Exploring Demographics in Carrollwood, Florida, USA - Essay Sample

Introduction

The community this paper focuses on is Carrollwood, Florida, in the United States of America. Carrollwood has a total population of 35,633 as of 1st April 2019 (Ballot Pedia, 2019). 47% of this population is of the male gender, whereas the remaining 53% is of the female gender. The median resident age in Carrollwood is 42.5 years. In terms of income, the median household income in Carrollwood is $54,588, whereas the cost of living index placed Carrollwood at 94.7, which is less than average in the U.S. (average is 100). The population of Carrollwood is mainly composed of whites, who account for 50.7% of the population as of 1st April 2019. Hispanics account for 34.6% of the population in Carrollwood; Blacks account for 6.9% of the population whereas Asians account for 4.5% of the population, with the remaining races accounting for 3.7% of the population. Concerning population, Carrollwood's majority population ascribes to no religion (60%). 18.2% of the population are Evangelical Protestants while Catholics account for 10.7% of the population (City data.com, 2019). Mainline Protestants account for 4.8% of the population while other religions account for 6.0% of the population.

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A comparison of Carrollwood to the state average, this paper established that the unemployment rates in Carrollwood are significantly below average. About population fragmentation, the black population in Carrollwood is below the state average. Education-wise, the population in Carrollwood with a bachelor's degree is above the state average (Ballot Pedia, 2019). The cost of living index places Carrollwood below the state average, which is 100 (Carrollwood's index is 94.7). Carrollwood is a suburb located in Tampa FL. Tampa utilizes a strong City Council and Mayor system. In this type of municipal governance, the city council acts as the city's primary legislative body with the mayor as its chief executive. The mayor in Tampa proposes budgets, signing legislation into law, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the County and appointing departmental heads (Carrollwood Governance, 2019).

The psychological morale of the people of Carrollwood bases on the laws outlined in the State's laws. The American constitution and the county of Tampa's by-laws. Given that 60% of the population ascribes to no religion, the populous of Carrollwood largely moderates by the laws mentioned (City data.com, 2019). The remainder of the population that ascribes to one religion or the other is moderated by the different religions they ascribe to, chief amongst is Evangelical protestants.

The key population interest in Carrollwood is tourism. The Tampa area that Carrollwood is known for its many tourist destinations and hotels. These have grown the county a great deal, especially its real estate sector that has doubled in the last two years (Florda Hosptal, 2019). The real estate market in Carrollwood and thus Tampa has seen the exponential difference due to increased interest of the populous in tourism and related activities.

In Tampa, Florida, there is the arrangement of wide display of senior home consideration organizations including homemaking and singular consideration and increasingly explicit sustain individuals with furthermore mentioning needs. The homemaking and brotherhood mind organizations fuse assisting with some light nuclear family undertakings like vacuuming or get things done with them. Individual consideration is increasingly extraordinary and joins helping your appreciated one arrangement with individual tidiness or arrangement organization. Specific consideration is senior home consideration benefits that people that have certain ailments require. The sort of home consideration will depend on upon the necessities your loved one has realized by the disease.

This paper identified the most vulnerable group in Carrollwood to be those who have Diabetes. This was closely followed by the obese in the population alongside those who have no access to healthy foods. The realization that Carrollwood has diabetics as a great minority group within its populous triggered the Food is Medicine objective, embodied in the 2020 Health People objective (Florda Hosptal, 2019). The initiative spearheaded by the Florida Hospital Carrollwood as the local partner ascertained that people in Carrollwood living with diabetes might not have access to fresh, healthy food or nutrition teaching. The initiative thus focuses on quality food provision for the people with diabetes. Hence the 'Food is Medicine' term. The initiative's goal is to change the food behaviors of the people with diabetes by providing them with access to appropriate food and nutrition education.

Participants enroll in the program and undergo screening for blood pressure, blood sugar, and BMI. Once this is done, the participants are required to attend free health education classes, complete ten days of behavior checklists, and receive a complimentary $10 produce voucher at the end of every session, normally weekly. The voucher is redeemable at a designated food produce a truck that is brought to the site weekly for that specific purpose (Advent, 2019).

The initiative started with two cohorts in two locales and has now grown to 16 locales, with each locale having different requirements and reward schemes tailored for its target audience. The Food is Medicine initiative in Tampa has received enormous support from both governmental and private players. Through the Florida West hospital that champions the initiative, the program has received a lot of funding. The produce trucks used in the program were also donated. Over two dozen community associates are part of FIM, and this includes hospitals outside the Florida Healthcare System. The Food is Medicine initiative has since grown into a key strategy for the Florida Hospital West Region; in terms of combating, both diabetes and obesity in the region (Florda Hosptal, 2019). Through the partnership between the program and the county government, the initiative is set to expand to the eighth division of other facilities over the next year.

Since diabetes and obesity have been concerning health issues in the Tampa Bay area for almost a decade now, there has been a myriad of initiatives set up to combat the challenge. Key amongst them is ensuring that every patient has their Body Mass Index checked every time they are at a healthcare institution and also having blood sugar levels checked have become standard in most of the hospitals in Tampa bay (Florda Hosptal, 2019). The hospitals in the area have also undergone extensive upgrading, through private-public partnerships, this has equipped them with the personnel and equipment to combat diabetes, obesity, and other health challenges.

Concerning the strengths and weaknesses of the Carrollwood area, this paper noted that having 60% of the population as whites acted as a disadvantage to the area (City data.com, 2019). This is because the benefits of diversity experienced in other areas cannot be experienced in this area. Hence the white population has a majority say in anything that is to take place within the area. This acts as a great disadvantage to the minorities. A key strength of the area is its potential to grow, especially in the real estate and tourism area that is already booming.

References

Ballot Pedia. (2019). Tampa, Florida: Top 100 Cities By Population. Accessed from; https://ballotpedia.org/Tampa,_Florida on 23rd September 2019.

City data.com. (209). Carrollwood FL statistics. Accessed from; http://www.city-data.com/city/Carrollwood-Florida.html on 23rd September 2019.

Florda Hosptal. (2019). 2016 Community Health Needs Assessment. Accessed on 23rd Sept https://www.adventhealth.com/sites/default/files/assets/2016_community_health_needs_assessment_-_florida_hospital_carrollwood_0.pdf