Windshield Survey

Running head: WINDSHIELD SURVEY
Windshield Survey
Jordan Mullauer
Ferris State University
WINDSHIELD SURVEY
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Windshield Survey Paper
For any student preparing to become a registered nurse, community health is a

major focus. A community can be defined as, a group of people sharing common
interests, needs, resources, and environment (Harkness & DeMarco, 2012, p. 175).
Community health nursing, however, is a little more difficult to define. Care is given to a
variety of clients including individuals, families, and large groups of people (Gerber,
2012). Compared to nursing care for an individual, community nursing requires a few
more skills. These nurses need to be able to analyze the population and environment they
work in to identify problems and strengths. They are also required to be much more
independent; community nurses usually work alone and cannot rely on other nurses to
collaborate with (Deitch, 2013).
A Unique Community
Silver Lake, Michigan is a tourist spot where I have spent many summers growing
up, and I thought it would be interesting to conduct a windshield survey on this
community because it is very unique. Many people travel here to experience the sand
dunes. Recreational vehicles of all sorts spend hours driving around the dunes and trying
to climb the infamous Test Hill. The community itself consists of a wide variety of
people. For more information on Silver Lake, see Appendix A.
Health Indicator
Healthy People 2020 (2013) provides several health indicators to consider when
looking at a population (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). One of them
is access to health services, which I found very relevant to the community I was
WINDSHIELD SURVEY
assessing. The nearest hospital is about thirty minutes away, and there are not any local
physician offices or clinics because it is primarily a tourist area. For people who are
permanent residents and when emergencies arise, health services are not immediately
accessible. The nursing role related to this health indicator would be that of patient
advocate. The patient in this case would be the community of Silver Lake. In order to
advocate for this community, the nurse would see what could be done about increasing
access to health care, which may involve developing a local clinic or physicians office.
Health Risks
Although Siler Lake is a fun place to be, there are several health risks I identified
after completing a windshield survey. As stated above, probably the most concerning
health risk is the lack of access to health services. The recreational part of the sand dunes
can be very dangerous, and people have crashed into each other or other objects and
require emergency care. The nearest hospital is about thirty minutes away, and someone
in an emergency situation may not have this much time.
Another health risk that concerns me is a lack of healthy foods to choose from.
Because it is a tourist area, there are several ice cream shops, and lots of fast food such
as pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, and French fries. There are only two sit down restaurants
in the area, and they do not offer very healthy options either. Permanent residents and
visitors are not given very healthy options and eating unhealthy foods only leads to
multiple health problems such as diabetes and heart conditions.
Another health risk of concern is safety on the dunes. When you first enter the
park, there is an attendant at the gate that makes sure everyone has a seat belt on, but
WINDSHIELD SURVEY
once you are in the park, you can do whatever you want. There are several DNR vehicles
that drive around the dunes, but they do not regularly stop people to see if they are
wearing their seat belts. This is a huge concern because it could cause serious injury if a
collision occurred, and many vehicles do not have tops of doors on them, making it easy
to fall out of the vehicle if a seat belt is not warn.
One final health risk associated with Silver Lake has to do with close proximity.
Many tourists visiting stay in one of several campsites or motels during their visit, and
they are in close contact with other tourists. If anyone were to have a contagious illness,
it would be very easy for it spread rapidly throughout the community and this could have
a serious effect on the communitys health.
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Appendix A
Housing and Zoning

Most of the housing for
Silver Lake consists of
campgrounds and motels.
Transportation
Transportation is quite
different here than an average
town. People frequently drive
around street legal dune
There are also several nice
buggies, jeeps, trucks, and any
houses along the lake and
sort of vehicle they can build
some properties just have
to experiment with on the
garages on them to house their dunes. On the actual dunes,
vehicles when they are not
forms of transportation also
visiting.
include dirt bikes and fourwheelers. Around town,
Most houses and
people also use bicycles and
campgrounds are well kept
skate boards to get around.
with manicured lawns.
The major highway 131 is
nearby, but in town streets are
paved and there are no roads
on the sand dunes. Traffic is
mostly non-directional on the
dunes, except on the beach
where a speed limit is
enforced and there is two-way
traffic.
Open Space
Service Centers
I would consider the sand
There are a lot of rental
dunes an open space, and a
service centers in Silver Lake
very large one at that. Silver
for jeeps, dune buggies, four
Lake State Park consists of a
wheelers, dirt bikes, and
recreational area for dune
scooters. The Silver Lake
vehicles and also a pedestrian State Park is in use and
area with lots of sand dunes
always very busy. There are
and beach area to walk on.
lots of gas stations for the
There are also public beach
recreational vehicles, a
areas along Silver Lake that
plethora of campgrounds, and
are well maintained and clean. no doctors offices in town.
Shops in town are landscaped
with flower beds and the
round about in town has trees
and flowers in it.
Boundaries
Stores and Street People
Heading East into town on N
There are several tourist shops
34th Ave, the boundaries of
in town where people can buy
Silver Lake continue East
various Silver Lake
until you reach Lake
memorabilia. Most
Race and Ethnicity

Because Silver Lake is such a
huge tourist area, there are
people of all races including
Hispanic, African American,
and Arabian. The majority,
however, are Caucasian.
There really arent any ethnic
stores or organizations in
town, but signs and pamphlets
often have information in
Spanish as well as English.
Religion and Politics

There are not any churches in
town, but the Yogi Bear
campground has a nondenominational service every
Sunday morning.
Several yard signs displaying
a residents preference for
political candidates can be
seen.
Health and Morbidity

There is not really any
evidence of chronic diseases,
but accidents happen quite
often on the sand dunes.
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Michigan, North to just past
Upper Silver Lake, and South
to W Shelby Rd.
Commons
There are several common
areas at Silver Lake. The
most popular is the
recreational state park where
everyone flocks too. It is
entirely sand dunes with some
trees and dune grass. There is
also access to beach area on
Lake Michigan. The other
popular commons would be
the downtown area that
consists of Craigs Cruisers
and the shops. People flock
here all day for shopping and
entertainment, especially at
night after the dunes close.
6
campgrounds have a small
grocery/camping supply store
open and gas stations also sell
common groceries. There
arent any large chain stores
such as Walmart or Meijer.
Street people are usually
casually dressed because the
majority of people are at
Silver Lake on vacation.
There are lots of families with
children and a lot of families
are walking dogs.
Signs of Decay
I would say that Silver Lake is
on the way up. Recently they
have paved new roads and put
in a round about. There are
several houses being built,
and lots of houses for sale.
There is also quite a bit of real
estate for sale. There is a
large sign on the edge of town
that says a new fire
department is being built.
There has been a greater than

average number of deaths on
the dunes during the 2013
summer season. The nearest
hospital (Mercy Health
Lakeshore Campus) is in
Shelby MI, about 30 minutes
away.
Media
There are no newspapers for
the town itself, but they have
the Detroit Press, Oceana
Harold Journal, and New
York Times available, among
others.
In any of the local stores or
campgrounds there are several
pamphlets describing nearby
attractions.
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References
Deitch, P. (2013). Community health nurses of Canada. Info Nursing. 44(1), 47.
Gerber, L. (2012). Community health nursing: a partnership of care. Nursing, 42(1),
S19(2). doi: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000410170.06154.bb
Harkness, G. & DeMarco, R. (2012). Community and public health nursing: evidence for
practice. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2013). Topics and objectives.
Retrieved from:
http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/default.aspx

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Running head: WINDSHIELD SURVEY

For any student preparing to become a registered nurse, community health is a

Housing and Zoning

Race and Ethnicity

Religion and Politics

Health and Morbidity

There has been a greater than

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