Challenges in Accessing Healthcare
Homeless people are special issue in our public and health care services. They don’t have an appropriate accommodation; therefore they may have to move from one place to another constantly. They stay in very poor and terrible environment, which is unsecured and unhygienic. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2011), there are approximately 10,000 homeless in Australia, including 55% males, 44% are females, and about 16% children under the age of 10. Homeless people usually have complex health issues. Access to health care can be quite difficult for those people. Most likely homeless people are found in Emergency Department, because these people are desperate or really deteriorated. Multiple issues need to be explored by health professionals. For example: chronic illness, unsecure living condition, drugs and alcohol issues, break down of relationship, financial difficulty, and domestic violence.
According to Community health survey of 2012, 30-90% women had experienced domestic violence. This can result in psychological and physical issues. In addition, infections and chronic illnesses are threatening homeless all the time. Being healthy is significant for everyone, however, for homeless people, who are constantly looking for a place to stay, looking for a job or just food, health is not a priority (Seiler, 2010). For health care workers, homeless people are challenges in the community. Nurses are the primary curers, who are dealing with homeless people facing their problems. However, some issues can appear for the nurses when they assist homeless (Healey, 2013). In this scenario, Julia was suffering from domestic violence. Now she has been living on the street for a long period of time.
She is like other multiple homeless people, who are invisible, and suffer from complex health and mental issues, complex physical illnesses as well as not having stable place to stay and are unemployed. It doesn’t have to be easy way to solve such problems. In this essay the issues of homeless people, the issues healthcare workers face when they approach the homeless are discussed in order to establish the strategies of nursing cares in the community setting.The Major Reasons Why People Become HomelessHomeless people have been described as “wound” in the society, being immiscible and vulnerable (Seiler, 2010). Some homeless people experience life on the street for a short period of time because of a transition period. But for most of homeless, this is the result of poverty and disadvantages (ABS).
Furthermore, female homeless are more often victim of the domestic violence. They are experiencing fear and insecurity after having been pushed out of their own homes, such as in Julie’s case. Additionally, unable to keep employment is another reason to force women to live at the temporary place or have no place at all. According to Homeless Australia 2013, man usually earns much more money than women. Most women leave workforce to become housewives in their families. Then they go back to work as a part time workers or casual.
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