The Significance of a Community Assessment

Sometimes, health caregivers such as Public Health Nurses execute their roles outside the boundaries of their clinical institutions. They work within the population to ensure healthy practices are upheld. According to Johnstone & Turale (2014), nurses working within a given community play a crucial function more so regarding public health emergencies. Therefore, they need to be ethically prepared for the occurrence of any issues. One way to achieve this is by conducting a community assessment. The assessment can be done by performing a windshield survey. As such, this paper discusses the significance of a community assessment in the caregivers’ quest to achieve a general picture of the society they are rendering their services.

Overview of the Community 

Taking a windshield survey was an enlightening expedition. The community on which the study is based upon is the community of Walls, Mississippi. The town has 1,162 residents (United States Census Bureau, n.d.). The United States Census indicates that a large number of residents are aged between 25 and 44 years with the median of the general population being 27.6 (United States Census Bureau, n.d.). Majority of the population is made up of Caucasian and African-American although other smaller groups of Iranians, Hispanics, as well as Asians also exist.

The community of Walls thrives in a small town of Walls situated in the Northwestern part of Mississippi. The community’s locale is bounded to the North by Tennessee State and the West by the Mississippi River. The population’s shelter comprises of homes as old as an average of fifteen years old. These homes are constructed from bricks. Additionally, some homes are located on large estates while others are within neighbourhoods.

The community settings comprise of a lot of open space covered with towering power lines which pose an environmental hazard. Other than the environmental risk, the community also experiences occupational hazard, particularly from fuel exposures. The residents who are mainly farmers are exposed to occupational hazards while working with the heavy farm gear. Generally, the community dwells within a well-kept locale since a vast piece of land is covered with plantations. Additionally, the transportation means in the town and its environs are dependent mainly on private locomotives because the community lacks public transportation. Other services that are notably absent include lack of health care provision centres, retail stores, and social service centres. As a consequence, the residents rely upon neighbouring towns and cities for services such as health care, shopping, and entertainment among others.

Vulnerable Populations 

According to Abrams (2012), it is the role of a public health nurse to monitor, investigate, and diagnose public health issues, inform as well as empower the residents to take action, link them with resources, and evaluate the effectiveness of health-related services and policies (p. 479). In this regard, the nurse plays a crucial role in identifying the vulnerable population in the community he or she is working. As such, the whole of Walls community can be deemed a vulnerable population because it has no access to emergency and health care services such as access to physician's offices, pharmacy, and hospitals. The only existing fire department comprises of volunteer staff from the Walls community. It is quite apparent that no plans are being made to improve these services, but rather reliance on adjacent towns to provide the services remains the only option.

Another noticeable vulnerable population are the children of the walls community who are suffering from childhood obesity at an alarming rate. This can be attributed to the fact that the city lacks additional physical education programs as well as social service centres that can promote physical activities. Notably, the Walls elementary school requires a high-quality physical education program to help children exercise daily. To try and assist these children some residents travel to neighbouring towns to ensure their children access physical activity program and social service centres.

The Hispanic population among the Walls’ community is another vulnerable populace. Although their number is minimal among the Walls population, almost 90% of the Hispanics are non-English speakers. It is so severe that the free programs being offered by the elementary school and the library to assist children to learn the English language are attended by the majority of the working class Hispanics.

Moreover, the town of Walls is surrounded by cities such as Tennessee, Memphis, Mississippi, and Southaven. The residents of Walls can access these cities via interstate and the highway in approximately fifteen to thirty minutes. All these cities have large physician services, pharmacies, as well as hospitals. Furthermore, the closes by City of Horn Lake, Mississippi along with Southaven and Memphis have a vast sports program offering numerous activities to the Mississippi youth around the year. Besides, Southaven and Memphis have excellent entertainment and social service centres as well as plans for Hispanics to learn the English Language.

Impact on Nursing 

Access to health care and health outcome at the local, national and even global platforms is increasingly facing challenges such as inequalities. Vulnerable communities suffer these consequences because their welfare concerns fall on deaf ears. According to Douglas et al. (2014), there is an urgent call for advocating for vulnerable populations to reduce issues such as social inequalities on health care provision. It is evident that the lack of emergency and health care services in the community of Walls makes it extremely susceptible. As such, this issue has a severe impact on caregivers such as Public Health Nurses (PHNs). The nurse is faced with many challenges while executing health care duties such as lack of equipped facilities to which they can direct patients to seek specialized health care attention. Instead, the nurses are forced to find external interventions for their patients from neighbouring towns and cities.

It is essential for children to lead an active physical life. However, this is not the case for children from the community of Walls. These children lead an inactive lifestyle due to the absence of extracurricular activities and social service amenities. For nurses, this issue is grave because they usually depend on the activity and social service centres to offer outlets for children and young adult activities that help them lead an active life. As a result, children and young adult can be occupied and lead a trouble-free life. However, lack of such services makes them lead a boredom life which can make them engage in violence and other mischievous activities such as drug abuse.

Lastly, since the community of Walls is an English speaking community, a large number of Hispanic speaking persons are susceptible due to their incapability to communicate successively. This is a severe issue for nurses providing health care services to this portion of the community because it may cause communication barriers. And if the Hispanics are unable to communicate their health issues, it leads to the populace ill-health index increasing at a higher rate. Moreover, the Hispanic population is susceptible to malice until they learn to converse in English fluently. As such, the nurses are faced with the difficult task of taking care of this non-English speaking part of the Walls population.

Summary 

Interaction of Public Health Nurses (PHNs) with the community plays a vital role in unfolding nursing issues and their solutions as compared to other nursing domains (Abrams, 2012). For the problems identified amongst the community of Walls, no easy solution can solve them immediately. However, to address the issue of the absence of healthcare services in Walls, employing the evidence-based practice of Telemedicine can be a potential solution. In this form of health care provision, an off-site team of health specialists can work hand in hand with on-site primary caregivers such as PHNs from a centralized location or by use of services such as telephones, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), and video conferencing (Fortney et al., 2013). This will make health care services to be more readily available to the citizens of the Walls community.

Moreover, it will help citizens of Walls community from making long distance journey in search for health care services in other towns and cities thus saving cost as well as time. In the end, the cost saved can be channelled to other projects such as the creation of social service centres as well as activity programs that are essential to the physical wellbeing of the children as well as young adults of the Walls community. Moreover, the funds can also be used to start language assistance programs that can assist non-English speaking households such as Hispanics to learn the English Language.

Overall, Public Health Nurses conduct community assessment by use of a windshield survey which yields crucial data for them. The community assessment survey assists the nurses in determining the vulnerable population(s), occupational hazards, and environmental hazards among other things affecting the people. According to Stanhope & Lancaster (2016), it is imperative to determine these factors before engaging in providing care for the population of the given community (p. 408).

Windshield Survey 

Community Assessment 

Walls, Mississippi 

Guidelines

findings

Boundaries 

Do boundaries exist in the community? If so, What defines the boundaries? What name does the locale have? Any nicknames?

The community has boundaries. The Eastern border is made up of roads, as well as meets nearby cities of Horn Lake and Southaven. The western boundary consists of a railroad as well as Highway 61. The southern boundary meets bordering Horn Lake and Lake Cormorant and consists of roads. Finally, to the north, the city is marked with a road called Stateline Road, borders city of Memphis, TN. The locale is known as Walls, MS but sometimes can be called the Delta or the Swamp in regards to its closeness to River Mississippi

Housing and Zoning 

How old are the houses? What type of construction materials is used? What is the spacing between the houses? What is the general appearance and condition of the housing? Is there a central heating point, modern plumbing, or air conditioning?

Most houses in the town are approximately fifteen years old and are constructed with the use of bricks. Those more than 15 years old are made of wood. Walls town has several modular homes. The spacing between the houses is approximately ten feet although homes located on estates are further apart. These homes are situated on acreages of an average of five acres. In terms of appearance, most of the houses are clean and neat with a central heating point, air conditioning system and apply modern plumbing.

Open Space 

What are the general condition, amount, and use of open space? What is the security like? Is it appealing?

There is a large amount of open space. For instance, a part of Walls lies within the delta which is made up of numerous river beds that make excellent farmland. This open space is planted around the year with the crops being beautiful when the cotton blooms. Areas without crops are covered by Kudzu, a parasitic vine, which creates bright green sculptures. There are no safety issues in general.

Commons 

Where are the common hangout areas? What kind of people hang out and what time do they hang out?

Generally, Walls does not have hangouts. However, in adjacent city children and teens gather and engage in a skating rink during the weekends and evening hours.

Transportation 

How do people move around? Is there public transportation? If so, what kind? Is it effective? Any other means? Do pedestrians characterize the town? How is the safety of the area?

There is no elaborate public transport means as such people depend on their vehicles to move around. These are mainly cars and trucks. Children use bikes. The town has no pedestrians, and it appears safe.

Social Service Centers 

Are there any pharmacies, physician’s offices, social service centres, or recreational parks and centres?

There are very few social service centres. There no large parks though there are small parks in the locale. The area lacks dentist or physician offices. The only pharmacy in town is located in the outskirts. Overall most of the social service centres are sourced from adjacent cities such as Memphis, Horn Lake, and Southaven.

Stores 

Are there residents’ shops? How are they accessed? Are there any groceries or the town is a “food desert”?

The town has only the CVS Pharmacy and two gas stations. To access the stores, residents use their vehicles. Due to the long distance to the stores, few persons sometimes walk or cycle The only stores in Walls are the CVS Pharmacy and two gas stations. There are no grocery outlets in this town. As such it is known as a food desert. To access these services, the residents travel to nearby cities.

Street People and Animals 

Are there people or animals on the street during the daytime? If there are animals, are they contained or dawdling?

There are people seen on the streets in their locomotives moving about their businesses. Additionally, livestock such as cattle and horses are contained in farm areas. However, animals such as deer, rabbits, and opossums, are seen dawdling in open areas.

The condition of the Area 

What is the state of the area? Is it well-kept? Are there abandoned houses or vehicles? Are there signs? If yes, what message do these signs convey?

Walls town is a well-kept and clean area. There is no evidence of abandoned houses or cars seen. There are several signs which convey messages such as speed limit, gas station location, distance to the adjacent cities, as well as billboards for close by casinos.

Race and Ethnicity 

What is the race of the people in the community? Are there indices of ethnicity? What about places of worship? Are there restaurants or food stores? Are the signs in English? If not, which other languages are used?

In walls, there are Iranians, Hispanic, Asian, African-American, and Caucasian races. There exist no indices of ethnicity. There are several places of worship which the diverse races attend. The food stores are run by Iranian families and are gas stations serving hot food. The only restaurant is the Mexican restaurant. All signs in Walls are in English.

Religion 

Is there evidence pointing out the religious practices of the residents?

The town has five churches; one non-denominational, one Methodist, and three Baptist. Additionally, there is a large Baptist in this town.

Health Indicators 

What are the health indicators in this town? Substance abuse? Clinics or hospitals? Mental illnesses?

The town lacks clinics and hospitals. Moreover, there is no evidence of substance abuse or mental illnesses. Most of the health care services are obtained from nearby cities and towns.

Politics 

Are there politics in this town? If so, are there indicators?

There no specified political headquarter in the town. However, during official elections, the library serves as a polling station. Additionally, during elections posters and flyers can be seen.

Media 

What are the indicators of what people read? Do they watch television or listen to the radio?

The town has a small library frequented by school age readers as well as adults. Moreover, most homes have television and radios at home an indicator they watch and listen to TV and radio respectively.

Business and Industry 

What type of business is present in the town? Is there a business climate? Is it manufacturing, light or heavy industry, large employers, small business owners, retail, hospitality, or military installation? Any other sources of employment?

The primary type of business in town is farming. There is a very little business climate in this town. Moreover, there is no presence of light or heavy industry as well as manufacturing industry. Additionally, there are no large employers and the small business owners present run businesses such as car repair garage and gas station. There exist no retail stores, military installation or hospitality industry in this town. Residents often seek employment in the adjacent cities and states.

The windshield survey is adapted and modified ( Stanhope & Lancaster, 2016, p.410). 

References

Abrams, S. E. (2012). Persistent Problems and Collective ‘Response-Ability’. Public Health 

Nursing, 29 (6), 479–480.

Douglas, M. K., Rosenkoetter, M., Pacquiao, D. F., Callister, L. C., Hattar-Pollara, M.,

Lauderdale, J., & … Purnell, L. (2014). Guidelines for Implementing Culturally Competent Nursing Care. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 25 (2), 109–121.

Fortney, J. C., Pyne, J. M., Mouden, S. B., Mittal, D., Hudson, T. J., Schroeder, G. W., ... & 

Rost, K. M. (2013). Practice-based versus telemedicine-based collaborative care for depression in rural federally qualified health centres: a pragmatic randomized comparative effectiveness trial.    American Journal of Psychiatry . 

Johnstone, M., & Turale, S. (2014). Nurses' experiences of ethical preparedness for public health 

emergencies and healthcare disasters: A systematic review of qualitative evidence. Nursing & Health Sciences, 16 (1), 67–77. 

Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2016).    Public Health Nursing: Population-Centered Health Care in the Community   (9th ed.). St. Louis:   Elsevier. 

United States Census Bureau. (n.d.). American FactFinder - Community Facts. Retrieved February 24, 2019, from http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml