Running head: WINDSHIELD SURVEY
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Windshield Survey
Megan Davis
Ferris State University
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Windshield Survey
After completing a windshield survey of Heartside which is located in down town Grand
Rapids, Michigan. It is very apparent that communities are different all over, sometimes a few
blocks can separate the rich from the homeless. The definition of community is “a group of
people sharing common interests, needs, resources, and environment; an interrelating and
interacting group of people with shared needs and interests (Harkness & DeMarco, 2012, p. 175).
Now knowing the definition of community, let’s look at what defines the community of
Heartside. The community is made up of different ages, infants to elderly. The individuals are of
a lower social economical background, if people are working it is most likely for minimum
wage. The population I saw through the windshield survey were primarily African American and
Hispanic. Public buses and walking is the main resources for travel in the community.
From a nursing perspective, this community presents a wide range of health care needs.
After working in this area, I know that a large portion of the community is on government
healthcare and many individuals may not have any insurance at all. This is also not taking into
consideration dental or vision care. So what is community health nursing and how do nurses
attempt to deliver quality health care and prevention to different communities? Community
health nursing is defined as “the use of systematic process to deliver care to individual people,
families, and community groups with a focus on promoting, preserving, protecting, and
maintaining health (Harkness & DeMarco, 2012, p. 9). In the Windshield survey I saw three
medical clinics and one of the clinics I worked at for a few years. The clinics are important to
providing quality health care to the population.
The health care clinics in the area of Heartside allows the nurse to provide care to the
community. The community clinics also provide resources like social workers to help with
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Medicaid forms, WICC, educational classes on pregnancy & diabetes just to name a few. Often
there are immunization days a few times a year where appointments are not needed and the child
is caught up to date on immunizations. When providing community nursing care for a
population, you treat individuals as well as groups. Prevention is also a large part of community
nursing care and enabling and educate individuals, families and groups.
While driving around the community, it was a beautiful Sunday and several people were
outside. I noticed a large population of smokers. People were standing outside a liquor store
smoking, people walking around smoking, and sitting on front porches smoking, just to name a
few. Smoking is an expensive cost and a health care risk. With a large portion of the community
being African American, vascular disease is a concern without adding smoking risk. The Healthy
People 2020 health indicator I picked was to reduce tobacco use in adults (Healthy people 2020,
2014). In the community clinics, there need to be tobacco screening done on regular visits, along
with smoking cessation classes offered. Smoking education needs to be started at a young age in
schools so that children don’t start smoking. These are all task that can be carried out by
community nurses.
From working in the Heartside community, I know that education and applying that
knowledge is an important piece that is missing for that patient population. Education on
pregnancy, along with sexually transmitted disease, is an enormous and ongoing struggle in this
community. Diabetes is a very expensive disease especially if there is no insurance. There is a lot
of education to be done on diabetes, both prevention and care. Often clinics will offer classes on
nutrition and other facts related to diabetes. How do you get the patient to come? This can often
be a challenge for community health nurses. The classes are free, transportation can be a
challenge for patients. It is very unfortunate when patient do not take advantage of educational
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opportunities, when the opportunities are not used they tend to disappear. Sometimes
communities do themselves a disservice by taking advantage of services offered in local clinics.
Another issues that impacts this community’s health care is transportation. Not every
family has a car and if they do, can they afford gas at almost $4.00 a gallon when working
minimum wage for $7.40? Public transportation is significantly used throughout the community.
The nurse needs to keep this in mind in regards to consults and appoint times, are offices on a
bus route so the patient can make it to the appointment. Many patients in the community walk,
again this is something the nurse needs to know and be aware of to help the patient receive the
quality care they need.
Community health nursing presents many challenges to nurses they need to be aware of
the community and population they service. As seen by the windshield survey communities can
be very different with different needs. All individuals are entitled to quality health care and that
can be delivered in a variety of different settings and ways.
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o
Housing and zoning: Older
homes, some multifamily
dwellings. Houses appear run
down and uncared for. A lot of
clutter/ junk on porches and in
yards. Many homes had fences
around yards, yards are not
being kept up or maintained. I
saw many beware of dog signs,
keep out, and no Trespassing
signs.
Open space: I saw one baseball
field, and nobody was there.
Also in the area there was a
school with basketball courts,
nobody was on the courts or in
the park area. The yards
attacked to homes were very
over grown, and not very big. I
saw one home that had a small
run down pool in the backyard. I
also saw one yard that had an
old swing set.
Transportation: Grand Rapids Race and ethnicity:
ethnicity Primarily
public bus stops are widely
African American and Hispanic.
available. Adults and children
riding bikes in the roads
without bike helmets. Many
people of different ages
walking around the
community.
Service centers: There was
multiple services within the
walking area where I did my
windshield survey. Job core,
Kent County Human
Services, Grand Rapids
Preparatory School. There
are three medical clinics in
the area along with resident
clinics at St. Mary’s hospital
and pharmacy’s.
Religion and politics:
politics I didn’t see
any political evidence in the
community. There were multiple
church of different denominations.
Some of the churches had food
pantries and clothing available
Boundaries: Heartside
Downtown Grand Rapids,
Division, to Cherry Street,
Madison, to Hall Street.
Stores and street people:
people I
saw one grocery store. There
was a few small Hispanic
store which I think was like a
grocery store/ market.
Health and morbidity:
morbidity Large need
for education. I saw many
individuals smoking, I question
exercise and nutrition for children
the community.
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Commons: I saw groups
gathered outside of stores, on
coroners with benches. A lot of
people were in small group in
front yards and on porches. It
was getting close to dinner time
and people were starting to
congregate outside of the soup
kitchen and the homeless
shelters.
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Signs of decay: Homes in the
area were in great need of
work windows boarded up,
screen doors falling off.
There was a lot of graffiti on
building and signs around the
community.
Media: While driving around I
noticed multiple signs in Spanish.
References
Harkness, G. A., & DeMarco, R. F. (2012). Community and Public Health Nursing; Evidence for
Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
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References
Harkness, G. A., & DeMarco, R. F. (2012). Community and Public Health Nursing Evidence for
Practice. : .
Healthy people 2020. (2014).
http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/objectiveslist.aspx?topicId=41
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