| Course | HS315 Practices in Public Health |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 2 |
| Paper type | Community health profile |
| Length | About 870 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Health Science |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HS315 Unit 2
Who Lives Here and What Takes Years From Them: A Unit 2 Community Health Profile of Composite Drayton County
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HS315: Practices in Public Health
Unit 2 Community Health Profile
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Drayton County and every figure in brackets are composite; the premature death measure, the surveillance study and the outbreak report cited are real.
The People
Drayton County has [96,000] residents. Fallon Springs, the county seat, holds [41,000] of them; the rest live in five towns and on farms. The county is older than the state as a whole: [19] percent of residents are 65 or over, against [17] percent statewide. Median household income is [$58,400], below the state figure of [$66,900]. About one adult in eight under 65 has no health insurance.
Two changes over the last decade shape the profile. A food processing plant on the river expanded twice, and the Hispanic population grew from [6] to [13] percent of the county, most of it in Fallon Springs. At the same time, rents in the city rose faster than wages, and the January point-in-time count found [312] people experiencing homelessness, up from [188] five years earlier. About a third were unsheltered, most of them in an encampment along the river.
Causes of Death, Counted Two Ways
Ranked by number of deaths, Drayton County looks like most of the country:
1. Heart disease, [262] deaths a year on average.
2. Cancer, [214].
3. Chronic lower respiratory disease, [61].
4. Unintentional injury, including overdose, [58].
5. Stroke, [44].
Ranked instead by premature death, meaning the years of life lost when residents die before turning 75, a measure county rankings rely on (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, 2025), the order changes:
1. Unintentional injury, including overdose.
2. Cancer.
3. Heart disease.
4. Suicide.
5. Liver disease.
Heart disease kills the most people in Drayton County, but overdose and injury take the most years, because they kill people in their thirties and forties rather than their seventies.
The second list points to younger adults, and a disproportionate number of those deaths fall among people who use drugs or have no stable housing.
A Small Count With a Large Meaning
Invasive group A strep does not appear on either list. The county recorded [19] cases from 2023 through 2025 and [4] deaths. But [13] of the [19] cases were among people experiencing homelessness or injecting drugs, a group of perhaps [600] people in a county of [96,000]. That concentration matches national surveillance, which found a sharp rise in invasive group A strep in exactly these groups (Valenciano et al., 2021). An outbreak among homeless adults in Anchorage showed how quickly a single strain can move through shelters and camps once it arrives (Mosites et al., 2018). In Drayton County, the count is small, but the rate in the affected group is many times the county rate, and the deaths were all under 60.
Services Inventory
1. Drayton Regional Medical Center: [180] beds, the county's only emergency department.
2. Fallon Springs Community Health Center: one federally qualified site, open weekdays until 6 p.m., with a sliding fee scale.
3. Drayton County Health Department: immunizations, communicable disease investigation, three public health nurses, no wound care.
4. Fifth Street Shelter: [84] beds for men, open 6 p.m. to 7 a.m.
5. Grace Family Shelter: [40] beds for women and families.
6. Open Door Day Center: meals, showers on two mornings a week, mail service.
7. River Health Exchange: a syringe services program run by a nonprofit, with a van that stops at three sites three days a week.
Who the Services Miss
The inventory shows plenty of care for people who can reach it during business hours. It shows little for people who sleep at the river, leave the shelter at 7 a.m. and cannot keep a dressing clean. The health center does not open early enough to see people before the shelter closes, and the day center's showers run on two mornings only. The syringe services van sees many of the people at highest risk but has no nurse aboard. The health department investigates cases after they occur but offers nothing before.
Language and transport widen the gap. Many of the newer Hispanic residents work shifts at the processing plant that end after the health center closes, and the center has one Spanish-speaking clinician. The county's bus route stops at the hospital and the health center but not at the river, and it does not run on Sundays. People living outside who need a dressing changed every day would have to walk more than two miles each way to the nearest clinic, during the same hours they are trying to find food and a place to sleep.
What the Profile Suggests
Putting the two lenses together points to three priorities. Premature deaths, not total deaths, point to where prevention would add the most years. Within that, a small group of residents carries a heavy share of injury, overdose and serious infection. And the services that reach that group are the ones without clinical staff. Later units in this course develop one response to that gap: wound care brought to the places where people already go.
References
Mosites, E., Frick, A., Gounder, P., Castrodale, L., Li, Y., Rudolph, K., Hurlburt, D., Lecy, K. D., Zulz, T., Adebanjo, T., Onukwube, J., Beall, B., Van Beneden, C. A., Hennessy, T., McLaughlin, J., & Bruce, M. G. (2018). Outbreak of invasive infections from subtype emm26.3 group A Streptococcus among homeless adults, Anchorage, Alaska, 2016-2017. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 66(7), 1068-1074. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/cix921
University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. (2025). County health rankings and roadmaps: Premature death. https://www.countyhealthrankings.org
Valenciano, S. J., Onukwube, J., Spiller, M. W., Thomas, A., Como-Sabetti, K., Schaffner, W., Farley, M., Petit, S., Watt, J. P., Spina, N., Harrison, L. H., Alden, N. B., Torres, S., Arvay, M. L., Beall, B., & Van Beneden, C. A. (2021). Invasive group A streptococcal infections among people who inject drugs and people experiencing homelessness in the United States, 2010-2017. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 73(11), e3718-e3726. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa787
The Purdue Global HS315 Unit 2 instructions
The second unit typically asks you to profile a county or community using public data, describing its people, its leading health problems, its services and the groups those services miss. Profiles often run four to six pages with data presented in tables or lists. Instructors look for current figures with sources, a comparison to the state or nation so the numbers mean something, and a reasoned link between the data and a priority. Many sections reward using premature death as well as total deaths, since the two can point in different directions. A services inventory that notes hours, locations and eligibility usually earns more than a list of names. Close by naming the gaps your later units will address.
How this HS315 Unit 2 example is built
The profile opens with population, age, income and insurance, each set beside the state figure. Two trends follow, the expansion of a processing plant and the rise in homelessness. Causes of death appear as two numbered lists, by count and by years lost before 75, and the highlighted sentence explains why they differ. A section titled a small count with a large meaning places invasive group A strep within national surveillance and an Anchorage outbreak report. A seven-line services inventory gives each provider's hours and limits. The section on who the services miss reads the inventory against the people at risk, adding language and transport, and the closing paragraph turns the two lenses into three priorities for the rest of the course.
HS315 Unit 2 rubric: what earns full points
Community health profiles are generally marked on the accuracy and currency of data, use of comparison, depth of analysis, identification of priorities and presentation. Analysis tends to carry the heaviest weight, since a profile that lists figures without saying what they mean rarely reaches the top level. Data points are earned by naming sources and using recent years. Comparison credit goes to state or national benchmarks placed next to local figures. Priority identification is rewarded when the chosen problem follows from the data rather than from personal interest. Presentation includes readable tables or lists, consistent units and APA references. A profile that uses premature death alongside total deaths usually shows the kind of reasoning graders look for.
HS315 Unit 2 help: mistakes that cost points
The most frequent error is pasting a page of census numbers with no comparison and no interpretation. Another is ranking causes of death only by count, which hides the problems that kill younger people. Some students borrow a neighboring county's data when their own is suppressed, without saying so. Others list services by name without checking hours, which is where access often fails. A profile that ends without naming any gap leaves the following units nothing to build on. If your section assigns a different place, such as your own county or a city neighborhood, send the name and we can help you find the data and decide which two lenses tell its story best.
Get an HS315 Unit 2 example written to your instructions
Which county or city will your HS315 profile cover, or is a composite permitted? Pass that along with the Unit 2 instructions and rubric. Expect a free first custom sample in 24-48h, with each table sourced to data published for that place and a closing section naming the groups local services leave out. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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HS315 Unit 2 questions, answered
What is years of potential life lost, and should my profile use it?
It adds up how many years each death falls short of a reference age, often 75, so a death at 30 counts for 45 years and a death at 80 counts for none. County Health Rankings publishes it as its premature death measure. It is worth including whenever the prompt asks what shortens lives, since a plain count of deaths leans heavily toward old age.
What if my county's numbers are suppressed?
State agencies withhold counts below a set threshold, often somewhere between five and twenty, to protect privacy. Combining several years, as the example does, or reporting a regional figure are the usual honest workarounds. Say which one was used and why. Estimating a rate from a handful of cases produces a number that swings wildly from year to year and misleads anyone planning from it.
Where can I find a free HS315 Unit 2 sample paper?
You can read the whole Unit 2 community health profile here, ranking a composite county's causes of death by count and by years of life lost.
Why include a small disease count in a county profile?
Because a count can be small for the county and large for one group. Thirteen cases among about six hundred people is a very different rate from thirteen among ninety-six thousand.
Should a profile include homelessness counts?
Yes, when they are available and relevant. Point-in-time counts undercount people living outside, so say how the count is taken and treat it as a floor rather than a total.