Brianna Rich



Windshield SurveyBrianna RichFerris State UniversityWindshield SurveyA windshield survey is taking a look at your community and assessing the surroundings. It involves making continuous observations as you look through your windshield to evaluate the community and the community’s health. No community or neighborhood is perfect. Some are missing health services and some are just run down and dangerous. This observational study helps to identify the areas of concern so that they can be fixed, and it will help to improve the community’s munityAccording to Harkness and DeMarco (2012), community is defined as “a group of people sharing common interests, needs, resources and environment; an interrelating and interacting group of people with shared needs and interests” (pg. 175). This represents the areas that people live in. In my community we all share the same recourses. We all have city water, which is a need and we all have the opportunities to go to the two small grocery stores right in our neighborhood. We all live in the same environment. We share the same river when we want to go fishing or canoeing and we all drink from the same water supply. All of the people in this community interact in different ways. We may wave people on at a four way stop, or shake someone’s hand that you know in the grocery store. A community is an area where people reside, interact and share common everyday needs. Community HealthJust like individuals, communities need to be taken care of as well. Community health “is the science of protecting and improving the health of communities through education, promotion of healthy lifestyles, and research for disease and injury prevention” (Community health, 2013). This means that nurses and other groups are trying to promote health in the communities. For example, they may run a clinic about a certain disease like diabetes to help improve awareness, and even help people manage their disease better. Observing the health problems in certain communities and then addressing them to improve the health of the community as a whole is the goal of community health. It is not only helping one individual but hopefully it will make the community a better place to live. Community as ClientAs we look at the health of the community we want to treat the community as client. This means that as we try and make changes or work to improve the health of the community it should affect the community as a whole. The improvements should be beneficial so that the entire community is gaining from it. When working in communities it may mean working with individuals, families or groups of people. Community as client means to treat the whole community as the client, so that it is helping to promote health in the community that is going to help everyone involved. Healthy People 2020 Leading Health IndicatorIn community nursing there are many different problems that can arise in certain communities. According to Healthy People 2020, one of the leading health indicators has to do with nutrition, physical activity and obesity. This seems to be a problem in many communities across the United States. In community nursing there may be two ways that you can approach an issue. There is directly working with people or indirectly working to help people. A direct way to manage this issue would be to have a clinic where people could come and exercise for free a couple days a week. There are gyms around but most of the time they are expensive and people don’t want to pay for something that they really don’t want to do. So having the opportunity to come to a place and they can get some exercise with people that can help them figure out what to do would be very beneficial. An indirect way to manage this problem would to put out flyers in local grocery stores about good nutrition habits. You are not directly working with the clients, but hopefully they see the flyer/brochure and they are interested enough to take a look. Then, it being in a grocery store maybe they would even follow the information provided and get healthy foods to eat. ConclusionOverall, community nursing is very important. It takes a lot of time and dedication to observe the community, analyze what issues they are having, and coming up with ways to help the whole community benefit. Improving the health of communities is helping a variety of different people and a variety of different problems.ReferencesCommunity health. (2013). In Lenoir-Rhyne University. Retrieved from , G. A., & DeMarco, R. (2012). Community and public health nursing: Evidence for practice. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.Nutrition, physical activity, and obesity. (2014). Leading Health Indicators. Retrieved from Boundaries- West/ East boundaries are from Dumon Rd to Hawley Hwy. North / South boundaries are from about Flat River Trail to about N. State Rd Belding, MichiganCreate a Windshield Survey that includes the following components:Housing and zoningThere is a variety of housing including a few apartment complexes, a couple condos, a few subdivisions, but the majority is single-family homes. The majority of the homes in Belding are 50 – 100 years old. Many of the houses are in good condition with a few that look run down. All homes have city water and there are a few with central air conditioning. There is also a few senior living centers in this town as well. TransportationPeople in this town either walk, run, ride bikes or drive vehicles. There are a few factories in the neighborhood so there are always semi trucks or trucks with trailers rolling through. The roads are in fair condition. Some of the outer roads are in poor condition with many potholes. We have one main road running through the town called M-44 that is mostly traveled, but the nearest expressway is about 30 miles away, which means traveling through a few different neighborhoods. There are no public buses beside dial a ride that will take people to places in town, but will not go out of town to other neighborhoods. This could affect peoples ability to reach hospitals or other health related places that they may need to go to. Race and ethnicityThe majority of the people that live her in this neighborhood is Causations. Having a lack of cultural diversity can be a concern because people may not be aware of other cultures needs and this can lead to cultural unawareness. Open spaceMost houses range from 1000 - 2500 square feet. Each lot is about 0.5 acres, so there is not much open space between houses. There are a few open fields with some farmland, but not much in this neighborhood. There is about one open space that is about 10 acres that is just open vacant land. It is pretty plain and has some sandy spots. It is nothing beautiful to look at. Service centersThe services that this neighborhood provided includes police, fire, emergency services, a couple small doctors offices, a couple dentist offices, an ophthalmologist, a community mental health office, a nursing home, child daycare, access to pharmacies, water and sewage treatment, trash and recycling, public and private schooling (elementary through high school) and a public library. The nearest hospital is about 15 miles away. Religion and politicsThis neighborhood offers a variety of different church options. We have Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Catholic, and non-denominational options. Many churches offer a Saturday night service as well as a Sunday morning service. The community is a combination of both republican and democrats. BoundariesThe West/ east boundaries are from Dumon Rd to Hawley Hwy. The North / South boundaries are from about Flat River Trail to about N. State Rd. City limit signs mark this neighborhood. On the outskirts of the city there is a lot of farmland. Most lawns are mowed and patchy. There are a few homes that have sprinkler systems installed with very green lawns, but the majority of lawns are just average. Stores and street peopleThere are many people that go for walks/runs or walk to the store, but they are not considered street people. We do not have homeless people out on the corners or people out in the streets trying to sell drugs. In this neighborhood there are no “street people”. In this neighborhood there are two small grocery stores where many people go to get their daily or weekly groceries. Otherwise there is a Meijer or Wal-Mart about 15 miles away for those that want to get groceries or other needs. We also have a few fast food restaurants. We have a McDonalds, burger king, subway, and about 5 pizza places. There is also three small sit down restaurants. Four gas stations and about 4 hardware stores. All of the fast foods restaurants could be a big health concern. They all seem to be busy all the time. This could lead to people becoming overweight or obese do to eating unhealthily foods. Health and morbidityThe health of the community seems to be fair. There are people with different health conditions. For example, there are people with hypertension, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, kidney diseases, dementia and Alzheimer’s. There is a couple small doctors offices and emergency vehicles available. The nearest hospital is 15 miles away with a very big hospital that specializes in many areas about 40 miles away. There is no big issue with substance abuse in this area as well as no big outbreaks in infectious diseases. CommonsThere are a few community parks in this neighborhood. There are 3 parks with play set for children. One of these parks includes a soccer fields as well as a few basketball courts. There is also a park where people can ride their bike or run/walk through trail in the woods. There is also a Frisbee golf course at this park. Signs of decayThere are some signs of decay in this neighborhood. There are some abandoned buildings as well as some boarded up homes. There are some homes that are run down and boarded up with people still living in them. The streets are kept clean with minimal litter. There are quite a few homes that are for sale in this neighborhood. The abandoned buildings and the run down homes with people living in them are a health risk. The people living in these homes, either adults or kids can get many health problems from this. MediaThere are some people that have outdoor antennas to get a few TV channels. The majority of people either have cable television where they can get all their media from news and other channels. Also, many people have the internet or they have cell phones with the internet on them or they can text. Newspapers are available in a few stores for purchase, but most people either watch TV or use the internet. ................
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