Introduction: On the eastern side of New York City there is the largest and second most populated borough of the state of New York. Established in 1899, Queens is home to over two million Americans of different ethnic backgrounds. Queens is the most ethnically diverse region in the entire United States of America boasting over fourteen community boards. Each of these communities has its way of life, a fact that brought about diversity in the borough. This diversity is mirrored in the housing system in the region ranging from the densely populated apartment buildings mostly common in the urban areas to large free-standing family homes in the rural and semi-urban setups.
In comparison with the other four boroughs of New York City, Queens performs in the following way as displayed below:
During the colonization period, the English moved into the region in large numbers followed by the Dutch; there were Africans, later African Americans as well, who were shipped there to serve as slaves on the plantations. These are the three currently largest ethnic blocks in the region. After getting their independence, the racial segregation that followed, compelled most of the whites to move out of the region consequently making African Americans outnumber all other races occupying the borough. For a long time the county lagged in development owing to the effects that the segregation against the African American population had. Currently, the region is inhabited by people from all walks of life: Colombians, Chinese, Bangladeshi, Indian, Korean, Filipino, Pakistani and Peruvian, among many others.
Age and education distribution: the region has a higher population of middle-aged people with the young population forming the majority, 64.52%. The effects of the discrimination that followed the independence were adversely felt in this borough. For a long time no adequate schools were resulting in more African Americans not being properly educated. However, with the liberalization of the country’s politics, the region started to boast the second-largest economy of all the five boroughs of New York City coming only second after Manhattan. In the year 2004, Queens had 15.2% of all private-sector jobs in New York City. It meant that the workforce in the region was educated in a good way. Schools, tertiary colleges, and universities are currently all over the region with students thronging the classes (Ricci & Kyle, 2009).
Resources: Schools, hospitals, landmarks, etc: the borough has adequate resources to provide all her residents with the proliferation of the private sector in the region; it continues to create employment for most residents of the county coupled with the vast agriculturally arable land making the economy of the city stabilized. Basic and secondary school education in Queens is provided by an immense number of both public and private institutions. Public schools in the borough, just as in the case with many others in the entire New York state, are managed by the New York City Department of Education. Numerous other private academic institutions are present in the region and provide an academic curriculum that is approved by the New York City Department of Education; these include kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, tertiary colleges, and universities. The vast transportation network that is made up of waterways, highways, bypasses, rails and airports offer effective connectivity to the outside world making the region open to international trade. Some of the notable landmarks include Queensborough Bridge, Triborough Bridge, and the Air Train JFK path above the Van Wyck Expressway
Health: the borough has adequate health facilities to provide its huge population with adequate care. Hospitals, dispensaries and mortuaries are either public or private, public institutions are run and managed by the New York City department of health while private institutions are run by private businessmen but under the strict guidance of the very department. The measures placed by the department are aimed at safeguarding the health of the general public from quarks who would masquerade as health practitioners. Every health practitioner in the region such as nurses, doctors, physicians, or even chemists, gets certifications from the department and for those venturing into the private sector, a license of operation must be sought (Alexander, 2010).
General health status: a majority of people in the region just like in several other American urban centers suffer from lifestyle-related complications. Such diseases as cancer, obesity cirrhosis account for a majority of deaths in the region. The economy requires lots of commitments from the workforce, this is a fact that has made most of the residents here (53%) have more than one job at a go. Choosing to forego recreation is thus a major cause of the conditions. However, to effectively manage their health, a portion of the city residents choose such elementary forms of exercise as walking to and from work, opting for the staircases and spending some time off doing road work.
Below is a chart indicating the kinds of health complications suffered by a majority of the residents of the borough (52.3%).
Insurance status: on average, 94% of the population of the state of New York City have medical and life policies, more than 50% of these are in the borough of Queens. The cost of treatment is high even though there are several health care institutions because almost all of the institutions promise high-quality services. To mitigate this, life policies are the most effective ways of ensuring that one gets effective and timely medical care at lower rates. The policies are also a way of providing social security in case of the demise of a breadwinner in the family (Fogel, & Woods, 2008).
Mortality: most of the deaths are caused by lifestyle-related complications. The pattern of the deaths is systematically consisting in the fact that more of the old are dying more often than the young. Accidents are rare and the average life span of a person in this borough is sixty-five for males and seventy-five years for females.
Obesity and HIV testing: HIV prevalence is low rating averagely at 1.24% and a zero percent mother-to-child transmission at birth. The costs of the life-prolonging drugs are low and as a result of the readily available access, an HIV-infected person can live for an additional sixty years. There are no deaths reported that result from HIV-related complications (Alexander, 2010).
In summary, the borough of Queens is one of the most progressive out of the five. It is an all-inclusive city with the capacity to expand even more. The borough has diversities of culture, race and religion all of which, consequently, does not affect the integration of its people. The industries continue to expand thereby offering more jobs to the American population. It is a tourist destination and an academic center; it has outlived all the stereotypes of the past racial prejudices and has become a magnificent modern-day metropolis.
References
Alexander, L. L. (2010). New dimensions in women’s health. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Fogel, C. I., & Woods, N. F. (2008). Women’s health care in advanced practice nursing. New York: Springer Pub.
Ricci, S. S., & Kyle, T. (2009). Maternity and pediatric nursing. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
