Lisa B
NUR/405
Nov 5, 2012
Windshield Survey
My view of a windshield survey starts by me viewing my community through the windshield of a moving vehicle, which maybe my car, the bus or the trolley. Windshield surveys are the motorized equivalent of simple observation (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). The visual information that was gathered is aimed at what I see every day as I pass through a community that was once so safe, clean, family oriented and thriving with available resources. This community which was a cheerful place to live now has a dark cloud of depression, but the clouds are slowing starting to lift, with new renovations and people moving back into the city neighborhoods. The outline of Philadelphia has four sections, Eastern Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, North and South Philadelphia. I base my survey on West Philadelphia a community in which I have lived most of my life. As I view my community through the eyes of a nurse, I will focus on various components which will included housing and zoning, open spaces, boundaries, commons, transportation, service centers, stores and street people, sign of decay, race and ethnicity, religion and politics, health and morbidity and the media.
To understand what a community is, it is defined as a group of people, often living in a defined geographical area, which may share a common culture, values and norms, and are arranged in a social structure according to relationships which the community has developed over a period of time (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). Community health is defined as services and resources which are provided by health agencies. Community as client is assessed by nurses in what they view as their own concern. By observing the community I am identifying problems, social structures and risks factors that are affecting the community, which can be used in the focus of improvements. My windshield survey of West Philadelphia starts by identifying Healthy
References: 19143 City Zip Code Detailed Profile. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.city-data.com/zips/19143.html Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2012). Population-centered health care in the community (8th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby Elsevier.