She must be about nine years old. A pretty little girl with a dirty face.
At first glance, one might think she’s enjoying a day of play. Then her mother, father, and brother move into view.
It becomes glaringly obvious this family is homeless, and may have been for quite some time. The children are shoeless and coatless on one of the coldest days Phoenix has seen in years.
The family moves into the coffee shop seeking warmth while the parents pretend to use the phone. Every person in the shop is affected to some degree by the family’s plight, but not a single person offers a helping hand. Eventually, the family is ushered back out into the cold by the coffee shop manager.
Tired rationalizations emerge as excuses for not coming to the aid of fellow human beings. But far too often, such scenes of homelessness are more than fleeting images, they are the grimmest of reality for many Arizona families. Health care concerns become secondary when basic day-to-day survival takes precedence.
Phyllis Primas has seen these scenes too often. She’s determined to make a difference and plug some of the cracks that are swallowing American families.
An assistant professor of community health nursing at ASU, Primas is enough of a realist to know that she can’t find jobs for every homeless family, or solve all their problems in one fell swoop. But she is making an impact by providing for basic health care needs and encouraging preventive health care among the disadvantaged of Arizona’s Maricopa County.
“Our existing health care system clearly has failed to reach those most in need,” Primas says.
To prove her theory, she enlisted computer power to map the health needs of children living in Maricopa County. The resulting database actually pinpoints geographic areas populated by people in extreme need.
The database also includes the location and concentration of health resources: physicians, doctors of osteopathy, dentists, and periodontists. Not surprisingly, the greatest concentration of health care workers are located near major hospitals in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Unfortunately, these resources are not found in the areas populated by the neediest people.
Demographic Diagnosis Primas harnessed the power of database technology to map the health care needs of disadvantaged children living in Maricopa County. The results are clearly shown in this map of Phoenix. The greatest concentrations of health care providers are located near major hospitals in the city. But these medical facilities are not found in areas populated by the neediest people.
“Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage: A Nursing System of Health Care” is the demonstration project developed by Primas and her colleagues to address the health problems of children highlighted by the computer mapping process.
“Children need good health in order to maximize their ability to learn and develop into productive citizens,” Primas says. “I believe that they have a fundamental right to receive primary health care services without regard to their ability to pay.”--Rebecca L. Jahn
Publication date: Spring/Summer 1994
ASU Research Magazine
URL: http://researchmag.asu.edu/stories/faces.html