Windshield Survey Essay

Windshield Survey Essay

Windshield Survey: Jamestown City, New York

Community Assessment

The area we considered during our survey on Saturday afternoon was downtown Jamestown City, New York. As it is expected, being a weekend, there were a lot of people out having fun. The city is full of activity provided by the availability social amenities. Of notable iconic nature are museums and theaters that were started in honor of Lucille Ball, which are now used as tourist attraction sites. In particular, The Lucille Little Theater was begun in 1936 and it is the place where the now famous actor started her acting career (Lombardi, 2014). The community is considered as the lower end class with the majority of the residents being Latinos, Americans of African origin, and Hispanics (Lombardi, 2014).

Most of the buildings in this community are as old as 80 to 100 years with a majority being apartments and a few others single family homes (Lombardi, 2014). Some of the housing units are in a really poor condition and could do with some fixing. The three parks (Allen Park, Nordstrom Park, and Bergman park) in the community are maintained by the county officials on behalf of the residents (May, Day, & off Fish, 2014). One of the parks is right in the library and has been installed with skateboard ramps. The parks are well secured. The stand out library in the community is the Prendergast free lib, which is well equipped with various books for community consumption (Lombardi, 2014).

The community is served by a bus system that connects between different destinations; however, they are not as many in number. The main streets are beautified with trees planted on the sidewalks. Some streets especially those on the main roads are free of trash while others are quite dirty. Pine Street and Cherry Street have the best condition in terms of connectivity, pedestrian experience, and public spaces; while Washington Street and Second Street have the lowest ratings in terms of characters, conditions, public spaces, connectivity, and pedestrian experience (May et al., 2014). The community is served by coffee shops, convenience stores, fast food restaurants that are easily accessed.

Nurse mobilization plan

The community has schools for education purposes. There is an elementary school and one high school, The Jamestown High School, famous for its marching band and Acapella choir. There is a private and religious elementary school called the St. James School (May et al., 2014). The grounds of the school are clean free of trash and graffiti which adorn some of the buildings in the community.

Vulnerable and Diverse Population Windshield Survey Essay

The senior citizens are in particular risks of the chronic diseases due to poor surroundings and low incomes in their families. These diseases include cancer, stroke, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and arthritis. There are human services in the community which include clinics that serves the entire Jamestown area. They include Jamestown Va Outpatient Clinic, Five Star Urgent Care Jamestown, and Family Health Medical Services (Ralph, 2013). The clinics offers free services with a mandate to maintain and promote health wellness in the community. Besides offering free birth control, they afford the residents STDs screening at no cost. The main hospital, The UPMC Chautauqua WCA, has two locations with the main one being in charge of obstetrics and emergency care. The second location hosts the offices for doctors and alternative treatment sections like acupuncture, body beautiful and herbal centers (Ralph, 2013). Besides, there is a Teenage Education and Motherhood (TEAM) center, which allows for young mothers to gain education while caring for their kids (Lombardi, 2014).

Demographic Changes

From the figures obtained from the Census Bureau released in December 2015, the population of Jamestown stood at 30,799 (Lombardi, 2014). Between 2010 and 2014, there was a 347 increase of population which is 1% (May et al., 2014). The data further shows that Jamestown has one of the largest sizes of people aged 20 years and less at 27.3 of the total population (Lombardi, 2014). The town has the largest percentage of Black people at 4.8% with Hispanics or Latino at 9.0%. The male population is smaller than the women population by 7.6% and the town has the second largest population of people that have never been married at 35%, it is only behind Busti at 40% (Lombardi, 2014). In addition, the city of Jamestown has the second highest percentage of people that have divorced at 15% of the total (May et al., 2014). The data shows that the percentage of women aged between 15 and 50 years and can give birth is at 8.8%, only behind Jamestown West with a birth rate of 16.5% (Lombardi, 2014). Windshield Survey Essay

Prevalent Health Risks for Senior Citizens

According to CDC, people that have attained the age of 65, can on average, expect to live for an extra 19.3 years if there is on time intervention to prevent and control biological and behavioral risk factors such as unhealthy diet, high blood pressure, tobacco use, high blood cholesterol, physical inactivity, and overweight (Ralph, 2013). When such risk factors are coupled with the vulnerabilities of the senior citizens in Jamestown, the numbers of people suffering from the chronic illnesses is significantly higher than the cities dominated by whites and wealthy families. One of the conditions that face the seniors is arthritis. With an estimated 49.7% of the population affected, it leads to a lot of pain and low quality of life (Ralph, 2013). In addition, heart disease is a leading killer of senior citizens above the age of 65 years, where the disorder affects 37% of men and 26% of women (Ralph, 2013). Cancer is the second leading cause of death for seniors. About 28% of men and 21% of women seniors are living with cancer (Ralph, 2013). Chronic respiratory diseases like COPD, asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema rank third in the leading causes of death for people above 65 years (Ralph, 2013). Other conditions include Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia among others. The senior citizens suffer the most from these diseases because of the disparities in income levels because the majority of occupants are Hispanics, Latinos and Black Americans (Ralph, 2013).  

Nurse mobilization plan

Health Disparities and Social Determinants

Determinants of health are factors that are personal, economic, social, and environmental conditions that influence the status of health of persons and the community. They are broadly classified into social factors, health services, policymaking, individual behavior, biological and genetic factors. Health disparities in Jamestown City emanates from imbalanced and inequality in access to health care to patients suffering from diseases (Lim & Harris, 2015). The unfair access to social amenities is based on patient’s race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and socioeconomic status.

Social determinants are a reflection of the social aspects and the setting where particular people are born, work, live, have fun and grow. The social factors include the accessibility of money and wealth to cater for daily needs like education, healthy food, and job opportunities. Exposure to transgressions and social disorder like unclean environment because of trash also play a role in determining the health of individuals (Kerr, Rosenberg, & Frank, 2012).  Public safety, transport, quality of schools, social support and interactions and social-economic conditions are factors that must be overcome in order to develop a successful disease promotion and prevention programs.

Windshield Survey Essay