Planning and Marketing for Healthcare Organizations

    The service that the team will offer is nutrition education for the homeless population. The service will involve providing homeless people with nutrition knowledge that they can use to improve their health and prevent common illnesses. Poor nutrition is a significant problem among the homeless as they have limited access to food and consider nutritious meals a luxury of the rich. However, it is possible for the homeless to make better food choices even in their condition. This service is new and aims to build capacity among the homeless so that they can make better health choices and prevent illness. Most existing services that target nutrition for the homeless focus on offering them food thereby limiting their food choices even further. To reach a larger number of the homeless population, the service will be offered as part of other services offered by the Healthcare for the Homeless program in Texas. The primary target market for the service is the homeless population in Texas. According to statistics, the homeless population consists of at least two percent of the Texas population, which is a relatively high number of people (Suburban Stats, 2017). The size of the homeless population in Texas can be calculated by finding the difference between the total population and the population that is in both family and non-family households. They are mostly located in the urban areas of Texas, and are predisposed to health conditions such as malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, and other conditions arising from poor hygiene and nutrition. Poor nutrition is an underlying factor that leads to the occurrence of other illnesses because the individual has a weak immune system so cannot fight illnesses and infections well enough. The specific needs of the homeless population in this regard includes the knowledge and skills that can help them make better health choices as opposed to simply offering them food through the programs. A large majority of the homeless population is illiterate and may not know which food choices are healthy and which are not. As a result, the entire family may suffer from malnutrition and related health conditions however, with this knowledge, it is possible for the people to make better choices, no matter how limited their food choices are. Furthermore, the initiative is likely to complement other services offered by the program such as mental healthcare and medical care. The service may be affected by several external factors. The service may be affected economically as the program needs staff and other resources to be operational. Acquiring a source of funds may be a challenge, although it is likely that the Healthcare for the Homeless program will contribute finances for the initiative. Other external factors are less likely to affect the program as it is mainly humanitarian and is affiliated to an already established humanitarian program. The strength of the service is in the fact that it is aimed at increasing knowledge among the homeless, which is beneficial to the individual and the health system in general. The fact that nutrition knowledge is not a high priority problem is the greatest weakness of the service, although proper nutrition is one of the most important determinants of a high quality of life. The service also provides an opportunity for people to get involved with the homeless, especially those who are pursuing a career in the humanitarian and health industries. Finally, the initiative faces the threat of lack of support from the major stakeholders including the local and state health department and existing programs for the homeless. The service is faced with competition from health facilities and programs that cater for the needs of the homeless. However, the competitors may not be offering specific nutrition education that relates to the homeless in Texas.     Marketing Plan Identify the overall marketing goals. Identify three to five specific marketing objectives (these should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and have a time element). Identify specific marketing strategies for achieving these objectives and goals, including product strategies; distribution strategies (how you will distribute the product or service to the target market); promotion strategies; and pricing strategies.