Lutheran Social Services: A Case Study

Introduce your community to your colleagues
New alternatives is a program that is offered through Lutheran Social Services and assists 18 to 21 years old adults with learning to live independently. Through this system young adults with mental illness are offered a chance to learn how to live independently with 24 hour staffing in this group home environment. Staffing this facility 24 hours offers security along with case management, counseling, nursing care, and assistance with medication administration. Programs like this focus on creating opportunities for young adults by guidance, support, transportation, job opportunities, building life skills, and encouraging healthy lifestyles. New Alternatives can house up to 12 clients in 6 separate
These clients suffer from biological, psychological, and behavioral health issues which lead them to risks in the environmental and sociocultural settings. The windshield survey that was initially performed discovered that the group home was in a high crime and poverty area. Physical layout finds the community on the north side of Rapid City behind the Journey Museum, in which there is a high homeless rate. The community is located near one of the roughest areas of the city with substantial foot traffic from the bike path and Prairie Market. Previously there have been many deaths and beatings in this area. New Alternatives was previously known as Stepping Stones, which was a similar outreach program excluding the mental illness aspect. Foot traffic during the windshield survey included residents from surrounding apartments, homeless, residents of the program, and skateboarders from the adjacent skate park.
State 3 key methods or tools used in data collection
Data collection was completed by using the Public Health Nursing Model, Windshield survey, Community Profile Inventory, previous statistics gathered by surveys, and personal interviews. Data collection from this site was complicated due to many of the residents not willing to participate in activities.
Report the findings of your data collection using your model as a
“Child Trends reports that over 337,000 young adults, ages 18-24, were in jail in 2012. And, approximately 6% of US citizens ages 16 to 20 live with disabilities. In addition to being a large segment of the population, research has convincingly shown that marginalized young adults are much less likely to have a successful transition to adulthood when compared to their same age cohort who are not marginalized, in large part, due to poverty, family disruptions, and the often abrupt loss of services and supports that may have provided them safety during childhood and adolescence.” (Munson, Stanhope, Small, & Atterbury, 2016, p. 430)
Describe the two primary public health interventions you will use to propose a program plan (e.g. social marketing, screening, community organizing)
Interventions will focus on the community and individual levels for this program. Originally all interventions were going to involve surveillance and screening for health risks. Interviews and time spent at the facility proved that other interventions may be more important and so the focus has changed. Interventions will now include outreach and collaboration in the program to reduce the risk of homelessness and increase housing satisfaction. Education for the clients can include resources that are available, job finding skills, and