Health Care and elderly Population Essay

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Windshield Survey
Leanna ElGhazzali
Chamberlain College of Nursing

Windshield Survey
Community health can be evaluated by conducting windshield surveys. Windshield surveys conducted in this manner should be conducted by a health care professional (hcp). The hcp should evaluate many aspects of the community to be able to discern the overall health rating of that community. In conducting a windshield survey of my community many possible complications have been identified. The beautiful weather and flat terrain of south Florida would lead one to believe that complications would be few. The truth is the threat of severe weather, risk of heat/sun exposure, and the attraction of the retired population to this area provides its own complications.
Assessment of Physical Environment
Our community is a very populated, very seasonal community. In the summer there is a lot of transient population. The transient population consists of people vacationing from other states and countries, people visiting family, people coming for drug rehab and many others. In the winter is another type of transient population that includes those that plan to stay for the warmer weather. This population is usually elderly and have permanent homes here and in a colder winter climate. Because of this large elderly population many safety ordinances are in place. Elderly are at high risk for car accidents due to the decline in vision, reaction times and sometimes mentation. According to Hickson, Wood, Chapparo, Lacherez & Marzalek (2010), driving is particularly complex for the elderly and has become more complicated with the increasing technology that has added complicated gadgets to the inside of the vehicles. The community consists of many medical clinics, retirement homes, physical rehab centers, home health facilities and many other assistive businesses that serve the elderly population. The majority of the population is on city water, which is monitored for cleanliness. The city provides adequate waste management. Due to the chance of severe storms, landscaping is rarely allowed to go without attendance. Extra safety precautions are in place to protect the children going to and from school. The terrain is flat with roads being mostly straight and with good visibility. The roads are kept maintained, free from potholes and other complications. An intricate canal system is in place to provide adequate drainage of standing water. The weather is usually mild with plenty of sunshine and occasional severe storms.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The strengths of this type of community would be the preparedness for bad situations. Hurricanes are a threat to the region and can cause major damage to housing, roads, buildings and utilities. Because of this threat the area is constantly monitoring the condition of roadways, buildings and utilities. Individuals are encouraged to prepare their homes for possible hurricanes. Another strength, is that the hurricane season ends about the time that the elderly arrive from the northern states and resumes shortly after they return home. This means that they likely miss the threat of the hurricane while they are here, but benefit from the preparations. A weakness is that the population is largely elderly and with that comes complications of aging. According to Kocehera & Bright (2005), effective communities for the aging would provide resources that include assistance with activities of daily living, adequate easily accessible healthcare and opportunities to socialize. Another weakness is that this population is transient. Although the come and go to the same places year after year, many change locations, fail to connect with those they have bonded with and many times their supportive families are left in their home states.

Healthcare Priorities
This community focus would attend to the elderly population. Providing adequate services to this population, ensuring access to these services is available, diverting any
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