New Hospital in North Baton Rouge - Essay Example

New Hospital in North Baton Rouge

Health care services are essential services for human beings. Access to quality life and comprehensive health care services is vital as it helps in the prevention and management of disease, reducing the disability incidence and premature deaths (Andersen, Davidson, & Baumeister, 2014). In addition, quality care ascertains equity among residents of a particular state or country. Access to better health care is evaluated through aspects, access to a health care facility (geographical accessibility), the time taken to reach the facility and ease of communicating with health care providers (Andersen, Davidson, & Baumeister, 2014).

The North Baton Rouge experiences shortage of health care facilities, and thus the residents travel for long distances in search of health care facilities (Andersen, Davidson, & Baumeister, 2014). Hence, for this reason, this paper will discuss the various reason that demonstrates why North Baton rouge needs a new hospital built within the area. Baton Rouge City should open a new hospital in the area. Increase access to health care service— since the demand increased, and increased driving times to get to the health care facilities (Andersen, Davidson, & Baumeister, 2014). In addition, building a new hospital will also increase job opportunities for the residents.

Job opportunities

The Northside of Baton Rouge has an estimated population of 44,129 people (City-Data). According to the city data, the black community makes up to 85.3 percent of the population, while the white community is composed of 5% of the total population (City-Data). Noteworthy, most of the residents on the north side of Baton Rouge earn below 200000 dollars per year (City-Data). That is, most of the people in Baton Rouge have low socio-economic status. In addition, most of the households in Baton are single mothers households (26.4%) (City-Data).

Compared to other areas in Baton Rouge, this percentage of the single mother household in North Baton Rouge is higher (City-Data). The percentage of single mothers household in Baton Rouge is 15.9%. Furthermore, on the north side of Baton Rouge, the household size is large larger (4.9 persons per household) compare to Baton Rouge, which has an average of 2.7 people per household (City-Data). The people living below the poverty levels in the north side Baton Rouge (33.9 %) are higher compared to Baton Rouge (27.8 %) (City-Data). With these statistics, it is evident that the people of Baton Rouge barely have enough to sustain their lives. Most of the residents on the north side of Baton Rouge are unemployed. Hence opening a new hospital in the area will create job opportunities for the residents in the area. The job opportunities will range from health care providers to supporting staff. As a result, the living standards of the resident will improve. Consequently, the economy of the area will develop and grow significantly. In the long run, such job opportunities will reduce crime rates in the area as unemployment attracts crime.

Increase Need for Care

The Northside of Baton Rouge experiences a disease burden compared to the southern side of Baton Rouge (City-Data). The disparities in the burden of disease between these two areas can be attributed to inadequate health facilities and low economic status of the residents in the north of Baton Rouge (Bhoi, 2008). Moreover, the north side of Baton Rouge experiences higher mortality rates compared to Baton Rouge. Notably, two ERs were closed, which makes patients take an extended period to access emergency services (Gallo, 2016a). The closure of the two facilities has led to people being transferred to our lady of Lake Regional Hospital (Gallo, 2016a). To get to the facilities, the patients take close to thirteen minutes. Hence, this is the closest hospital that the residents in Baton Rouge can access in quest of emergency services (Gallo, 2016b). Noteworthy, the road to the hospital is a busy one and usually have high traffic. In such cases, the patients may take longer than necessary to get to the hospital.

Consequently, this increased the possibility of patients in need of emergency services dying on the way to the hospital (Gallo, 2016b). In addition, transporting the patients to Our Lady of Lake Regional Hospital increase the transit cost, which becomes an added burden for the patient and their families (Gallo, 2016b). Noteworthy, a large population of the residents on the north side of Baton Rouge barely meet their basic needs due to low income. Hence some may be forced to stay at home if they lack money for transit to the hospital (Gallo, 2016b). Therefore, building a new hospital in the region will reduce this burden and reduce the possibility of an increased mortality rate. With a new hospital in the area, the residents can timely access to health care services and manage the chronic disease that affects the population and which requires emergency services.

Counter Arguments

The establishment of the hospital in the region raises issues, especially due to budget constraints (Gallo, 2016b)). The budget constraints make it hard to build and equip the hospital with the necessary facilities. Notably, the establishment of a new health care facility would go beyond the basic construction of the structure to finance the equipment used in the hospital. In addition, to find health care professionals to serve in the facility adds an extra cost (Gallo, 2016b). With the plan put in place by the mayor, the advisory committee and health BR, construction of a new health care facility would seem close to impossible. Hence, it is arguable that people for the north side of Baton Rouge can access health care services from the existing referral centers in other cities.

However, despite the counter-arguments. It is the mayor's responsibility to provide efficient and effective health care to the residents in the region. Through the health BR, the mayor can solve all health care issues facing the residents on the north side of Baton Rouge by building a new facility. The new hospital would address health care issues in the north and help manage the social-economic issues in the area. Noteworthy, it would be difficult for private entities to establish a health care facility in the area due to the low payment rate, which would negatively affect the private facility. In addition, the referral facilities are struggling with high numbers of inpatients. Consequently, this leads to poor quality care. Hence the construction of a new public hospital would address these issue and raise the living standard of the people in that region

Conclusion

The Northside of Baton Rouge is extremely disadvantaged, especially on access to quality health care services. Notably, the people on the side access to other facilities across neighboring cities. However, this turns out to be too expensive for them, given that most of the residents are low-income earners. In such cases, the patients may opt to stay at home with accessing care services. Eventually, these patients would die. This increases the number of death on the north side of Baton Rouge. Therefore, given that the area has a high rate of chronic diseases, a higher mortality rate, and low living standards, establishing a new facility in the areas would be a profound idea (Gallo, 2016b). The new hospital would reduce the time the people require to get to a health care facility, increased access to care, and increase job opportunities for the residents. Consequently, the health care and living standards of the people would be significantly improved.