Typhoid Mary

Dear Thomas A Farley, Commissioner, Department if Health and Mental Hygiene,

My name is Liza Pasco and I and attending LaGuardia Community College. I am in my second year of obtaining my associates' degree in Mental Health Counseling. For my Community Health class we are instructed to write you a letter based on our community profile on the department of health website. Based on my community profile my community needs help with having a regular doctor or other health care provider. This letter is to help motivate you to make a change in my community of West Queens, to make it easier for those to find a doctor, obtain a personal doctor and attend visits to ensure the health of the people in my community.

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As said previously my community is West Queens which includes; Corona, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Maspeth, and Woodside. West Queens has a listed population of 477,500 people, I currently reside in Maspeth. The population includes different races, most are Hispanics, Whites, and Asians. With the data provided West Queens has the most Hispanics than Queens and NYC. Nearly 3 out in 5 West Queens residents were born outside of the US. The age range in West Queens mainly lies between 25 and 44 years. Most of the residents in West Queens have obtained their high school diploma however; hate seems to be inline with the rest of Queens and NYC. Our poverty level is at 18% which is higher that Queens overall, yet still lower that NYC.

I have chosen the goal of having a regular doctor because this is an area where West Queens is below average and is currently in the bottom 10 compared to other 41 neighborhoods in NYC. This is an area which most of my neighbors struggle with including me. I currently do not have a regular doctor yet I have health insurance. Provided in my community health profile, data indicates that more than 1 in 4 adults in West Queens consider themselves to be in fair or poor health. This is more that those reported in Queens and New York City overall. Having a regular doctor is beneficial to prevent illnesses, identify health conditions early and treat health problems. It seems as if most residents in West Queens wait until they are in poor health conditions to seek medical attention and report to the emergency department which is something that should be avoided. Another cause to why some residents may not have a regular doctor is that are uninsured.

My Primary intervention on how to help address this problem is to make it easier to find a doctor. I think there should be easier access to find information as to who your primary physicians are in West Queens. Most insurance agency websites have a tool called "find a doctor" where they can enter in their zip code and then a list