Running Head: DEMOGRAPHIC AND POPULATION HELATH

Demographic and Population Health

HSCI 301 Foundation of Public Health Education
Instructor: Angie Denisse Otiniano Verissimo
Xilonem Montoya
California State University of San Bernardino
September 29, 2015

Running Head: DEMOGRAPHIC AND POPULATION HELATH

A. When I viewed the population for San Bernardino County on the website,
www.census.gov, I noticed that in San Bernardino County whites make up most of the countys
population with 77.4% as of July 1, 2014. The next highest was Hispanic or Latino with 17.4%
as of July 1, 2014, Black or African American was 13.2%, Asian, American Indian, Native
Hawaiian and Pacific Islander then followed. What was interesting to me was the last category
White alone, not Hispanic or Latino had 62.1% by July 1, 2014. (Census 2014) This seemed a
little odd to me but then I remembered an article we read in class titled, Race vs Ethnicity vs
Culture. In the article stated that the U.S government declared Hispanics and Latinos as an
ethnicity not a race, which is why the U.S. census has to put Race and Hispanic Origins as a
category in the census poll. This is serves as a reminder that race was socially constructed and
has been embedded into our societys culture. Therefore, race and ethnicity both intertwine with
each other, and is usually misused when categorizing individuals.
Categorizing individuals and placing them into certain racial groups is a way to
differentiate humans from one another simply because of their skin pigmentation. As I stated
before race is a social construct which is only important to our society because we have chosen
to make it important. Race has shaped political, social, cultural, legal functions and ideologies in
our society today. Because of this, certain racial groups in our country have been targeted in both
a negative and positive way. These racial groups income, have been affected in a positive or
negative way which in turn affects their lives and their family lifes for many generations to
come. Ethnicity, on the other hand, refers to the similar characteristic a group of people have
who share a common racial, religious, cultural or national heritage. Because the U.S. is very
diverse in certain states ethnicity and race can define a single person. Then again culture and
ethnicity seem to be interwoven with each other because of the various aspects of religious
beliefs, traditions, and even customs that stem a persons upbringing.
Moving forward when I viewed the Age and Sex category I noticed that age and gender
was not really specified. It shows how many people lived in San Bernardino County as of July 1,
2014 by 6.2%, people under 18 is 23.1%, people 65 years and under is 14.5% and females is
50.8%. But it doesnt specify which is male or female. When searching for Households by type
I did not find much. It only states that people under ages of 65 with a disability between 20092013 are 8.4%, but it still does not give any more detail than that.
B. The top 5 diseases reported in the Morbidity Report for February 2011 for San
Bernardino County are listed as Chlamydia Infections 1114, RSVat 676, Hepatitis C Carrier at
373, Gonococcal infectious 72 and Influenza as 55. The age range for the top five reported
diseases in San Bernardino County is Chlamydia Infection age rage was 15-54, strangely RSV is
not listed, Hepatitis C age range is 10-65+, Gonorrhea age range is 15-64 and Influenza age
range is not listed as well.
The listed median household income for San Bernardino County according to San
Bernardino Public Health 2013 is $54,090 while in comparison to Californias medium income at
$53,046. (Census 2013) When viewing the median household income by race/ethnicity Asian
have the highest income of $73,712, then white non-Hispanic $58,936. The race that made the
less income is American Indian or Alaska Native at $42,753, the second race is Black or African
American at $43,997 and last is Hispanic or Latino at $49,769. San Bernardino Public Health
collects their data from American Fact Finder which is a website that is linked to the United
States Census. While viewing the section marked as Disparities Dashboards for Healthy San

Running Head: DEMOGRAPHIC AND POPULATION HELATH

Bernardino County, I noticed a few charts that were alarming to me. The Diabetes chart for
adults by gender shocked me. There was a 3% gap between females and males for diabetes, but it
never stated why. Also the age group of 45-65 years had a significantly higher percentage than
the previous group of 25-44 years of age. Again the chart does not specify why the large increase
in percentage it only showed that it had a noticeable increase. I also found on the San Bernardino
County Department of Public Health website, some red indicators. One that really stuck out to
me was the indicator for age-adjusted ER rate due to uncontrolled diabetes. This indicator
measures anyone above the age of 18 at a ratio of 10,000 people. The ratio came out to be 3.1
visits related to uncontrolled diabetes. According to Healthy People 2020, there goal is to reduce
the burden that diabetes has on people in order for them to have a better quality of life.
In response to this public health challenge, Healthy People 2020 has identified goals that
aim to "reduce the disease and economic burden of diabetes, and improve the quality of life for
all persons who have or are at risk for diabetes." Goals include improved diabetes education,
improved compliance with recommended care and screening procedures, and reduced rates of
serious complications such as foot ulcers, amputation, and death.
C. San Bernardino seems to be on the higher end of the percentage chart when viewing
ER visits, avoidable ER visits, and Med-Cal visits all based on the fact that San Bernardino is the
largest county in the state. I was surprised to see that San Bernardino had lower clinic visits that
most of the other counties in the state. Also the percentage of uninsured, percentage in poverty,
and percentage foreign-born all seem to be around the same percentage. I do not know if this is
related to one another but to see that those numbers are that close in percentage is somewhat
suspicious to me. Furthermore the data chart that is provided by the Emergency Department Use
in California Counties, can only show data numbers but not relationship between them so we
cannot infer anything from these numbers, therefore they are just numbers for reference purposes
only.