Shoreview VA Hospital Case Study

Shoreview VA Hospital is one of the VA facilities that solely serves the Miami-Dade County. This county is found in the lower eastern part of Florida, but the facility is found in Homestead, Florida. Nearby, is the Homestead Air Force Base, one of 21 Military bases in Florida (See Appendix A for a map).
Demographics. Miami-Dade County, has an estimated population of 2.66 million people according to the U.S Census which makes it the most populous county in Florida. The population consists of a 51.4% female to 48.6% male ratio. The breakdown of ethnic groups in Miami-Dade County is 77.9% Whites, 18.9% African American, 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.7% Asian, and 1.2% consider themselves of two or more races (U.S Census Bureau, n.d).

There is a median age of 39.1 years. There is a 79% of the population that is 18 and over. The Veteran population as per the U.S Census for Miami-Dade County from 2009-2013 is 60,168 and in Homestead alone there is a total of 2,095 veterans (2009-2013). However, the Department of Veteran Affairs collected data on September 30th, 2015 to find that there is a total of 61,444 Veterans in Miami-Dade County. The same department reported on September 30th, 2014, there is roughly 94,940 WWII veterans; 169,078 Korean War veterans; 515,110 Vietnam War veterans; 460,144 Gulf War veterans in Florida (Veteran Population, n.d.). As far as the Unique Veteran Users Report, only 40% of all Veterans in the nation use at least one VA benefit or service and veterans are expected to make more than 86.4 million outpatient visits to a VA facility in a year. In the report it is also reported that older male veterans would use the benefits of the VA

According to the National Weather Service Forecast Database in the month of September there was high 94 degrees fahrenheit and low 73 degrees fahrenheit, with a total of 18 days over 90 degrees fahrenheit. The total amount of precipitation was 9.97 inches throughout the month and a total of 22 days of thunderstorms. According to the National Park Service, South Florida only experiences 2 seasons instead of the typical 4 seasons, they consist of wet and dry. Miami-Dade County is considered to have a subtropical climate, with warm, humid, and rainy summers and dry winters. The high temperature days in Miami-Dade County are cooled off by thunderstorms, as the wet season ranges from May to November, according to the National Park Services. The thunderstorm can also vary in length, it can even rain with the sun out. A season to keep an eye out in Miami-Dade County, is definitely Hurricane Season, which starts June 1st and ends November 30th. Although, there has not been any recent hurricanes touching land in Miami-Dade County, the county does experience the torrential rains of Tropical storms. The Koeppen Climate Classification shows that Miami has a tropical wet/dry climate (See Appendix B). Moreover, The National Weather Service showed that in the largest city of Miami-Dade County, Miami, the lowest temperature was in February, which was as low as 43 degrees fahrenheit, the highest was at the end of April which was around 96 degrees fahrenheit (Seen on