Sentinel City Windshield Survey

Sentinel City has four communities forming the larger city's population. All these subsystems influence community health in a significant way. Nurses must be able to plan services to the community, families as well as individuals. To effectively plan these services, they must know the resources specific to the particular communities where their clients reside. This allows them to identify health-related resources and to understand what gaps exist in service. One of the ways a nurse can understand community resources and needs is through a windshield survey. The survey is carried out from a car and provides context as well as a background for working with families and individuals in their community. This paper focuses on the community subsystems' characteristics and their role in influencing community health.

Boundaries

The city has geographical as well as economic boundaries. The geographical boundaries are demarcated as well as identified by signposts. The city's political boundaries are indicated by the characteristics of buildings, streets nature, levels of cleanliness, presence of garbage, nature of stores and type of cars on the streets. The neighborhood's names include Nightingale Square, Industrial Height, Casper Park and Acer tech Center.

Housing and Zoning

The housing designs in the four neighborhoods vary in architectural design and maintenance. The buildings' architectural styles vary by section of each neighborhood. Most of the houses are multi-family homes although there are several apartments. As I drove through the city, I could identify many vacant houses. Some neighborhoods have well maintained buildings while others have dilapidated buildings.

Signs of Decay

The neighborhoods have various level of maintenance. While others are well maintained, others have various signs of decay. Some neighborhoods have buildings with burst sewage pipes and raw sewage can be seen leaking. I could also see garbage along some streets. Nightingale Square has clean streets and I could hardly see any rubbish or garbage. Casper park had dirty streets, lots of garbage, much graffiti on the building walls, dilapidated buildings and many stray dogs and cats. Rats are running around.

Parks and Recreation Areas

Nightingale Square has parks, basketball court as well as tennis court. the parks and courts indicate the type of recreational activities in the neighborhood. The neighborhood's residents can be seen walking dogs and cycling. There were also hangout and socialization points in various neighborhoods. I could spot people socializing in bars, restaurants and coffee joints.

Common areas

The City's common areas include parks, basketball court, tennis courts, restaurants, bars and coffee joints. These common areas are open to all people. The underage were however excluded from the bars and some restaurants.

Stores

Stores are present in the City. The city's residents buy groceries from these stores. I interacted with Joe in his grocery. Joe's store deals with both organic and non-organic foods. I also interacted with Lily in her store and had a chance to purchase some fruits. Other stores in the city include clothing stores.

Transportation

The City's common modes of transport include car, bicycle, and bus. There is also a considerable number of residents traveling on foot. The streets, roads and highways are in good condition and facilitate the movement of city residents.

Communication

There is evidence of national media. The streets are also filled with posters and billboards. The signs indicate the direction of health care institutions, name of neighborhoods. Other signs are in the form of campaigns promoting positive health practices.

Service centers

They include health care centers, employment offices and social service centers. I came across many offices used by dentists, specialists and doctors for health care services. I also saw daycare facilities, schools, and religious centers.

Sentinel City People

The City comprises people from three races: whites, Hispanics as well as African Americans. I came across many children, women and men during my trip. The type of restaurants they visit, the cars they drive and the houses they live in, shows the people's various economic status.

Industries

Industrial Heights has many industries. Manufacturing and trade are the main occupations in the City. There are many retail shops, restaurants, gas stations, clothing businesses, grocery stores, and pharmacies throughout the city's streets. The refinery, as well as non-farm establishments in the city, play a significant role in empowering improving the city's economy. The city had a retail sale of $ 11.810 per capita in 2007. In the industrial heights community, there are large refineries with uniformed workers. There are also many items associated with industrial manufacturing on the street, such as shipping crates.

Protective Services

The City's protective services include police stations and police stations. These services ensure city's safety and security. The city has a major police and a fire-fighting department.

Ethnicity

The City's majority race is whites. There are also Hispanics and African Americans. These races are dominant in various neighborhoods. The whites dominate Acer Tech Center and Nightingale Square neighborhoods. The Hispanics and African Americans dominate Industrial Height.

Religion

The many churches in the City indicate that Christianity is the dominant religion in the Sentinel.

Health and morbidity

I came across many alcohol and cigarette advertisement posters. I also came across campaign posters on drug use indicating that the City may be struggling with drug use problem. I also came across many overweight people indicating that obesity may be a problem in the city. There were several community sensitization campaigns E.coli outbreak.

Politics

The city's walls and streets had many political campaign posters. It was however difficult to establish party affiliations from the windshield survey.

PART 2:

Communication Subsystem

The city has various types of communication efforts in the form of billboards and advertisements. The billboards, as well as advertisements in the city, reflect the population living in the city. These communication efforts are indications of mass communication. Both signs and billboards are present. Some of them indicate the direction of health care institutions, while some in the form of campaigns promoting positive health practices. The communication channels can be classified into both formal and informal.

Formal and Informal communication

It includes various warning signs, hospital sign markers, street signs, public busses, and billboard campaigns. The warning signs include no trespassing, towing warning signs, no skateboarding, and no parking. There are also signs reflecting vaccination, addiction, and no texting while driving. Nightingale square has a billboard for recycling and another on staying healthy. Industrial Heights has community advertisements promoting the use of e-cigarettes and help for pregnant women. The city has large bus route maps on the sidewalks. These maps direct the citizens to their bus route destination. The demonstrators in the city hall have signs illustrating their disapproval of the taxing system and power revolt. I could also see people dining together as they discuss various issues affecting the community.

E. Coli Poster

-685805715E. coli

00E. coli

-59055471171Symptoms:

Diarrhea

Vomiting

Abdominal cramping and pain

00Symptoms:

Diarrhea

Vomiting

Abdominal cramping and pain

-30480324485If your diarrhea lasts more than three days, it is time to see the doctor: keep safe from E.coli

00If your diarrhea lasts more than three days, it is time to see the doctor: keep safe from E.coli

PART 3

Economics

Primary Intervention Secondary Prevention

Tertiary Prevention

Population Group: The elderly

Obesity

Proposed Action or Intervention:

Healthy eating Proposed Action or Intervention:

Physical activity Proposed Action or Intervention:

Surgery to remove the excess fats.

Reduced expenses for treating Obesity

Reduces costs related to the progression of the condition Reduced costs related to the severity of the condition,

Economics plays a critical role in influencing people's living standards. Living standards influence nutrition, health insurance, and health-seeking behaviors. It also influences community participation, individual independence, economic gain, and productivity (Braveman & Gottlieb, 2014). Driving through the city shows an indication that the city dwellers are thriving and not just surviving. Nightingale square has an excellent economy evident through

The communities have access to plentiful fresh vegetables and fruits. These vegetables and fruits possibly work of commerce since there is no indication that they are locally produced. These fruits and vegetables are also an important alternative source for non-nutritious food in the city's grocery stores or fast-food restaurants. The fresh produce is very nutritious and, therefore, can contribute to the city population's health and wellness. The community has small convenience stores that provide services near bus stops.

Part 4

Health Services

Community access to comprehensive health care services is paramount in enhancing the community's health status (Haldane et al., 2014). These services play a critical role in achieving health equity among the population, preventing disease spread, and managing people's general health. Health services institutions and access to insurance services are critical indicators of community health status. There are various health care and social services in Sentinel City. The main hospital has inpatient, emergency, and ambulatory care. The elderly represent one of the population with the most sensitive health care needs. This population has compromised immunity due to age-related factors and chronic illnesses. One of the critical indicators of health care services anywhere is health as well as wellbeing of the elderly population. Sentinel City has eldercare services, including elderly abuse prevention advocates, senior community centers, government entitlement assistance, service animals, and medical assistance advocates nursing homes and meals on wheels program. There are one thousand and forty-eight independent living apartments and several nursing homes in the city.

Current Health & Social Service Resources & Location Recommended Health or

Social Service Resources

Population Evidence-Based Rationale Potential Outcomes if Additional Resources are Not Available

1.Nursing Home Units Nutritional and Health Promotion programs Nursing homes are essential in providing a range of personal and health services for the aging people living with mental or physical conditions who need help. They offer health care services to patients requiring assistance with physical mobility, completing laundry, medication, and meal preparation (Kane et al.., 2015). These patients require these services despite not requiring full-time hospital care.

The elderly populations' health and wellbeing are compromised. Nursing care homes provide health care services to patients requiring assistance with physical mobility, completing laundry, medication as well as meal preparation. In this case, if the resource is not added, the elderly population's physical mobility will deteriorate. Since the population has problems with completing laundry, there is a high likelihood that most of them will have health issues related to cleanliness. Their medication is also put at risk since most of the elderly forget their prescription schedules. Nutrition is a critical element for the elderly as it influences their immunity and...