NUR 350 Module 3 Windshield Survey example

Windshield Survey of the Harbor Road Corridor: Garden Apartments, Six Lanes and One Bus Line

[Student Name]

Southern New Hampshire University

NUR 350: Community and Population Health

Module Three Windshield Survey

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The organization, setting and figures below are a composite written as a model document. No real employer, client, colleague or patient is described.

Windshield Survey of the Harbor Road Corridor: Garden Apartments, Six Lanes and One Bus Line

Method

The survey covered the Harbor Road corridor, a composite suburban district of about 1.5 square miles on the edge of a mid-sized city. The corridor is defined by Harbor Road, a six-lane commercial road, and the garden apartment complexes that line both sides for about two miles, bounded by an interstate to the north and a rail line to the south. Observations were made on a Tuesday in October from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., in clear weather, first by car along the full length of the road and then on foot through three apartment complexes, a strip mall and the area around the elementary school. Notes were recorded immediately after each segment using the categories suggested for community windshield surveys (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2020).

Housing and Zoning

Housing consists mostly of two- and three-story garden apartment complexes built between the 1960s and the 1980s, each with 80 to 250 units arranged around parking lots. Several complexes have fresh paint and new signs, while others show peeling siding, broken stair railings and window air conditioners propped on towels. Two complexes had notices posted on doors, which appeared to be rent or lease notices. Single-family homes are few and lie on side streets behind the complexes. Commercial zoning dominates the road itself: car dealerships, fast food restaurants, a discount grocery, two dollar stores, a check-cashing business and a large vacant former department store.

Boundaries, Commons and Open Space

The interstate and the rail line form hard physical boundaries, and Harbor Road itself divides the district, with few marked crosswalks along a two-mile stretch. Open space is limited. One complex has a small playground with a broken swing; the elementary school has a fenced field that was locked at 5:00 p.m. A narrow strip of woods near the rail line has a worn footpath used as a shortcut to a bus stop. There is no public park within walking distance. Adults gathered in small groups in parking lots and on apartment steps, and children rode bicycles in the parking lots rather than on sidewalks.

Transportation and Street Safety

One bus line runs along Harbor Road every 30 minutes during rush hour and hourly after 7:00 p.m. Bus stops are marked by signs only; none of the six stops observed had a shelter or bench. Sidewalks exist on most of the main road but end abruptly at two intersections, and pedestrians, including a woman pushing a stroller, were seen walking in the shoulder of the road. Traffic was heavy and fast, and in one hour of observation at a mid-block location, five people crossed six lanes outside a crosswalk to reach the bus stop on the other side. A memorial with flowers and a photograph was fixed to a light pole near one crossing.

Services, Stores and Health Resources

Service centers include a discount grocery with a small produce section that looked fresh but limited, two dollar stores selling packaged food, and about a dozen fast food restaurants. A pharmacy sits at the western end of the corridor. There is no clinic or health center on the road itself; the nearest community health center is about three miles away, reachable by bus with one transfer. An urgent care center opened recently near the interstate exit. Signs for a food distribution at a church on a side street, a free tax preparation clinic and English classes at the public library branch were posted in laundromat windows.

People, Culture and Signs of Change

People observed appeared diverse in age and ethnicity. Signs and conversations were in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Haitian Creole, and one strip mall included a Brazilian market, a Haitian bakery and a halal grocery. Many adults appeared to be returning from work, some in health care or food service uniforms, while children and teenagers were outside after school. Signs of decline included the vacant department store, litter along the rail line and several boarded windows. Signs of investment included two renovated complexes, a new community garden sign near the library and a mural on the side of the laundromat.

Summary of Observations and Health Implications

The table below pairs key observations with possible health implications to be examined in the full assessment.

Sounds and smells added to the picture. Traffic noise was constant near the road and softened only deep inside the complexes. A strong smell of exhaust hung near the bus stops at rush hour, and one complex backed onto a loading dock where trucks idled with engines running.

Table 1

Key Observations and Possible Health Implications in the Harbor Road Corridor

Limits and Next Steps

A windshield survey captures what is visible at one time and from one vantage point. It cannot show illness inside homes, the reasons people cross the road where they do, or whether the fresh food at the discount grocery is affordable. It also reflects the observer's own assumptions. The built environment, however, does shape health: an international study found that features such as residential density, intersection density, public transit and parks were associated with more physical activity among adults (Sallis et al., 2016). The survey's value is in generating specific questions, and the full assessment must now answer them with data and with residents' own voices. The next steps are to obtain pedestrian crash data for Harbor Road, census tract data on income, housing costs and language, community health center patient data by zip code, and to interview residents, property managers and the elementary school nurse, following the principle that residents are partners in assessing their community (Anderson & McFarlane, 2019).

References

Anderson, E. T., & McFarlane, J. (2019). Community as partner: Theory and practice in nursing (8th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.

Sallis, J. F., Cerin, E., Conway, T. L., Adams, M. A., Frank, L. D., Pratt, M., Salvo, D., Schipperijn, J., Smith, G., Cain, K. L., Davey, R., Kerr, J., Lai, P.-C., Mitáš, J., Reis, R., Sarmiento, O. L., Schofield, G., Troelsen, J., Van Dyck, D., . . . Owen, N. (2016). Physical activity in relation to urban environments in 14 cities worldwide: A cross-sectional study. The Lancet, 387(10034), 2207-2217. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01284-2

Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2020). Public health nursing: Population-centered health care in the community (10th ed.). Elsevier.