Vulnerable Populations

How would you describe a vulnerable population?
A vulnerable population is a group of people with certain characteristics that cause it to be at greater risk of having poor health. They include but are not limited to age, culture, disability, education, ethnicity, health insurance status, housing status, income, mental health, and race. According to Mary de Chesnay a vulnerable population can be defined “by virtue of their marginalized sociocultural status, their limited access to economic resources, or their personal characteristics such as age and gender.” Vulnerability is both an individual concept and a group concept.

What barriers may prevent these groups from obtaining needed services? In the reading assignment there is an example of Samoan elderly in the United States trying to remember the old remedies for treating ailments. Thus isolating them from current treatment and possibly causing more harm by remembering wrong.

What experiences have you had with vulnerable groups in your own life? I volunteer with Remote Area Medical, RAMUSA. I have been to Guyana and traveled to the Rupunini where the villages are very remote. Three days by canoe between some villages. Although the people in these villages appear very happy they do lack in basic health care such as dentistry or emergency medical attention. Although the Rupunini region missed the industrial revolution as we consider world population the same issues occur here in the United States as well. That is why RAM has instituted clinics stateside. I have also volunteered at the Coalition for the Homeless with their food drives and holiday meals. Many of the people are in an unfortunate point in their lives. The assistance they need may be only temporary but very