Nursing And Community Assessment

Nursing and Community Assessment

Running head: Nursing and Community Assessment

Community Assessment

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Abstract

Community assessment entails collecting and analyzing data about a community and then interpreting the data to form valid conclusions. The characteristics analyzed include demography, social and economic conditions, the governance, laws and enforcement, health conditions and historical information. This data is usually obtained through observation, interviews and use of resource centers or statistics. This essay shall analyze the community of Howard Beach. Basic community assessment seeks to analyze the quality life. Aspects that are looked into are the quality of health and education, the arte of employment, the cultural life, physical environment and public safety among others.

Community Assessment

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Nursing and Community Assessment

Introduction

Every community assessment involves a process of examining the characteristics of the community that range from the location, history, geographical characteristics, social and economic conditions of the people, demographic characteristics, health and environmental conditions, political and governance among other characteristics. It involves actual observation, interview of people to get their opinions and attitudes and seeking information in other resource areas. This essay is a description of my community which is Howard Beach in Queens New York.

Part 1

Community Assessment General Information

Background and Setting of Howard Beach

Howard Beach is a neighborhood community in New York City. It is found in the county or borough of Queens in the State of New York. It is bordered on the west by 78th street, the east by 102 nd to 104 th streets, the north by Belt Parkway and South Conduit Avenue and on the south by Jamaica Bay. I have lived in the community since my childhood and have a good knowledge of it.

Community Vitality

There are many people on the streets and more people relaxing at the beaches with the evidence of tourists. A number of people are found at the beach are involved in fishing, sailing

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and other beach games and activities. Howard consists mainly of upper middle class people with large population of children and young people. It is dominated by whites of Italian origin. The majority of people in Howard beach appear healthy though there is evidence of some experiencing chronic conditions. Though most people appear well malnourished, a couple of them are mainly obese. People nearer the beaches appear slow and relaxed. There has been efforts to improve tourist attraction by promoting security and well maintained hotels, lodgings and guesthouses. The number of tourists at the beaches, museums, parks and other attraction centers is high. The use of drugs is evident by the number of people smoking, sniffing and just sitting on the streets. Pregnant women are few with many cars on the streets and children involved in all sorts of games. The safety is in the area has improved with police and security presence. The level of unemployment is relatively low while access to health and education is still low with the number of hospitals being few and schools being crowded. The cultural life is still maintained with many museums and neighborhood meetings.

Indicators of Social and Economic Conditions

The people of Howard are usually said to remain without transferring to other places. Houses near the beach are mainly colonials, ranches, and cape cods all of which are well renovated but expensive. There are bungalows and apartments farther from the beach which are affordable. Single family houses are more while the multifamily houses follow and mixed residential are the least in number. The rate of housing is increasing with others renovated. Public houses are provided by government agencies such as Queens Bridge. The old ones are dilapidated with new renovated ones being better. The occupants take the houses falling in the category of income. The job opportunities are few with increased population while there are quite a number of homeless people. Howard beach has been advancing to an urban area with seasonal workers rare but increasing during summer. There are usually few children and adolescents out of school with few political campaign signs on the streets. There is emphasis of criticizing health insurers by Americans United for Change. The number of schools is about six for elementary and the rest for grades 9-12. (New York Data, 2007)

Health Resources

There are some hospitals such as Gamzon Ronald, St Joseph and clinics such as Medisys and Thrift way pharmacy with Rehabilitation centres such as medical rehabilitation. Doctors

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specialized in various areas are available such as in dentistry, optometry, ophthalmology though there is need for more due to rising population.

Environmental Conditions Related To Health

Pollution is high mainly air and water pollution. This is evidenced by great number of vehicles and factories. The state of sanitation and roads is relatively good. Street lighting is usually good with adequate warning signs at crossways. Buildings are designed to cater for the handicapped through having a smooth way to push their wheelchairs efficiently and installation of specialized lifts. Recreational centres, parks and community centres are available. Public restaurants are usually many with good rest rooms. Prices of commodities are relatively similar to those in other communities.

Social Functioning

Howard beach is united with neighborliness motivated by the social centres and the multifamily apartments. Community security and police ensure order and peace is restored. There are community groups with Howard Beach Community group as the main. Meetings are usually held monthly and advertised in the local media. There are all churches to cater for all people must Christian churches are more diverse.

Attitudes towards Health and Health Care

The people have increased efforts for good nutrition. Despite this health resources are not optimally utilized. Health talks and shows have been on the increase.

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Overall Feeling from Howard Beach

I love Howard beach for its uniqueness.

Part 11

History and Organization of Howard Beach

Demography

Population in Howard beach has been slowing owing to migration in recent years. It has a population density of 6,168 people per square mile. The age distribution was even between the genders with the age group of 40-70 years dominating and the Italian whites being the greatest in number. The rate of unemployment stands at 7 %.( New York data, 2007)

Communications

There is a wide range of communication media in Howard that include TVs, internet, and radio stations among others. Ham radio testing was done to ensure that emergency operations centre in the south bay remains operational. There is a disaster preparedness association that ensures that the impact of disasters is minimized as much as possible. The main means of transport are private and public means. Public means involve the Air train which connects to the airport.

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Public buses are also operational

Government, Politics and Law Enforcement

Eric Ulrich is the city councilman for Howard beach. Joseph Addabbo serves as a member of New York state senate. Congressman Gregory Meeks represents the area east of cross bay while Congressman Anthony Weiner represents west of cross bay. Crime and law enforcement is usually done by the police and military. There is a fire department that controls situations of fire disaster and teaches on safety guidelines in instances of fire. There are special programs for the elderly, children and disabled with representation in the county governance. (New York data, 2007)

Recreation

There are many recreational areas mainly public ones open even to tourists while private ones are restricted. They include amusement parks, museums, nature parks, beaches and so on. The examples include the Jamaica Arts Center, Metro Mall, King Manour museum among others.

Conclusion

The Howard beach remains unique. The social issues such as racism, crime, drug and substance abuse and homelessness are a challenge to the governance. Health issues of pneumonia and chronic problems are rampant. In addition, the cost of housing is usually high that some residents cannot afford. Despite its challenges, it remains a closely linked neighborhood and a good place to live in.

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Reference

New York Data. (2007) New York Stastical Data, Retrieved on September 24, 2009, from http//www.city-data.com/…//Howard_ Beach-NY.html