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Part A: Structural, Social and economic factors which might influence how Kim-Ly views
and seeks health care
Different factors influence the ease and motivation of elderly patients to seek healthcare
services in their places of residence. Kim-Ly as 75-year old pensioner living in a small-unit in
southern suburbs of a city in Australia faces a myriad family, personal and cultural bases
challenges.( Rowlands et al., 2017). The collection of family, social and economic factors affect
her health and her relaxed attitude to address swiftly the medical issues she faces. Therefore, this
paper will highlight personal, social, economic factors that influence her reluctance to seek
medical attention in the nearest health care facility. Indeed, several factors collate to determine
the holistic health of a person.
Structural factors
Access to and availability of health care services in the southern suburbs of the city in
Australia could have a significant effect in determining Kim-Ly decision to visit a health care
facility. Equitable access to health care services is a core objective of majority of national health
systems all over the world. However, given the advanced age of Kim-Ly at 75 years, accessing
the nearest health facility in the southern suburbs of Australian city may prove to be a challenge.
Indeed, the issue is exacerbated with the dilapidated condition of the area that she currently stays
(Alderwick & Gottlieb, 2019). The community housing project where Kim-Ly has stayed for 25
years was constructed in the 1980s.
Due to the proximity of the location to the nearest modern health care facility, Kim-Ly
may experience accessibility setbacks as she is also advanced in age. Indeed, the problem of
swift access to modern health care service is confirmed by the delayed response of ambulance
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services with the call made from Kim-Ly niece. When Kim-Ly niece called, the ambulance
services, there was no an immediate response as is often best practice for emergency cases. As a
result, as much as Kim-Ly chest pains which required urgent attention, she was not capable of
visiting the nearest health care center for assistance (Roberts et al., 2018).Typically, best practice
in health care services access is often reinforced with swift access to emergency services, as key
structural medical set-up of the community.
Apart from the poor response mechanism of the emergency health services, Kim-Ly’s
level of education also significantly influences her conception of severity of the medical
attention she requires. Perhaps if Kim-Ly education capacity could be elevated, she would have
had the tools and ability to make timely decisions despite her advanced years in age. When an
individual has elevated capacity of education, it is highly likely that they will view medical
issues differently and hence experiencing long life (Roudsari et al., 2017). Moreover, since Kim-
Ly worked in the local restaurant business until she was 70 from Vietnam, chances are that she
did not access higher paying jobs. Consequently, with high paying jobs, she could afford to have
private personal insurance cover which may cater for her needs, despite being exposed to poor
working conditions which accelerated her chest and respiratory infections due to working for
longer hours.
Social and Economic challenges
Again, Kim-Ly feels socially excluded from the social bonds that is offered through the
family. Kim-Ly has never married and thus her only family present is her brother and his
children. Thus, Kim-Ly lack of motivation to seek better medical attention could be attributed to
the lonely manner she lives her life. Kim-Ly also reminisces the moments that she spent with her
brother and family especially her niece and nephew and exchanging pleasantries with customers
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at the restaurant. Given the lack of the social fabrics Kim-Ly may lack the urge to live despite
her coughing and struggles for breadth. At the same time, the residents of rural southern suburb
city living in the project may not have positive attitude towards resolving the problem of access
to health services (Rowlands et al., 2017).Thus, Kim-Ly spirit may be broken from the
statements of the people that such conditions are expected for people living in that community.
Apart from the dilapidated status of the projects which may contribute to the chest pains
and respiratory challenges, Kim-Ly economic situation could have an effect also, influenci