Free paper Example: Sentinel City Health Profile

Introduction

This is a form of an informal survey where the researcher travels around an area to gather as much information as possible by observing the environment and the population. It aims to examine the community factors by utilizing the windshield survey, focusing on assessing, planning, implementing, and evaluating these factors that promote the health of the population. This survey also sheds light on the area in terms of its characteristics and the health, social, religious, and economic resources available. In this case study, I toured the sentinel city and explored its surroundings, and took keen observations on the demographic distribution, aspect of religion, forms of transport and transport, infrastructure, mode of housing, among others.

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Demographics

Sentinel City comprises four neighborhoods: Industrial Heights, Nightingale Square, Acer Tech Centre, and Cape Park District. The population of Sentinel City is an average of 788,300 people. The culture is generally diverse, comprising the mutual coexistence of Whites who make up 74.4% of the total population, Hispano, and Latino. The average income ranges from $39 monthly.

Religion

The predominant religion in Sentinel City is Christianity. I came across four churches on my tour, though they were closed as it was Sunday, the day of worship by the Christians. They were well-built, and the compound was kept clean. I also came across a mosque in Cape Park District. There exist Muslims who worship Allah there. In my windshield tour, I could even read the nearby church sign by the road's side, outlining the order of services.

Transport

Members of this community mainly rely on public transport, which operates on a 24-hour economy connecting the major markets and streets. Some well-off individuals were seen using their cars, and others relied on taxis. Though frequent road signs and bumps are erected on the roads for speed governance, the transport infrastructure is poorly maintained with frequent potholes observed, even compromising its comfortability. Most traders relied on the 10:00 a.m. train, which offers relatively low transport costs for their goods. Rodents and other small ground animals were observed on the roadside holes and bushes crisscrossing to their hide-outs. These rodents pose a great health risk to the sentinel communities for disease transmission modes to humans.

People

Most people observed in the surrounding streets are cyclists, motorists, pedestrians, traders, and some roadside businesses. They were all modestly dressed specific to the prevailing warm and cloudy weather, with long shirts, long trousers, and men in jackets and hats. Ladies were in long dresses and sweaters. Many young children were seen on their way to and from school in at least four pupils. Many people were interacting normally with the majority walking or resting in pairs, which could be concluded to be spouses. In my survey, I did not come across homeless people in the street or main walkways. As identified by their medical lab coats, medical students were seen from the morning shift in Industrial Heights. It is true to say that the residents of this city are socially interactive and appealing hospitality to imitate. I did encounter most youths abusing drugs in some funny hiding though some were fearing or feeling guilt; they were taking them openly. Other youths were engaging in exercise activities in the field, playing football and other golf, in well-developed playgrounds. Came across many hawkers who argued that the city's low employment rates had humiliated them to resolve hawking as their way of earning a living.

Housing

Most of the buildings seen in Sentinel City are modern technology, particularly in Cape Park District, with story buildings randomly erected. A diverse architectural style has been used in the planning and building of these houses. Some areas have old buildings, but their outlook seemed to have been built no longer than 40 years ago. There was little congestion in housing, and no slums were noted. There were vacant rooms with an advertisement for renting notice displayed on the doors along the busy streets.

Advertisement

Radio broadcast and television are the two commonly used media in Sentinel City. The geriatric population that is 64 years and above constitutes 70% of the radio listeners. The major topics aired both on television and radio are political views and business. Billboards are erected at strategic places with a well-lighting source to illuminate at night in the open air. Advertisement neon lights are also a major advertisement strategy. Newspapers are only read by a few who have the privilege to have an interest in reading.

Top Health Concerns/Problems in Relation to Healthy People 2020 Goals

In Sentinel City, one of the major health concerns is its residents' health behaviors, particularly the youth aged 18 years to 35 years, which constitute 58% of the total population. As earlier stated in the windshield study, groups of youth were spotted in hide-outs and others in the open air carelessly abusing drugs, making drug and alcohol consumption a major issue requiring health intervention. The indicators of this high level of drug abuse are high levels of illiteracy and unemployment rates too. As outlined in Healthy People 2020, drug abuse is associated with other risk factors, including unintended pregnancies, the occurrence of accidents, transmission of HIV/AIDS secondary reckless unprotected sex induced by alcohol, and other illicit drug use (Porter et al., 2019). Healthy People 2020 recommends utilizing behavioral therapy and medical approaches as the most effective methods in the management of addiction—enrolment in school, hospital, or family-based programs in rehabilitating the affected drug addicts.

Another health-related concern is their way of nutrition. Nutrition and health are interrelated, and therefore good health is dependent on proper nutrition, among other factors. The indicators of these poor eating habits are the number of malnourished cases reported in the outpatient department in XY Medical Centre, for national advice. A community in Sentinel City does not value food from plants such as green vegetables, but they mostly rely on junk and processed food. Healthy People, 2020 has a main role in helping people to focus and adjust their eating habits and consume the recommended diet (Finney et al., 2020). Fruits, whole grains, and green leafy vegetables play a pivotal role in boosting the body's immune system and fighting against a myriad of infections, especially by reducing the risk of lifestyle-related conditions such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes (WHO, 2019). Healthy People 2020 recommends the consumption of fruits at least once in every three meals. Nutrition counseling by health professionals and nutritionists should use more than one strategy in sensitizing these sentinel people to change their eating habits and adopt them better.

References

Finney, J., Blake, K., Matthews, M., Hesse, B., & Moser, R. (2020). Patient Reports of Involvement in Health-Care Decisions: Falling Short of Healthy People 2020 Objectives. Journal of Health Communication, 1-6. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10810730.2020.1806413.

Porter, K., Jackson, G., Clark, R., Waller, M., & Stanfill, A. G. (2020). Applying Social Determinants of Health to Nursing Education Using a Concept-Based Approach. Journal of Nursing Education, 59(5), 293-296. https://www.healio.com/nursing/journals/jne/2020-5-59-5/%7Ba795e162-f313-4564-a768-0e88fd3b4c75%7D/applying-social-determinants-of-health-to-nursing-education-using-a-concept-based-approach.

World Health Organization. (2019). Nutrition in universal health coverage (No. WHO/NMH/NHD/19.24). World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/329493/WHO-NMH-NHD-19.24-eng.pdf.