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Introduction of Community
The community under consideration is Miami, Florida. The rationale for choosing it is the fact that it is the area I live in, so there is an opportunity for conducting assessments during different times of the day and days of the week.
Windshield Survey
Vitality
Are people visible in the community? What are they doing?
People are more visible in the morning when they leave their homes and head to work and education facilities.
Who are the people living in the neighborhood? What is their age range? What is the predominant age (e.g., elderly, preschoolers, young mothers, or school-aged children)?
The predominant group of people living in the neighborhood is families with school-aged children. So, the age range is between 6 and 40 years old.
What ethnicity or race is most common?
White people are the dominant race. Nevertheless, some African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics were as well seen.
What is the general appearance of those you observed? Do they appear healthy? Do you notice any people with obvious disabilities, such as those using walkers or wheelchairs or those with mental or emotional disabilities? Where do they live?
Most of the seen people seemed healthy without obvious mental or physical disabilities. They lived in condos and single-family homes.
Do you notice residents who are well-nourished or malnourished, thin or obese, vigorous or frail, unkempt or scantily dressed, or well dressed and clean?
Most of the seen people were clean and well-dressed. Except for a few obese people, most of them were of the normal constitution.
Do you notice tourists or visitors to the community?
There were no obvious signs pointing to tourists or visitors to the community. All of the seen people seemed to be local.
Do you observe any people who appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol?
Some people appeared to be drunk in the evening. However, most of them seemed sober.
Do you see any pregnant women? Do you see women with strollers and young children?
No young children were seen (only school-aged). Still, there were some pregnant women noticed.
Indicators of social and economic conditions
What is the general condition of the homes you observe? Are these single-family homes or multifamily structures? Is there any evidence of dilapidated housing or of areas undergoing urban renewal? Is there public housing? What is its condition?
Most of the homes (both single-family and condos) seemed neat and clean on the outside. No construction process was witnessed.
What forms of transportation do people seem to be using? Is there public transit? Are there adequate bus stops with benches and shade? Is transportation to health care resources available?
Personal vehicles and public transportation were the most commonly witnessed transport. Most of the bus stops were adequate and clean. All of the seen health care resources were not far from the bus stops.
Are there any indicators of the kinds of work available to residents? Are there job opportunities nearby, such as factories, small businesses, or military installations? Are there unemployed people visible, such as homeless people?
No homeless people saw. So, it is suggested that most of the people were employed, occupying office, schooling, and health care positions.
Do you see men congregating in groups on the street? What do they look like, and what are they doing?
No signs of bangs were seen.
Is this a rural area? Are there farms or agricultural businesses?
The area is an urban territory – no signs of rural areas and agricultural businesses (except for small rows of vegetables in some of the backyards) seen.
Do you note any seasonal workers, such as migrant or day laborers?
There were no obvious notes of seasonal workers.
Do you see any women hanging out along the streets? What are they doing?
There were some women on their own. They headed to coffee shops and bus stops.
Do you observe any children or adolescents out of school during the daytime?
Two kids were observed in the streets during the day. However, it is impossible to state whether they were missing school or headed home.
Do you observe any interest in political campaigns or issues, such as campaign signs?
Some political campaign signs were noted. Still, no activities, such as protests, were seen.
Do you see any evidence of health education on billboards, advertisements, signs, radio stations, or television stations? Do these methods seem appropriate for the people you observed?
Among all of the abovementioned, only road signs pointing to the hospitals and bus stop advertisements (people showed no interest in them) were noted. So, this information seems inappropriate to local people.
What kinds of schools and daycare centers are available?
One private and one community school noted.
Health Resources
Do you notice any hospitals? What kind are they? Where are they located?
Only medical centers, rehabilitation hospitals, and dentist offices were noticed. They were located close to bus stops.
Are there any clinics? Whom do they serve? Are there any family planning services?
No specialized clinics or family planning facilities were noted.
Are there doctors’ and dentists’ offices? Are they specialists or generalists?
Only dentist offices were noticed. They offered both general treatment and special services.
Do you notice any nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, mental health clinics, alcohol or drug treatment centers, homeless or abused shelters, wellness clinics, health department facilities, urgent care centers, mobile health vehicles, blood donation centers, or pharmacies?
Some rehabilitation centers were noticed. However, there were as well several mobile health vehicles and pharmacies.
Are these resources appropriate and sufficient to address the kinds of problems that exist in this community?
Because of the operation of medical centers and mobile health vehicles, it seems that these resources are sufficient for addressing the health care needs of the community.
Environmental conditions related to health
Do you see evidence of anything that might make you suspicious of ground, water, or air pollutants?
Excessive use of transport makes suspicious of air pollution.
What is the sanitary condition of the housing? Is housing overcrowded, dirty, or in need of repair? Are windows screened?
Most of the houses were clean, needing no repair, and with screened windows.
What is the condition of the roads? Are potholes present? Are drainage systems in place? Are there low water crossings, and do they have warning signals? Are there adequate traffic lights, signs, sidewalks, and curbs? Are railroad crossings fitted with warnings and barriers? Are streets and parking lots well lit? Is this a heavily trafficked area, or are roads rural? Are there curves or features that make the roads hazardous?
The roads were in excellent condition, with drainage systems in place and an adequate quantity of parking lots. All of the noted potholes were under repair with adequate warning signs. The area is highly trafficked. No signs of railroads or hazardous roads were seen.
Is there handicapped access to buildings, sidewalks, and streets?
In most cases, access to streets and buildings was adequate without any physical limits.
Do you observe recreational facilities and playgrounds? Are they being used? Is there a YMCA/YWCA or community center? Are there any daycare facilities or preschools?
Among all of the abovementioned objects, only parks and daycare facilities were noticed.
Are children playing in the streets, alleys, yards, or parks?
Children were playing in the yards and parks far from roads.
Do you see any restaurants?
There were lots of cafés and restaurants from fast food to obviously expensive ones.
Is food sold on the streets? Are people eating in public areas? Are there trash receptacles and places for people to sit? Are public restrooms available?
Even though some food is sold on the streets, people are provided with restrooms and benches, and no trash is seen.
What evidence of any nuisances such as ants, flies, mosquitoes, or rodents do you observe? Are there stray animals wandering in the neighborhood?
Among all of the mentioned nuisances, only flies and mosquitos were noticed.
Social functioning
Do you observe any families in the neighborhoods? Can you observe their structure or functioning? Who is caring for the children? What kind of supervision do they have? Is more than one generation present?
Families were observed during different times of the day. None of them were same-sex families. Most of them were married couples with children living separately from their parents.
Are there any identifiable subgroups related to one another, either socially or geographically?
No identifiable subgroups were noticed.
What evidence of a sense of neighborliness can you observe?
Most of the neighbors were communicating friendly. No signs of conflicts were noticed.
What evidence of community cohesiveness can you observe? Are there any group efforts in the neighborhood to improve the living conditions or the neighborhood? Is there a neighborhood watch? Do community groups post signs for neighborhood meetings?
Condo areas were clean and neat, and neighborhood meeting posts were notices. So, it is suggested that neighbors make an effort to improve living conditions.
How many and what type of churches, synagogues, and other places of worship are there?
Only one Orthodox church was noticed.
Can you observe anything that would make you suspicious of social problems, such as gang activity, juvenile delinquency, drug or alcohol abuse, and adolescent pregnancy?
Except for one pregnant adolescent and two kids out of school, no other signs of social problems were witnessed.
Attitude toward healthcare
Do you observe any evidence of folk medicine practice, such as a botanical or herbal medicine shop? Are there any alternative medicine practitioners?
There were no alternative or folk medicine practitioner offices noticed. Still, some herbal medicine shops were located near pharmacies.
Do you observe that health resources are well utilized or underutilized?
The territory of all medical centers and hospitals seen was clean and neat; they needed no repair and looked well-constructed.
Is there evidence of preventive or wellness care?
Private laboratories and massage therapist offices noticed. Except for them, no other signs of wellness and preventive care were observed.
Do you observe any efforts to improve the neighborhood’s health? Have you planned health fairs? Do you see advertisements for health-related events, clinics, or lectures?
Only some bus stop advertisements of medical centers are seen. So, it is suggested that no significant effort is taken to improve the neighborhood’s health.
Vulnerable population
Among all of the seen people, only a pregnant adolescent is perceived as a vulnerable individual, although she looked clean and well-dressed. Moreover, Asians and Hispanics noticed may belong to vulnerable populations because of the potential language gap. Finally, African Americans, together with other ethnic minorities, might be discriminated (Gill, Wright, & Brew, 2014).
Conclusion
Ethnic minorities might face the challenge of language barriers and limited access to health care because of discrimination. Moreover, because of the flies and mosquitos, there is a risk of infections. However, in this case, all people should be perceived as vulnerable. Finally, pregnant women, including an adolescent, might experience health concerns because of the conditions in their families (such as smoking and alcohol abuse) that were not obvious, the risks of miscarriage, and sudden death of infants (Nies & McEwen, 2014).
References
Gill, P., Wright, N., & Brew, I. (2014). Working with vulnerable groups: A clinical handbook for GPs. London, England: Royal College of General Practitioners.
Nies, M. A., & McEven, C. (2014). Community/public health nursing: Promoting the health of populations (6th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier.
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