Caring for Populations: Milestone1: Community Windshield Survey Form

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Criteria Your response
1. Introduction of Community (20 points)
Identify the city and state of your community and briefly describe the community you will be using for this assignment. It should be the area where you live or the area surrounding your work setting but must include a residential area. Demographic data are not needed. The village of Liverpool, NY is located next to Syracuse, NY on the north shore of Onondaga Lake. The area is very lively in the summer time with the Onondaga Parkway in the center of town that attracts a lot of activities and events. Many restaurants and shops line the streets and you will see many people walking around enjoying the sites. There are several large college campuses located close by as well. There are many apartment complexes located throughout Liverpool supplying housing for middle to low income families.
2. Windshield Survey (75 points)
a. Vitality: Use a majority of the questions from Box 6-2 in your text to describe your observations about the community vitality. While driving around you can see even in the winter time many people out walking and running. Many are accompanied by dogs. There are usually more elderly people out walking, but with the winter cold being here they tend to stay indoors. A lot of young families in their 20s-30 with elementary aged children live in this immediate area. A pretty equal blend of African American and Caucasian people make up the majority of the population. You see a few people waiting for the bus at one of the many frequent bus stops. For the most part the individuals seen look clean and healthy. There are a few people with walkers waiting for the bus or for their rides to pull up in front of stores. Residents are well nourished to obese and are dressed properly for the temperatures outside currently. There aren’t many visitors and tourists in the winter months, but as soon as summer hits this is a tourist area. Since this is a college area you will see individuals who are under the influence of alcohol, but unless it’s a sporting event you will only see that at night. There are many pregnant woman in the area and many young children still in strollers and car seats.
b. Indicators of social and economic conditions: Use a majority of the questions from Box 6-2 in your text to describe your observations about the social and economic conditions.
Overall the conditions of the homes in the area are very well kept. Directly in the town of Liverpool are single family homes. As you make your way to the edges of the town are all the apartment complexes. This is where the middle to low income families live. This also includes many students and transient people. There are little to no dilapidated buildings in this area. I do believe there was a large clean up movement about ten years ago and this area has been well maintained ever since. Most households have at least one car. You do see many people riding the public buses and also waiting for taxis. The bus stops in the area are usually just a sign with no bench or shelter above to help people escape from the elements. There are Medicaid cabs available to those who are applicable for those services. There are many jobs in this area. There are many restaurants all close by and on bus routes. Same with small locally owned businesses and large corporate stores. There is also America’s second largest mall just down the road that offers thousands of jobs to locals. There are also many hospitals in the area that as well offer many jobs of all types accepting any level of skill and education. There are also several large factories that are perfect for people with little to no education or training. You can usually find at least one to two homeless people out on the streets holding signs generally by the major roads and intersections. You don’t find large groups of people standing around unless one of the local schools just let out and children are walking home together. This is not a rural area there are no farms or crops nearby. There are some in towns close by and that’s where you will find the seasonal workers and laborers. There are not woman walking the streets in the day or night. The yards are still full of Trump signs left over from the election this past year. There are advertisements on signs and by radio of the local urgent cares and clinics. There are many public schools in the area. The only day care facilities I noticed were those ran out of homes by parents, not businesses.

c. Health Resources: Use a majority of the questions from Box 6-2 in your text to describe your observations about the health resources. There are 5 hospitals all within 5-10 minutes of Liverpool. They each specialize in something from high risk deliveries to heart and orthopedic surgery. One of these hospitals is a VA supporting our local veterans. There are also local clinics and urgent care offices for people without insurance or with children that are unable to get to the hospitals. There are also family planning services associated with these clinics. We are very lucky to have specialists and generalists serving our community. There are dialysis centers and labs locally as well. There are elderly homes that are very well cared for located centrally. There aren’t many places for the homeless to get treatment, shelter, and food at least not very locally. There are several clothing donation centers and blood donation centers in the area. There are also many pharmacies all accepting different insurances carriers. All of these facilities are easy to get to by public transportation as well. This area is very well taken care of with the accessibility of health care resources.
d. Environmental conditions related to health: Use a majority of the questions from Box 6-2 in your text to describe your observations about the environmental conditions. You don’t see evidence of high pollutants in the area. Housing areas are kept clean and manageable. The roads do have large pot holes, but again with it being the winter months the plows tear the roads up and then in the spring they are addressed and filled. Since so many people walk in this area the sidewalks are well maintained and there are adequate curbs and traffic lights. They have even recently put in two more lights in high risk areas that the town voted on. Some of our roads are very high traffic and can back up at high travel points of the day. Our roads are for the most part main roads so they aren’t very curvy. We have several gyms throughout the community including a brand new YMCA. There are many play grounds that you can guarantee no mater winter or summer there will be many children gathered at after school. There aren’t really any alleys in this area and the roads are far too busy for children to play in them. They have so many local parks that they tend to just go there. There are also grassy common areas large enough for football games. There is a large free skate park at the parkway and baseball diamonds. There are restaurants all over the area from mom and pop shops to large chains. There are no food trucks or street vendors. There are trash cans properly located on the sidewalks and outside businesses as with public restrooms at the parks. You may see a cat running around now and then but other than dogs on leashes and squirrels you don’t see many animals. Certain times of the year gnats and mosquitos can get bad around the lake side.
e. Social functioning: Use a majority of the questions from Box 6-2 in your text to describe your observations about the social functioning. You do notice many single parent families. This was a hard thing to observe, but it did seem that the families at the parks were interactive with their kids and did keep a good eye on them. They were making sure they were disaplined when necessary. There are community type things around such as park groups and flower committees. I am not on any of these but have heard of them so I am unaware of what really is available. I do know at the library your see tons of things to get people involved in the community. A lot of book clubs and church meetings. There is a high police presence in the area so there is no neighborhood watch. The amount of churches and the vast diversity amongst the religions is great. There is a religious building on almost every corner, but they all seem to live cohesively.
f. Attitude toward healthcare: Use a majority of the questions from Box 6-2 in your text to describe your observations about the attitudes toward healthcare. For the most part this is a big western medicine area. There doesn’t seem to be a large practice of folk medicine. There are refugee camps close by that will sometimes bring different cultural things to the hospitals but it’s not very prominent in the public eye. I would say the health resources are underutilized in this area. I don’t believe [people take advantage of preventative medicine nearly enough in this area especially with everything that’s her to offer. There are many educational and preventative seminars, but either they aren’t publicly attended because of lack of interest or lack of knowledge. The hospitals do each take their turn addressing the public on what all they each have to offer.
3. Vulnerable population (20 points) Describe a vulnerable population or aggregate that you identified during your survey. What did you observe about this group such as their appearance and actions? I would say that the homeless population is one of the vulnerable populations we have. You always know on certain streets no matter the weather outside there will be homeless men and woman walking around with their signs. They are generally very friendly and some of them just want a friendly word, but there aren’t many resources available to them. There are shelters, but not close by. They would have to travel at least 10-15 min by car to a shelter. I’m not sure how feasible this is for these people. Also you will notice where homeless people are sleeping under over passes and bridges.
4. Conclusion (20 points)
Provide a summary of your findings. Describe several potential community health problems for the vulnerable population that you identified. For the most part Liverpool is a very well kept area. There are many resources for a wide variety of people. The community clean up that took place here several years ago was a success and has been maintained. There are some concerning areas such as the condition of the bus stops and the abundance of homeless people and lack of resources assessable to them. Pneumonia, hypothermia, heat exhaustion, dehydration, malnutrition all are serious complications this population could face.
5. References:
References are not required for this survey: If you used references, they must be listed in APA format. If you include any references here, you must also include an in-text citation (author, year) in the body of the form.