Nursing community assessment principles and practices

Nursing Community Assessment

It is moral responsibility of the Government and the nursing organizations to maintain the health standard in any country. However, it is not wholly in the hands of these organizations but other departments must also contribute for this cause.

This study is focused on the county of Astoria, Queens, New York for helping the nurses in doing their job in the right way. The study highlights the demographics, major diseases and problems in Astoria. Moreover, the health plan is proposed for dealing with the issues.

History of Astoria:

In past, Astoria was known as Hallet's Cove because of the name of its first landowner William Hallet. He settled in here in 1659 along with his wife. Later in 19th century, New Yorkers named the region as Astoria Village which is now known as Old Astoria. This name was decided after the John Jacob Astor who was the wealthiest person of America and spent large amount on the neighborhood.

Astoria made a good name in filmmaking and media which can be figured out by the heritage preserved in the Kaufman Astoria Studios and Museum of the moving Image.

The Astoria was first populated in 17th century by the Dutch and Germans. Later on, in 19th and early 20th century, many Irish and Greeks came in to get settle. Since then it was called as the city of Greeks due to largest population. However, the population of Greeks started decreasing in 1990. But in 1970s when anyone travelled around the Astoria, he would see Greek cuisines, Greek businesses and restaurants everywhere. When in later years, the standard of living of Greeks improved, they started moving towards other regions. Now people from various cultures are coming here to get settle.

(greeter, 2010)

Geographical Boundaries:

Queens is the largest in area among the five boroughs of New York and physically connected with the Long Island. Some of the main areas in Queens are Flushing, Corona Park, Astoria, Long Island City, Hunter's Point, Jamaica, Ridgewood, and Southern Queens and others. There is no as such boundary maintained in between these regions because of the diverse culture. Even majority of the inhabitants, name the region in neighborhood when asked about the location they live in.

Astoria is in neighborhood of the northwestern area of Queens. It is located in Community Board 1. The western boundary of Astoria is occupied by the East River and the other three neighborhoods that are Long Island City, Woodside and Sunnyside. The major drags of Astoria are Steinway, Ditmars, 30th Avenue and Broadway. The west of Steinway Street and the north of 24th Avenue named as Ditmars and in the Eastern border there is 50th Street. Astoria Boulevard is famous for Middle East cafes, shops and markets. Steinway is considered as the main shopping area and Broadway look more like Latin America. The outlook of Astoria has changed in just few years and now the industrial streets have also become the part of markets and restaurants.

(Staff, 2011)

Population

Queens stands at second position in population among the five boroughs of New York. The region is usually considered as the home to middle class families. Since the upper class families of Greeks have already moved to other regions and now it is populated with people from developing countries who have settled here for the purpose of better living. However, majority Greeks who moved out from Queens, still have their homes here.

The Astoria, Queens has nine different zip codes. They are as follows 11101, 11102, 11103, 11104, 11105, 11106, 11364, 11369 and 11370. The population of 11102 is 33,896. Among this number, there is 50.63% population of male and 49.37% of female. This percentage has only been changed up to 1% since 2000. The median age is 33.6. There are 11% of people with 65 or above years of age in the total population of Astoria

In Astoria, the numbers of people who have never been married are 10802. Married are 10645, separated 2642, widowed 1522 and divorced are 1862.

(Homes, 2007)

Housing

Total households in Astoria are about 12,590. Out of which families occupy 7,201 houses and non-family households are 5,388. Households with children are 3,939 and without children are 8,651. The average rate of people living in a single home is 2.68.

The two story house design is common in Astoria or people prefer living in small apartments. There are separate rooms for 2 to 3 families in such apartments. But as the value of Astoria has raised in recent years so the rents of these apartments have also been increased. But still there is a large space of greenery in Astoria and so there is are lots of rental options available.

Transportation

The majority inhabitants of Astoria travel by means of EMR New York City Subway that ends at the Steinway Street. However, for intercity travelling people prefer using buses. There is only one Airport that is LaGuardia Airport that travels up via Grand Central.

(Marshall, 2010)

Culture

Majority of the Astoria inhabitants are now from Mexico, Russia, Columbia and Pakistan. Since 2001, this percentage is continuously increasing. Now, even one can see a huge variety of restaurants, hotels and customary goods in the markets of Astoria. According to statistics, there are more than 50% populations in Astoria who speak language other than English at their homes. One can see a lot of different cultured people in the streets of Astoria. However, there are a large percentage of loyal Greeks, who still put their efforts to keep their culture and identity safe. That's why Astoria is still called as a little Greece. Apart from Greeks, the percentage of Asians in Astoria is 15%, Africans 6%, Hispanic are 28% and white is 44%

(TakeCareNewYork, 2006)

Restaurants

The food quality of Astoria is high class. Since, there are number of restaurants and cafes in the markets of Astoria serving the variety of cultured foods so in course of competition they maintain the food standard.

Beer Garden of New York is the largest bar located in Astoria. Other famous cafes are The Brick Cafe, San Antonio Bakery, Artsy Sparrow and Agnanti.

(Webb, 2006)

Problems at Astoria

The parks, landmarks and museums in the neighborhood are not well maintained. Like the Astoria Park located in between Ditmars and Hoyt has a huge outdoor pool and superb views but poorly reputed.

Due to diverse culture and minimum standard of customs and traditions, the community is getting involved in bad activities. The prostitution and gambling has become quite common in the region. The rate of rapes, murders, robberies, felonious assaults and burglaries has also increased as compared to past.

Due to over development and increased population, now people have to face number of problems too like there is lots of traffic on the roads, congestion on paths and recreational spots. The trash and litter is even not managed properly.

Since, the numbers of industries are increasing in Astoria so the problems like Asthma and air pollution is also rising. The air pollution index has now reached up to 114.

Employment and Income Levels

The people employed in white collar jobs are 5578 and blue collared are 1589. Average household income is $54,242 and median household income is $41,956. Since 2000, income level has been increased up to 21%. Average total household expenditure is found to be $46,104. The sales tax rate is also quite high that is 8.3750%. There are 16% people living in poverty in Astoria.

Governmental Organization

There are only 2 police stations in the region of Astoria that are City of New York Police Dept and New York City Police Dept. There is not as such any proper fire station or big hospital in Astoria. However there are number of small ones who provide best services as compared to their standard. There is also a big nursing home in Astoria that is New York center for Rehab and Nursing providing their services.

There are also number of libraries, schools, colleges and universities in the region offering quality education to the students. There is 28.91% of the students of Astoria holding Bachelor's or higher degree. But on the other side there are 36% of people without a high school diploma even.

(astoria, 2006)

Health and Morbidity

The death or morbidity rate in Astoria has decreased since past 10 years by 15%. It is 737 in whole New York City but 598 in Astoria per 100,000.

The death before the age of 75 years is considered as the premature death. There are different reasons of premature death over in communities. In Astoria, usually the reason is cancer. Infant mortality percentage is 6.0 (death before age of 1 in 1000 births). Similarly low weight babies birth is 7.2%.

Top 5 causes of life lost in Astoria are cancer (25%), heart diseases (18%), certain perinatal conditions (7%), drug related diseases (6%) and accidents (5%). Other causes (39%) that includes HIV, Homicide, Suicide, Congenital conditions, chronic lower respiratory diseases and so on.

The rate of diseases like AIDS, Shigellosis and Malaria is lower in Astoria as compared to the whole of New York City that is 28, 4.5 and 0.9% respectively. However, the rate of Campylobacteriosis and Girdyasis is higher as comparatively. The region also found high number of cases of Chlamydia and Lead Poisoning in past years.

78% of the people in Astoria between the ages of 18 to 64 have health insurance and access to primary care provider. However the rest of the 42% are uninsured. This high percentage of uninsured residents of Astoria cannot access the primary care provider usually because of the reason that they were not born in northwest Queens. This is one of the major causes of death in Astoria. Moreover, every fifth person does not evaluate its health appropriately. They consider themselves healthy even if they are suffering from health problems.

Though, the death rate is almost constant since few years but it is expected that it may increase in future. Since, the rate of immigrants is still increasing and it means more and more people will not be able to access the primary care provider easily.

(homefacts, 2010)

Policies for Healthier Astoria

In order to prevent the future health risks and improve the current health profiles it is important that the nursing homes develop plans and train their nurses so that they can make people well aware of the risks and precautions. This is definitely going to decrease the premature death rate. Some of the basic precautions that every person has to take are as follows:

First of all, it is important to have a regular doctor.

Secondly, avoid tobacco so that to be safe from asthma diseases.

Get a complete checkup after every few months so that to ensure the health of your heart and other organs.

Get your cancer and HIV status checked from time to time.

Avoid drugs and alcohol

Keep your home clean and healthy

Deliver a healthy baby by taking a proper care during pregnancy

People having regular checkup from their primary care provider are less likely to suffer from cancer and AIDS since the disease is caught just in the initial stages or care provider suggest them vaccines to be safe.

There are about 10,000 people in New York who experience deaths because of smoking so it is very important to make people aware of this dangerous act. Even the smoking during pregnancy may affect the weight of the new born. It is the kind of diseases that is preventable and patients can get rid of this problem just with their strong will power.

Cardiovascular diseases are also very common in Astoria. In fact, the rate of heart diseases among the Astoria habitants has been increased by 10%. So, in order to level down this cause of death, nursing homes need to program awareness among people about the diet and exercises. What they should avoid and what they can take in for healthy levels of cholesterol and blood pressure. They must emphasize on regular exercises as well as about 42% of the adults in Astoria don't exercise. It is for this reason that 8% of adults are already suffering from diabetes.

Currently the Astoria is facing the highest rate of HIV patients than any other city in country. This is because, people don't get regular checkup of their HIV status otherwise this disease is preventable. However, this rate is now decreasing. Similarly, cancer is preventable if diagnosed in early time.