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Homeless Connect: Community Analysis

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Recommended: Homeless issues facing the youth

Community Service Learning: Homeless Connect 2018
Project Homeless Connect - Health and Wellness 2018 opened my eyes to an increasing epidemic in the United States. Homelessness is a social problem that can be challenging for health care providers (Nickasch & Marnocha, 2009). Homeless Connect was a civic engagement event, in which civic engagement is defined as a desire to work toward making a difference in the civic life of a community and to develop the combination of knowledge, skills, values, and motivation needed to make that difference (Maloney, Myers, & Bazyk, 2014). This event showed my classmates and me how to work with a population of individuals who have medical, as well as other needs, but may not have the resources to address …show more content…

Being homeless can affect an individual’s ability and opportunities to participate in community and normal or desired occupational roles, such as work. As an occupational therapist, we can improve homeless individuals’ quality of life and mental health by giving them the opportunity to participate in meaningful occupations again (Thomas, Gray, & McGinty, 2011). The main areas that would greatly benefit from being addressed by occupational therapists would be employment, education, money management, coping skills, finding affordable housing, and developing leisure skills. Occupational therapists can work with this population on an individual basis or in a group setting to address different focuses, such as assertive communication, cognition, independent living skills, stress management, and wellness (Scaffa & Reitz 2014). After volunteering at events like Homeless Connect I learned I am helping this population receive occupational justice, hopefully giving them the means to participate in meaningful occupations. Occupational therapy practitioners can take on an advocate’s role in order to promote occupational justice and to empower clients ‘‘to seek and obtain resources to fully participate in their daily life occupations” (Maloney, Myers, & Bazyk, 2014). Another area that would be beneficial to know when working with this population are their thoughts on health care. Emerging roles in …show more content…

Also, it would be beneficial to know more about their thoughts on health care. This can include barriers on why homeless individuals do not seek health care services, which can include lack of attainment of physical needs, affordability, resources, and compassion of healthcare providers ((Nickasch & Marnocha, 2009). This was my first time really working with homeless individuals that were seeking medical services, so I really did not know what to expect. During this event, I was overwhelmed by the feeling that I truly want to continue working with this population, and advocate for continue resources and events, like Homeless Connect, to help improve their quality of life. Overall, Homeless Connect was an educational and rewarding experience and benefited everyone that was

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Summary of your findings The Chicago community, similar to many, faces an ongoing complication with the homeless population. On the city’s end, Chicago struggles to provide shelter for the estimated 82,000 street occupants. While handouts and donations are an obsoletely helpful gesture, the issue stands prominent due to the lack of plotting for additional access for housing due to the heavily populated area. In attempts to end the homeless predicament, the state of Chicago has developed numerous programs and government funded plans to provide aid and help find shelter.

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This can be achieved through policies such as rent control and the construction of new affordable housing units. Additionally, we can work with local landlords to encourage them to accept tenants who are receiving rental assistance. Another critical step is to provide homeless individuals with access to medical and mental health services. This can be achieved by partnering with local healthcare providers and offering free or low-cost healthcare services to homeless individuals. Mental health services are particularly important, as many homeless individuals suffer from mental health problems that prevent them from accessing housing and employment

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There are still many homeless people who have not had a chance to look into healthcare programs because of demands on services for the homeless. In the article “Health Care for the Homeless: What We Have Learned in the Past 30 Years and What’s Next” the writer explains information about older programs and how they affect the poor and homeless. The writer claims “Concerns about rapidly growing demands on service systems fueled local and national attempts to accurately enumerate homeless persons” (Lanese 1). This may prove that older and more recent programs are starting to become a growing demand for the services that they could receive. It should be easier for the homeless to get this access, but due to the lack of funding and resources to fully address the issue, it makes it

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Effective Results in Continuum of Care Homeless Programs Introduction Homelessness is a chronic issue in the United States. Over the years, public, non-profit, and private organizations have provided resources in an attempt to combat and eradicate this social issue only to have been met with mixed results, until lately. Recently, organizations have begun to adjust their approaches to this issue and have developed a network of homeless care programs which have pooled their knowledge to collectively learn what does and does not work in fighting this problem. Programs that are successful in combating homelessness have learned that the underlying causes of homelessness, such as poverty, lack of affordable housing, substance abuse, and mental illness must be addressed concurrently or prior to tackling the homeless issue itself in order to achieve the desired results.

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The purpose of their study was to establish a better understanding of the characteristics of the mentally-ill homeless adults. Upon the collection of data through a review of the archived shelter medical records of the 74 subjects included in the study, the researchers aggregated and analyzed the data, calculating the medication adherence rates for the previous 30days. Mental illness and substance use disorders in the study were identified in 67.6 percent and 44.6 percent of the participants respectively. These findings prompted the acknowledgement that homeless individuals suffering from mental illness that specialized transitional shelters serve constitutes of population whose psychiatric, social and mental needs are complex. Thus, the characteristics of homeless populations are complicated by the numerous needs that need systematic assessment and thoughtful addressing to enhance the likelihood of successful outcomes (Viron, Bello, Freudenreich, & Shtasel, 2014).

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There are many economic and sociologic problems that face our society today. Unemployment, health care, and a failing educational system are some challenging topics in our society today. The issues that face today’s generation are unique to the pressures of the times and the complexity of how we live. Homelessness is at an all-time high in our country today and it is a situation that effects people world-wide. Being homeless is when you do not have a permanent place to live.

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Homelessness is very real in the United states with 3.5 million Americans left without a place to call home each year. There is a strong stigma against homeless individuals who are seen as chronic and episodic, but in reality, those seen living on the streets in downtown areas of cities are families with children. The vast majority have been thrust into homelessness through a life altering situation that was unexpected and unplanned for. One of the harsh realities is that homeless individuals and families tend to come from communities of concentrated poverty. Many factors lead to pushing people onto the streets and occasionally, these same factors can be the reason they stay homeless.

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Our capstone project is aimed at combating the lack of basic healthcare and basic service in the poor and homeless. The biggest factors toward poor health are discriminatory behavior towards homeless communities and insufficient clothing to combat weather. According to a study done by Diversity and Equality in Health and Care, “people who are homeless are frequently treated as objects or dehumanized by nurses.” A comprehensive study done by NCBI and the city of Toronto confirms this behavior in cities throughout Canada and the United States.

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However, there is a close relationship between healthcare and the homeless population, in that most of the homeless population does not have access to good healthcare. According to a report by the National Coalition for the Homeless (2009), poor health is closely associated with homelessness. For instance, even if one belongs to the middle or lower class in society, a serious illness will lead to a financial downward spiral starting from losing one’s job due to a lot of time spent away from work, usage of one’s savings to pay for medical bills and this can lead to one being evicted from his/her house and one eventually ends up in the streets where the person will become vulnerable to infections and

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There is a large issue with homelessness around the world, and Portland, Oregon, is no exception from this. Homelessness is a complex issue that hurts a lot of people. Portland officials are trying to solve the issue, so we can help these suffering people. A great deal of debate arises around this topic and there are many different arguments for how to solve it. When talking about how many homeless are in Portland, Pyzyk reveals, “This year, Multnomah County’s point-in-time homeless count showed more than 5,200 people experiencing homelessness.”

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The issue of homelessness in America has been evident since the early 1600’s. Across the country men, women and children spend their nights on the streets not knowing when or if they will ever find a permanent home. States and federal officials or city councils have tried to alleviate or at least reduce the number of homeless over the last several decades at a city, state or national level but it continues to be an ongoing problem. There is a multitude of factors that account for the growing homeless population that affects each state in the country differently. Though there are many contributing factors that contribute to the amount of people living on the street at any given night in the U.S.

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In the current healthcare system, attempts to provide adequate care for the homeless are frustrating for patients and care providers. The homeless population is anything, but stable, and their lifestyle promotes illness and disease, not health.

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