346 Community Assessment Paper

346 Community Assessment Paper

Author

Institution

346 Community Assessment Paper

Community assessment is a process that helps the inhabitants of the community to learn about healthcare concerns and healthcare systems with the help of identification, analysis, collection, and dissemination of the information. The information about the community is inevitable for community assessment because it explains the strengths, resources, assets, and needs of the community. Community assessment is necessary because it sets the priorities and identifies the priorities based on community needs. In addition, community assessment helps to take decisions regarding the community. Decision making too is based upon the resources available to the community.

This essay will carry out an assessment on Lauderhill, Florida; the community that was developed in the late 50s. The assessment will use several topics as a guide for observational assessment.

Survey of Lauderhill Community

Area

Lauderhill, Florida, that was developed in 1959 with roughly 100 residents covers 8.5 square miles of an area. It is located in Boward County, and its population is 71,635. Its primary co-ordinate for latitude is 26.1404 and longitude is -80.2134. The formal boundary of Lauderhill incorporates 0.05 Sq. Miles of water coupled with 8.52 Sq. Miles of land area CITATION Flo16 \l 1033 (Florida, 2016). Lauderhill is an urban area with 5,000 registered business. Lauderhill attracts people with its beautiful beaches, arts, and cultural events. Lauderhill has a lot of single-family, multi-family, and townhouse residences. In 2005, it was awarded as All America City. The city of Lauderhill is well maintained and contains several healthcare centers, educational facilities, and community centers. As far as transportation is concerned, Lauderhill provides community bus shuttle service to people who cannot afford to own a personal car.

Demographics

Lauderhill secures 519th position among the largest cities of U.S.A. The population density computed as 8266 per sq. miles that means it 2715% denser than Florida and 9024% denser than national population density. The median age in Lauderhill is 35.9 which is less than that of Florida's, that is 41.6. As far as male to female ratio is concerned then for Lauderhill, it is calculated as 0.8:1. Percentage of families with kids under 18 is 44% and 74% of Lauderhill’s population speaks English and 7% speaks Spanish. 36% of Lauderhill's residents were foreign-born, 20% were born out of the state, and 2% were born outside the United States of America. The culture of Lauderhill is mixed because most of the population is foreign-born, primarily from Jamaica and the West Indies. There is a great number of baby boomers in Lauderhill, that's why it is termed as a retirement community.

Open Spaces and Amenities

The scenery of Lauderhill is lush and green, and designers, while designing the city, ensured that people get ample space and amenities for recreational activities. There is a total of 26 parks, and eight of the 26 parks were built in 33rd Terrace. These parks provide gym, tennis courts, rugby ground, walking tracks, etc. to the people residing in Lauderhill Florida. One of the parks named as Maye Francis Brooks Jenkins Park has amenities like an amphitheater, water fountain, walking/jogging tracks, playgrounds for children and benches for people CITATION Flo163 \l 1033 (Lauderhill, Parks and Facilities, 2016). There is also a number of clubs like camera club and Lauderhill chess club where people get opportunities for recreational activities.

Transportation

The city provides people with bus shuttle service along with a taxi system. in addition, the road network of Lauderhill easily supports the transportation network of Lauderhill. The road network is according to the standards and was designed so systematically, that it can manage the traffic load easily in rush hours. The most interesting thing about the transportation of Lauderhill is carpooling. Carpooling system is really beneficial, especially for those people who do not own personal cars. Lauderhill's own transportation has also facilitated the residents in the best possible manner.

The condition of vehicles is also good as most of the people who own personal cars have maintained them well. The best thing about Lauderhill is that it does not have any industrial complex due to which heavy traffic is not so frequent on Lauderhill’s roads.

Safety

Survey reveals that Lauderhill is the eighth most dangerous small city in the U.S. However, the survey also revealed that owing to unsafe environment residents of Lauderhill own fortified homes. Also, Lauderhill police department has increased patrolling in both active and inactive neighborhoods. Following the increased patrolling the number of some of the minor crimes has been reduced.

Commercial Building and Areas

It has been mentioned in one of the above sections that almost 5000 registered businesses in the city. These 5000 registered businesses provided employment to almost 10,475 people. The businesses include both local businesses and international businesses like chain restaurants. A number of liquor stores can be found in Lauderhill city. Lauderhill is not an industrial city but there are a few industries in Lauderhill such as Queen Court Cosmetics, Business Buyer Toolbox, and Peterson Industries that provided employment opportunities to thousands of people living in Lauderhill.

Government Offices

There is a number of government offices in Lauderhill city that manage the administrative affairs of the city. Government departments of Lauderhill include building department, City Clerk's office, office for the public relations and cultural affairs, fire rescue department, engineering department, office for the planning and zoning, city manager's office. Each and every department has shared the responsibility to manage the affairs of Lauderhill effectively and provide its resident with a secure and better place for living CITATION Flo161 \l 1033 (Lauderhill, 2016). All the offices are public offices that mean every office has the responsibility to serve the general public in its own domain.

Health services

There are a number of hospitals in Lauderhill city. Approximately, there are 15 hospitals and 4 healthcare centers. Healthcare system of Lauderhill includes mental healthcare centers as well. As far as north-eastern and the south-eastern part of the Lauderhill are concerned, they have fewer amenities and annual income for households in these areas is less than $30,000. Due to such a low-income, more often than not these residents look for the community aid CITATION Cli13 \l 1033 (Cleveland, 2013).

The government provides benefits to these people that include Medicare and Medicaid so that these people could afford healthcare services. Most of the residents who live in these low-income areas are foreign-born, especially Jamaicans. These foreign-born communities of Lauderhill feel uncomfortable due to the communication barrier ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a6oljlJj","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Gallo, 2006)","plainCitation":"(Gallo, 2006)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":224,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/WW7MHMBI"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/WW7MHMBI"],"itemData":{"id":224,"type":"book","title":"Handbook of geriatric assessment","publisher":"Jones & Bartlett Learning","ISBN":"0-7637-3056-4","author":[{"family":"Gallo","given":"Joseph J."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2006"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Gallo, 2006).

Schools

The number of schools in 33rd Terrace is 21. However, the vital part is that most of the schools are private, save a few. The percentage of bachelor’s degree holders in Lauderhill is also very less i.e. 19% compared to other cities. Such a low percentage of bachelor’s degree holders owe a smaller number of technical colleges and universities in Lauderhill. As far as 33rd Terrace is concerned then there are only three schools in this area.

Residential Areas

Primarily, Lauderhill was designed as a housing community, and most of the houses are still in original shape as designed by Herbert Sadkin; the designer of Lauderhill community. Lauderhill provided people with single and multi-family houses, however, the recent development in real estate sector witnessed the construction of apartment complexes. The size of dwelling also varies, condition of the houses also varies as some of the houses are old and some are new. However, none of the old houses are up for sale or vacant.

Religion

Lauderhill has a mixed culture, however, the most common religion observed in the community is Christianity. In the vicinity of 33rd Terrace, there are around 20 churches. None of the churches is located on 33rd Terrace, however, Christian Family Center Good Shepherd is located on 33rd Terrace. Most of the people living in the community are affiliated with a religion that can be observed easily on Sundays. On Sundays, people would like to spend the day together while attending the Sunday mass in unison.

Communication

There is a reliable postal service in Lauderhill city that provide efficient, universal, and trusted delivery services. Postal service in Lauderhill has helped the business to grow. In addition, there are a number of communication services that are operational in Lauderhill that help people to communicate effectively through cellular networks or landlines. Moreover, while roaming around North West 33rd Terrace, graffiti on walls was observed that communicate to the people in a different style. Some of the graffiti was holding political symbols.

Environment

The environment of Lauderhill is normally hot and oppressive due to long summers. However, the winters are short and during winters the weather is mostly cloudy, comfortable, mostly clear and windy. The soil of Lauderhill is deep and is on the rise in freshwater marshes. In addition, the soil of Lauderhill is poorly drained. The major pollutant presents in Lauderhill’s air is Fine Particulate that is injurious for a person's health when the concentration level is high. It causes haze that reduces visibility in the air.

Conclusion

Albeit, Lauderhill is a really beautiful city and provides all amenities to the people that are required. However, during the survey, some problems were observed as well. The problem includes the high crime rate, dense population, poverty in some of the areas, a smaller number of schools, and some environmental threats in the form of Fine Particulate. The community of Lauderhill and especially North West 33rd Terrace seems strong; however, the health and well-being of the residents need some improvement. The improvement in the city can be observed on a daily basis and government offices are also working to alleviate poverty. Some of the issues that are mentioned in the sections above need a special care on part of the government of the city.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cleveland, C. (2013). Community Health Needs Assessment - Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved from Cleveland Clinic: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/-/scassets/files/org/florida/about/2013-florida-chna-and-isr.ashx?la=en

Florida, L. (2016). City Profile, Lauderhill, Florida.

Gallo, J. J. (2006). Handbook of geriatric assessment. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Lauderhill, F. (2016). Parks and Facilities. Retrieved from City of Lauderhill, Florida: https://www.lauderhill-fl.gov/parks-recreation/parks-list-view2

Lauderhill, F. (2016). POLICE DEPARTMENT, Lauderhill, Florida.