their families. Additionally, the community members may volunteer to help the homeless by providing them with food stamps, employment services, housing and shelter, clothing, kitchen soups among others (Firth, 2013). The members of the community play a vital role in boosting the respect and dignity of the homeless through acknowledging them as people of value and communicating with them with genuine interest. Also, the community member prays for the homeless to give them hope that they will be delivered from their current situation and their broken lives shall be healed. However, despite the efforts of the government and society to eradicate homelessness the resources are not enough since few of the homeless are forced to find a place to spend the night on the streets and outdoors. Plans are continuously made to ensure that in the coming years’ homelessness will be addressed fully.

A Health Problem Impacting Homeless Teens: Teen Pregnancies

Based on the assessment a health problem that a community health nurse could positively impact is that of the teen pregnancies. The homeless teens lack adequate medical and financial resources contributing to an increase in infant mortality and low birth weight for the babies. Pregnancy presents some difficulties to every teen, but the challenge is intensified for the case of the homeless teens (Firth, 2013). A nurse can develop preventive measures that target the homeless teens by providing them with treatment and counseling that address the use of protective during sex to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and early pregnancies. The counseling should also focus on the issue of drug abuse and criminal behaviors to enable the youth to avoid problems. The health service organizations may also provide the young people with housing, security, and education facilities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the homeless is a societal group which is vulnerable since it is exposed to a wide range of health-related problems. Therefore, it is essential for the community to understand their nature, health, and economic problems they experience and help them accordingly. The homeless are restricted from searching for help or making and implementing their decisions since they are highly affected by poverty that limits them from accessing enough resources and services. An example is that of a homeless the parents who fear to lose custody of their children which is a barrier to obtaining child care. The communities should establish reproductive health care services to help the homeless youths avoid the early pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Finally, the government should act quickly to find a long-lasting solution to the increasing homeless in the country.

References

Brickner, P. (2015). Health care of homeless people. New York: Springer.

Firth, L. (2013). The homeless population. Cambridge: Independence.

Persal, V. (2014). Strengths, barriers, and risks factors faced by the vulnerable population, 79(6), 407-409. http://dx.doi.org/10.1266/ggs.79.407