The decision to enter the field of healthcare is one that should be made with care. It is not simply about a desire to assist individuals within the area and work to make a difference in people’s lives, but it is also about the ability to handle oneself in tough situations and work to make sure that all of the ethical practices are upheld in the midst of situations of all types, up to and including life or death instances. When entering the healthcare field for a given area or region it is important to know the overall population statistics for the area and the most common health statistics for an area, as this will work to give the healthcare professional a better idea of what they should expect when entering into their chosen field. After reviewing the statistics for Broward County in Southern Florida, and offering up a personal analysis of an instance of stereotyping and an instance of inequality that I have seen during my time within this area, it will be possible to gain a better understanding of the type of environment that will be faced on a daily basis.
As of 2010, Broward County boasted a population of 1,748,066, an increase of 125,048 from 2000; in 2012, the majority of the population (54.2%) was between the ages of 25-64 (Population by Age and Gender – Broward County, 2013). The county has been ranked as the second highest number of AIDS cases, per capita, in the United States (Statistics, 2010). With statistics like these, it is unsurprising that the number of individuals who are ill continues to grow; what becomes even more troubling, however, is that Florida has the second highest rate of individuals without health insurance, and Broward County specifically has an uninsured rate of 26%, equating out to approximately 392,000 individuals (Chang, 2013). It is clear that Broward County is in dire need of individuals willing to enter the health care field within this region.
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Broward County does not only have its share of health concerns on a general level, but has issues with stereotyping and inequality, issues that seem to run rampant due to the incredible population density of the area. It is hard for a day to go by without seeing an instance of such occurrences. I am reminded of an instance from a few weeks ago. I was at work, and it was a fairly typical day for me. I saw a girl, just barely out of her teens, enter into the office with a young boy who couldn’t have been more than five. She signed in, placed her child on the seat next to her in the waiting room, and proceeded to ignore him, plugging in to an iPod. The child got up, started running around the waiting room, moving chairs, pulling open drawers in the tables, and generally making a nuisance of himself.
Finally the girl roused herself enough to grab him and drag him back to the chair. She did not apologize or right the things he had moved, simply sitting back down with her earphones in. This same occurrence happened several times more and became quite disruptive; I noticed it as I was moving around the office and going in and out of reception, dropping paperwork off as needed. There was a boy who appeared to be in his early 20s waiting for his turn as well, and each time the child came near him, he became increasingly more vocal, talking about the fact that whores didn’t make good parents and other comments in a similar vein, ultimately escalating to derogatory comments to her about the fact that she was Hispanic coupled with some rather vulgar suggestions of what she could do for him while they were all waiting.
After a time the receptionist called the waiting room to order, telling the girl that she would need to keep her child under control or she would have to leave and telling the boy to keep his comments to himself. While it was clear that the girl was not the best of mothers, to allow the boy to continue to single her out because of her race and to make comments based on that assumption showed clear stereotyping. Furthermore, only the girl would have been punished, in spite of the fact that the boys were causing a greater disruption than her son. It appeared as though the receptionist thought she could solve both problems by simply threatening the girl with expulsion from the office, but this would have a negative effect on the girl’s health, as she would miss out on her appointment. No one seemed to care, or even think the situation was anything out of the ordinary. Luckily the girl was called in after only one more person, resolving the situation in that manner, but if she had been removed because of the boy’s poor behavior it would have been her health affected, not theirs.
It is not just stereotyping that is an issue, but it is the inequalities observed in the health care field regarding vulnerable populations that serve to cause an issue as well. A good portion of the population within Florida is elderly, and as a result, these individuals are seen as on their way out instead of individuals in their own right, equally deserving of the appropriate levels of care and treatment. As I was visiting a friend in the hospital one day, I noticed that her roommate, an elderly individual, received less attention from the nurses, who barely glanced at the old woman’s vitals, jotting them down as an afterthought and simply moving over to my friend, wherein their demeanor immediately shifted to one that was courteous, pleasant, and attentive. Though the old woman was fully alert and awake, she was not afforded the same professional courtesy. I asked the old woman if she was always treated that way; she replied that they started treating her that way her third time in the hospital; this was her eighth. She had AIDS and they just saw her as a piece of furniture at this point, there as a result of her own fault and too old to do anything else. This is not only something that could have been easily avoided by simply treating her like a person, but it was unfair to treat her in such a manner, and in spite of complaints I lodged on her behalf, the attitude of the staff toward her did not change.
Entering the health field in Broward County will have many different obstacles to overcome, not just as a result of the population density and the high AIDS statistics, but as a result of the stereotypes that are present within the community and the inequalities that must be overcome. It is important for an individual considering this area to be aware of these considerations and realize that every day in the field will be a battle.
- Care Resource. (2010). Statistics. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.careresource.org
- Chang, D. (2013). Florida Is No. 2 In Nation For Rate Of Uninsured. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org
- Floridacharts.com. (2013). Population by Age and Gender – Broward County. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.floridacharts.com
