Essay Sample on Vulnerable Population

In society, there are people with different social, economic, physical, and economic abilities. Some of the groups of people are inferior and vulnerable due to their age, status quo, race, or ethnic group from which they originate. The vulnerable population is receiving support from federals, states, and different programs. This paper gives a detailed overview of the vulnerable population, specifically the older adults, federals, states, and initiatives that support the group and how these programs collaborate to offer their support.

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A vulnerable population entails a group of individuals with a higher risk of developing adverse health outcomes. A vulnerable population is more prone to physical condition perils. (Fitzgerald, Myers, & Clark, 2017) consider the elderly, the marginalized in society such as the homeless, immigrants, the racial and socio-economic minorities as the vulnerable population.

The healthcare system has a significant strain due to the increasing growth in the number of people that lack health insurance in the United States. The target of the Healthy People 2020 for elderly people is to make better the quality function, health, life and for elderly people (People, 2020). As of 2014, the Healthy People 2020 statistics for the elderly people at the age of 65 years and above were approximately 14.1% of the United States population.

The projection by 2060 was around 23.2% of the United States population (Ward, Schiller, & Goodman, 2014). Healthy People 2020 has several objectives for older adults. The objectives are to increase the healthcare workforce proportion, to increase the number of older adults who have updates on clinical services, and to increase the number of adults using the Welcome to Medicare benefit.

The United States federal government has departments such as Health and Human Services and Justice. This department devotes a certain amount of grants for elderly activities (Brown, 2011). The state of Florida, for instance, has immense support to the vulnerable population. Adult Protective Services (APS) is a program that resolves, investigates, identifies, prevents the abuse of the elderly, and provides services to adults who meet specific conditions according to the state statutes.

Programs in states that support funds such as the APS collaborate with the federals, receive funds, and use them to support the older adults that found within those states. Advocating for a vulnerable population is one way in which nurses can help vulnerable people. Another way of assisting the vulnerable population is by ensuring social justice in the health sector, as it will allow for equal opportunities among healthy communities. Finally, educating the affected population so that they can understand anything given or presented to them is an essential way in which nurses can offer assistance to the vulnerable population.

In conclusion, the vulnerable population is increasing in society as the years pass by. For this reason, Healthy People 2020 has set goals and objectives that will help older adults. Practical, innovative strategies put in place help older adults as a vulnerable population in society. More agencies are emerging that are in conjunction with states and federal governments to collaboratively support the elderly people that have settled in the United States.

References

Fitzgerald, E. M., Myers, J. G., & Clark, P. (2017). Nurses need not be guilty bystanders: Caring for vulnerable immigrant populations. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 22(1).

Brown, K. (2011). Elder Justice: Survey of Adult Protective Services Program Administrators, an e-supplement to GAO-11-208.

People, H. (2020). Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

Ward, B. W., Schiller, J. S., & Goodman, R. A. (2014). Peer reviewed: multiple chronic conditions among us adults: a 2012 update. Preventing chronic disease, 11.