U.S. Public Opinion on Vulnerable Populations

Summarizes findings from a June 2006 survey on Americans' views on government support for legal immigrant children and foster children, issues of community violence, and long-term care services, costs, and long-term care insurance

Vaccinating Vulnerable Populations

Influenza vaccination rates for all minority groups in Minnesota are lower than rates for Caucasians of all age groups. Since 2006, a collaborative partnership called Minnesota Immunization Networking Initiative (MINI) has provided free influenza vaccinations in convenient and trusted community settings throughout the Twin Cities metropolitan area of Minnesota in an attempt to address this health disparity. The literature highlights a number of barriers that negatively influence individuals\u27 choices regarding acceptance of influenza vaccination but also highlights motivators, facilitators and processes that positively impact these decisions. Thirteen focus group interviews were conducted with individuals from the Ethiopian, Latino, Native American and Somali communities in 2013 to understand reasons for their continued lack of participation at MINI clinics. Utilizing themes identified from these focus groups, MINI partners and community site contacts proposed to co-cre ate aculturally sensitive and language appropriate educational and communication toolkit to improve knowledge about influenza and influenza vaccination. The ultimate goal is to influence individuals\u27 decisions to obtain annual influenza vaccinations as a means of maintaining health and wellness. If successful, this collaborative educational approach would improve influenza vaccination rates and reduce or eliminate this health disparity in some of the state\u27s most vulnerable populations

Understanding Vulnerable Populations

Human mobility, in its different manifestations — international and domestic migration; refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced populations; and human trafficking — is at the center of many political and public debates. In two research presentations by UNO faculty, the demographics of highly mobile populations will be explored as well as the impacts of mobility on communities in Nebraska

Montefiore Medical Center: Integrated Care Delivery for Vulnerable Populations

Describes a system of hospitals and community- and school-based clinics tailored to low-income patients through systemwide strategies, high-quality specialty and hospital care, and integrated care delivery via care management and information technology

Arizona\u27s Vulnerable Populations

Arizona’s vulnerable populations are struggling on a daily basis but usually do so in silence, undetected by traditional radar and rankings, often unaware themselves of their high risk for being pushed or pulled into a full crisis. Ineligible for financial assistance under strict eligibility guidelines, they don’t qualify as poor because vulnerable populations are not yet in full crisis. To be clear, this report is not about the “poor,” at least not in the limited sense of the word. It is about our underemployed wage earners, our single-parent households, our deployed or returning military members, our under-educated and unskilled workforce, our debt-ridden neighbors, our uninsured friends, our family members with no savings for an emergency, much less retirement

Influenza in Vulnerable Populations

Influenza is a ubiquitous virus that results in thousands of deaths annually, particularly in those vulnerable to it. Vulnerability is manifested in two different scenarios: when the whole population becomes susceptible, such as when resistant or rare strains start to predominate; and in the individual prone to infection, such as those at the extremes of age, from colonised populations, or with chronic disease. The first three chapters address situations that have population impact. Chapter 1 reviews literature on oseltamivir-resistance. Circulating strains are largely receptive to oseltamivir, but recently resistant strains have predominated, highlighting the need for alternative strategies. Chapter 2, a randomized controlled trial, shows no clinical or virological advantage to doubling the standard dose of oseltamivir. Chapter 3 reviews the application of polyclonal antibodies to neglected diseases like avian influenza with promising results as to safety and immunogenicity. The latter chapters focus on those who are demographically at risk. Chapter 4 asks which antiviral strategies work best to prevent and manage influenza outbreaks in aged care facilities. A protocol is proposed for treatment alone versus treatment plus prophylaxis. Obtaining participation consent is an unresolved issue. In Chapter 5, oseltamivir pharmacokinetics in infants is presented with sparse published data. Results support current dose recommendations. Chapter 6 examines among Indigenous Australians the intersection of a higher rate of both chronic disease and of severe influenza during the 2009 pandemic. The first age-standardised national analysis of government-collected data is included. With no clear correlation, results suggest effects of colonisation other than disease are responsible for higher influenza rates

Building a Better Safety Net for the New New Orleans

The most vulnerable populations in New Orleans -- the elderly, people with physical and mental disabilities, and single mothers out of the labor market -- arguably were hit hardest by Katrina. These groups had the highest poverty rates and the fewest assets.Most were African American. Many depended on the social safety net for survival and on others to avoid the storm's catastrophic effects. Most of these vulnerable residents eventually evacuated the city, and it is unclear how many will return home. Research suggests that they will need the strong kinship networks established pre-Katrina (Hill 1993). But vulnerable populations also require a functioning safety net along with other necessities such as housing and health care discussed in earlier essays. Rebuilding presents New Orleans with a unique opportunity to strengthen its safety net for vulnerable populations that return and for others who will require help in the future

Supporting bilingualism in vulnerable populations

Although bilingualism is generally appraised and supported by society, many more doubts arise when it comes to children suffering from neurodevelopmental disorders. The concern that the exposure to two languages might deteriorate the linguistic development of children, together with the advice to simplify the linguistic environment and to adopt a monolingual approach, leads many families to abandon their home language and sacrifice bilingualism. Scientific research, however, has shown that this fear is ungrounded and that children with developmental disorders can become successful bilingual speakers, if they are provided with appropriate linguistic exposure. The aim of this paper is that of providing a state-of-the-art of the literature on this topic, by reviewing studies conducted on the interaction between bilingualism and neurodevelopmental disorders, focusing in particular on the interaction between bilingualism and developmental language disorder (DLD), developmental dyslexia and autism spectrum disorder. We discuss issues related to the early identification of DLD and dyslexia among bilinguals and we report the results of studies showing that bilingualism does not exacerbate the difficulties of children with developmental disorders, but on the contrary it can be beneficial for them, at the cognitive, linguistic and socio-cultural level. Finally, we provide some recommendations for parents, educators and practitioners, focusing on the importance of supporting the family language in all of its components, including literacy, for a complete and harmonic bilingual growth

Supporting Bilingualism in Vulnerable Populations

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