For six weeks during their 2005 summer vacation, three students in the University of Maryland's Leaders for Tomorrow program conducted intensive research regarding the state of public health services in Prince George's County. Here you can find the results of their hard work, along with the work of students at Northwestern High School.
It is common knowledge that Prince George’s County holds a substantial amount of the underprivileged population within Maryland. Given the lack of income and health insurance, and the existence of illegal immigration amongst PG residents, it would appear to be very difficult for the county government to ensure proper healthcare for those citizens. Consequently, I thought it would be interesting to research the healthcare system within PG county; primarily focusing on how the organization is able to benefit the community. Throughout my research I uncovered the Dimensions Healthcare System; the largest provider of healthcare services for the Prince George’s County area. The most unique aspect of the DHS is the fact that it is a non-profit corporation whose primary goal is to address the needs of all PG community members; insured or not. However, due to the organization’s tremendous selflessness it has been faced with some financial trouble within these past years. My final product is a webpage that serves to educate its viewers on the controversial issues circling the Dimensions Healthcare System as well as the health services and assistance that it offers to the community. Enjoy.
For my project, I volunteered for about two weeks at the Forbush school at Margaret Brent in PG county. For the rest of my time, I volunteered at the Neuropsych unit at Sheppard Pratt in Baltimore; the Sheppard Pratt system controls the Forbush school as well as many other centers to aid those with psychiatric diseases. My project was mainly focused on Autism with respect to both of these institutions, as the Forbush school is dedicated solely to Autistic children, and the Neuropsych unit has a high percentage of Autistic children in its population of patients. While working at both of these centers, I reached a depth of knowledge about Autism and its treatment in the county as well as nationally that is unfortunately not widely known, and I have attempted to convey this information on my website. The website is parent-oriented, while the powerpoint is oriented towards parents new to the disease as well as the general public. One important fact to note is that PG county has two of only four Forbush schools in Maryland. However, often parents are not aware of such schools because the schools are not widely publicized, and are actually somewhat hidden by the county. Enter the page to find out why.
My project strives to look into the correlation between the poverty rates in Prince George's County and the number of doctors in those areas. The costs of healthcare rise continually, but everyone, especially families with children, requires the services of general and family practitioners. But are these doctors available to low-income families and individuals? What does this mean for Prince George's County residents who are low-income but still need the care that general and family practitioners offer?
Students at Northwestern High School, working with adults from the University of Maryland, have created a flash movie that describes the changes in their diet after they immigrated from Africa, Asia, or Latin America to Prince George's County, MD. The movie is funny, but it's serious, too: the obesity epidemic is costing lives.