Special Populations: Substance Abuse
BSHS 402
July 18, 2011
Angela Zinzer
Special Populations: Substance Abuse
In today’s society there are many different reasons for a person to be considered part of a special population. They may be handicapped, either mentally or physically, they may be having financial difficulty, they may be part of the elderly community, or they may have a medical problem that is causing them to need special assistance. For all of these different populations the one common thread is that they need help from others. One of the best resources for these people is a case manager. A case manager’s role is “to extract various services for their wanting clients from a human service system constricting under extreme fiscal pressure” (Rothman & Sager p. 17, 1998). The case manager works for the client to find resources necessary to make their lives easier. The case manager helps to coordinate all of the many different resources that are available to the client and find the best possible solution for the client’s problems. Case managers often work with one specific special population in order to be able to give that one population the best possible care and knowledge of available resources. One population in specific is people who suffer from substance abuse. Substance abuse covers a wide range of different topics and many clients who suffer substance abuse problems also face other issues including loss of, or inability to maintain employment, homelessness, and medical problems.
According to the United States Census Bureau Sedgwick County Kansas has a population of 498,365 people (2011). Within this metropolitan area are all of the special populations mentioned above. While there is a large elderly and special needs population, I have chosen to focus on the part of the population that suffers from substance abuse problems. I chose this population because it is one that I feel I could be very effective in. While I have...