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##Executive Summary
St. John's Riverside Hospital is a company located in Westchester County, New York State, which values all humans' freedoms and privileges. The agency has one primary hospital and four other secondary facilities within the state that operate under the same management.
#St. Johns Agency and Human Rights: Universal Policies to Support Human Rights Essay
##Introduction
Profit and non-profit organizations have grown beyond geographical boundaries and have exceeded the confinements of local laws and regulations. There is a need for standards that will apply to all agencies globally, particularly those that govern the treatment of humans, be it, workers or clients. Consequently, the United Nations (UN), with the help of the Human Rights Council (2005), has been at the forefront championing human rights and developing universal policies to support the same. Governments, businesses, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have the sole responsibility of adhering to such regulations meant to respect humans and how they are treated.
Societies have become concerned about how organizational activities affect human rights. All stakeholders, including investors, governments, workers, and clients, expect agencies to prioritize human rights in all company operations. For most institutions, it is a challenge because there are gaps within national regulations that do not consider related vices. As a result, organizations have committed themselves voluntarily to UN stipulations and related documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in developing company policies and codes of conduct. St. Johns Riverside Hospital (SJRH) is a company located in Westchester County, New York State, which values all humans’ freedoms and privileges. The agency has one primary hospital and four other secondary facilities within the state that operate under the same management.
SJRH’s Mission, Purpose, and Services
The mission of St. Johns Riverside Hospital is to provide extensive nursing and medical services in a professional, ethical, compassionate, and respectful manner to all patients. Regardless of a client’s background or condition, the hospital endeavors to give equal and high-quality care. Additionally, all employees are expected to follow the company’s code of conduct while attending to them. The organization offers brilliance in nursing and medical care, preventive services, state-of-the-art technologies, and continuing education (St. Johns Riverside Hospital, 2020). Furthermore, SJRH strives to improve its services in all its branches and to impact the general quality of life in the neighboring communities. In conducting its mission, the hospital encourages initiatives and new ideas from the staff members and outsiders.
The agency has a set of services divided and accomplished in two primary departments. Behavioral Health Services department is the first one and is meant to help addicts achieve sobriety by attending to their mental struggles and teaching them self-care practices. These services are availed in four distinct locations within Westchester. The main one is Greenburg Addiction Treatment Services, meant to address the needs of the patients by helping them develop a positive attitude in achieving sobriety (St. Johns Riverside Hospital, 2020). Secondly, the agency provides community-based outpatient and hospital-based inpatient services. While the former avails day rehabilitation and treatment procedures for patients with chemical dependency, the latter gives supervised treatment to patients with withdrawal symptoms. Both services are meant to support the agency’s mission.
UN Documents Relevant to SJRH’s Work
The Right to Health Document
United Nations publications or documents are texts linked with the global institution’s agenda and released to the general public for awareness and educational purposes. UN documents apply to the services provided by St. Johns Riverside Hospital, and one of them is the Right to Health publication written by the World Health Organization (WHO). The document entails the major components of the right to health, the common misconceptions revolving around it, and its relationship with other human rights (OHCHR & WHO, 2008). The right to health as an inclusive right is one of the elements which states that the right is not only associated with access to health care facilities and services. It is also linked with all factors that contribute to healthy living. Safe food and drinking water, gender equality, healthy working conditions, and health-related information are other aspects included in the right to health.
Moreover, the document stipulates that the right to health also covers health-related freedoms. For instance, a patient has a right to reject non-consensual medical procedures, specifically those related to clinical experiments or research, in the name of trying to find a cure. The document protects patients from torture and inhumane treatment in medical facilities (OHCHR & WHO, 2008). Besides protection, the publication illustrates that the right to health issues entitlements and these include the privilege to important medication, equal access to timely health services, and public participation in health-related decision-making in communities.
Furthermore, the document emphasizes providing health care services and facilities without discrimination according to the non-discrimination tenet of UDHR. No one should be more important than another in receiving standard health care. Finally, the publication dictates that all services in medical facilities should be acceptable, available, accessible, and of good quality (OHCHR & WHO, 2008). This element applies to public and private health organizations tasked with ensuring that hospitals have enough health workers and sufficient supplies.
The UN Declaration on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Document
The UHC publication is similar in composition to the Right to Health but is concerned with improving the global population’s health in connection with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of 2030. As part of the 2030 agenda, WHO introduced the declaration in response to the UN’s desire to double the health coverage by 2030. The plan is to give the privilege to 5 billion individuals who cannot access health care at the moment (United Nations, 2019). UN member states have taken the initiative to engage in the political process of improving key areas in providing universal health care. These components apply to both public hospitals and private medical facilities.
According to the UHC declaration document, one aspect that must be improved is the process of ensuring that no one is denied access to health care due to financial constraints. Nobody needs to choose between buying food and paying medical expenses, particularly for women and children. Moreover, governments are tasked with strengthening the health care workforce and improving the necessary infrastructure critical in achieving the UHC objectives. The publication indicates that the UN should be updated on the progress in 2023 (WHO, 2019). Consequently, all health care stakeholders, including national governments, donors, and private medical facilities, have a role in improving the existing primary health care systems that attend to most people’s medical needs.
How SJRH Implements the UN Documents
Based on the information collected about St. Johns Riverside Hospital, the agency conforms to most of the items included in the Rights to Health and the Universal Declaration on Universal Health Coverage documents. The company incorporates various aspects of the right to health document into its mission and services. For instance, SJRH practices inclusivity in providing access to health care by availing medical services to the addicts and giving them helpful education and information, as indicated in the agency’s mission. The hospital understands that treating the patients is not enough and that they need the correct knowledge to help them deal with their condition once they are out of the facility. Furthermore, the health organization provides complete access to the health entitlements defined in the publication. Although SJRH specializes in medical and nursing care to the addicts, it still provides accessible and acceptable inpatient and outpatient services to its clients, and this also applies to preventive care (OHCHR & WHO, 2008). No one is discriminated against, and as long as they meet the criteria of receiving treatment, they are attended to.
Secondly, SJRH factors in the components of the UN Declaration on UHC in its mission statement, departments, operations, and services. For example, St. Johns Riverside Greenburg (ATS) is classified as a non-profit organization and only relies on donor funding from Medicaid, Medicare, and Charity to run its operations. This implies that the company does not need to charge its patients, making the medical services affordable to everyone. The company’s policy supports UHC’s main objective to help patients with financial hardships access high-quality health care services as any other person (WHO, 2019). Similarly, the document indicates that it is the responsibility of all health care stakeholders, SJRH included ensuring the issues listed in the declaration are addressed. The agency plays its role by practicing professionalism and ethics, which strengthens the workforce, and also invests in state-of-art technologies which enhance medical infrastructure. St John’s Agency’s stand in advocating for the Right to Health and Universal Health Coverage is clear in its policies.
SJRH’s Degree in Human Rights Consciousness
Human rights consciousness is the degree of awareness an individual or a group has on the existing rights and freedoms stipulated by a constitution or concerned laws. St Johns Riverside Hospital has a moderate degree of human rights consciousness because some of the aspects of its operations, strategies, and policies attend to the human needs of the company stakeholders. The agency is a health care institution and demonstrates respect for the right to health care by making the medical services not only affordable but also accessible and acceptable in Westchester County.
Similarly, the medical facility respects its patients’ wishes concerning administering treatment, giving them the freedom to accept or reject the concerned therapies. Additionally, freedom of expression is another vital component of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) that SJRH prioritizes in its operations (United Nations, 2020). A section of the agency’s mission statement indicates that the company is open to new directions, ideas, and initiatives that will improve its response to the community’s health care needs. However, other aspects of human rights such as equality have not been mentioned in the company policies and mission.
Areas for Improving Human Rights in SJRH
St. Johns Riverside Hospital is human rights conscious, but there is a need for improvement. One critical area that needs to be addressed is the right to equality and prohibition of discrimination, as stipulated in the UDHR. SJRH is a service-based agency that can attract various forms of discrimination, such as racism and gender segregation. Since this is a key human rights element, the organization should incorporate it into its service, policies and integrate it into its mission statement. Moreover, the agency should create more emphasis on the right to health care since it is its area of specialization. Currently, SJRH has made its services available to various locations in Westchester County, which is a positive step. However, the company should improve on the right to health-related information, which will ensure patients can cater for themselves after leaving the facility and enhance the recovery process.