Assessing Community Healthcare Needs
HSM 241 PCA
Ms. Tonie D. Ward
Metropolitan College of New York
Dr. H. Gomez
Table of Contents
Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2
What are the issues …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
What is obesity? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6
What is diabetes? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 8
How prevalent is diabetes among Blacks………………………………………………………8
What are the symptoms of diabetes………………………………………………………….9
What are the treatment for obesity and Type 2 diabetes……………………………………10
The importance of yearly physical examinations…………………………………………….9
Mission Goal …………………………………………………………………………………15
Reference…………………………………………………………………………………….16
I. Introduction:
Staten Island is one of five boroughs of New York City. According to Wikipedia, Staten
Island is the southernmost part of both the city and the state of New York. The borough is
closer to New Jersey than New York and it is separated by the from Long Island by the
Narrows and from the mainland New Jersey by the Arthur Kill (The word kill is Dutch for
river or channel) and the Kill Van Kull. Apparently, the borough is the least populated
(approximately 468,730 last recorded via U.S. Census Bureau of 2010) of all the other
boroughs, however, it is the third largest at approximately the total of 60.9 square miles,
including about 13.0 miles long and approximately 7.3 miles wide.
I was raised in the northeast part of the Bronx. When I was a little girl going into elementary
school, I think I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade learning geography and the five boroughs of New
York State. The instructor would repeat all five boroughs to the class and encouraged the class to
memorize all five boroughs. I believe it was maybe about 3 to 4 weeks later the instructor would
ask the class to name all five boroughs. Everyone in the class could call out all boroughs except
for Staten Island. Everyone in the class had some sort of family members whom lived in the
other boroughs not including Staten Island. I always thought Staten Island is the forgotten
borough. Who would of thought years later, I would reside in the forgotten borough. When I was
about 19 years old, I took the train to the boat to Staten Island just to see what it was all about. At
the time, I always thought Staten Island was never on the news for shoot outs and killings like
the boroughs. Apparently, Staten Island has its own newspaper in the form of a website called
the www.silive.com. It reports regular news for Staten Islander only including crime and sports.
According to an article called Staten Island Borough Historians’ official website, Staten
Island is a community within one of the largest cities in the world. However, it is often
considered the stepchild of its larger siblings- the outer boroughs (Bronx, Queens, Manhattan
and Brooklyn). There are three bridges that connect Staten Island to New Jersey (new renovated
Goethals bridge, Bayonne Bridge and Outerbridge Crossings) and only one connecting the island
to New York (Verrazano-Narrow Bridge).
A guy called Giovanni da Verrazano (1485-1528) first arrived at Staten Island from Italy back in
year of 1524, he noticed the island was most populated by the Raritan and Unami Indians.
Sometime ago in 1630 the Dutch crossed to America and they settled in what they called the
land, Staaten Eylandt. That attempt caused a war between the Indians and Dutch because the
Indians felt threatened by the settlers and the goals were to cause three wars called the Pig War
(1641), the Whisky War (1642) and the Peach War (1655). The disputes were finalized and
settled so therefore, the year 1664, the English seized the city for the King of England and they
renamed the island Richmond County honoring the Duke of Richmond. By that time, the island
population was approximately 1,063.
New Jersey claimed control of Staten Island because of the extension to the middle of the
Narrows. Then, New York choice to get involved claiming the jurisdiction over the waters
because of low water mark. Both states were at war for nearly 200 years until 1833 when both
states decided to mutually agree over the borders making New York obtained the rights to Staten
Island which is Lowe New York Bay area from Sandy Hook while New Jersey obtained the
rights over the waters on the west side of the island towards Woodbridge creek. It is reported that
although the consolidation, roads and sewers have improved over time, the island still till this
very day are far behind the other boroughs. The year was 1740 when the ferry terminal opened
on the east shore of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and crossed passengers across to Staten Island and it
was established by Thomas Stillwell. The ferry terminal was established from Staten Island to
the north shore of New York by the year of 1747. In 1928, the Outerbridge Crossings opens
which leads the crossings from Staten Island, NY to Perth Amboy, New Jersey and the Goethals
Bridge opens to Elizabeth, New Jersey. Later, back in 1931, the Bayonne Bridge opens to
Bayonne, New Jersey to cross over to Staten Island, NY. It was not until the Verrazano-Narrows
bridge was opened in 1964 that connected the island to the outer boroughs of Brooklyn and
Queens.
II. What are the issues?
All over the United States, there are many townships, counties, cities and in my case
boroughs that are faced with different problems especially the causes of health issues. In the
borough of Staten Island, there a total of 68 neighborhoods that are populated of mostly
