The Sentinel City Demographic Assessment Essay Provides Valuable Insights.

A.Complete a needs-assessment summary to determine the health needs and risks of the virtual community in Sentinel City™ by using each of the following tools:

Note: These tools can be found either in the web links section or as an attachment to this task.

• Demographics Assessment
• Neighborhood/Community Safety Inventory
• Windshield Survey
• Population Health Scavenger Hunt

Note: The name of each of the four tools should be identified in the needs-assessment summary, along with a brief summary of how each of the four tools were used in the needs assessment.

1. Analyze the collected data using concepts of epidemiology and health determinants.

Note: Refer to these three sections of your COS for additional information: Epidemiology and Environmental Health, Epidemiological Data, and Application of Epidemiology.

C. Formulate a community diagnosis for Sentinel City™ by doing the following:
1. Discuss the three problems for Sentinel City™ based on the Healthy People 2020 goals.
2. Discuss community resources (e.g., Sentinel City™ Affordable Housing Project, Better Health Clinic) that are available to address one of the problems identified in part C1.
3. Identify a primary prevention topic based on the problem you selected in part C2.

Note: See the attached “Approved Activities List” for guidance in formulating your topic.

D. Discuss how you will apply the assessment strategies you have learned from the simulation environment to your community assessment strategies in your community.
 

Population Data

Demographics

A survey by the sentinel city shows the demographic description features of it. The town has a population of 663,862 people. This population had increased from 600,024 for the last two years which is 9.6% increase. The city comprises of several races which include; whites, blacks/African American, American Indian, Asian, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian and another pacific islander. The median household income of the people of the Sentinel city is 49,091 dollars.

The residents whose living standards are below the poverty level is 18.9%. Sentinel city is composed of four neighbourhoods; Industrial Heights with a population of 38855 people, Nightingale Square with a community of 103,974 people, Acer Tech Centre of 168,390 people and Casper Park district of 352,643 residents. The median household income of the neighbourhoods is; Nightingale square- 269,550 dollars, Industrial Heights -24,672 dollars, Acer Tech Centre- 166,300 dollars, Casper Park District -80,134 dollars. The percentage of non-insured residents of the neighbourhoods are; Acer Tech Centre-1.5%, Casper park District-22.7%, Nightingale Square-0.7%, Industrial Heights-37.5%.

This demographic assessment tool was used to evaluate the quantity of work and health services, which needed to be improvised together with additional services in the city for the better wellbeing of the people (Bhopal,2016).       

Neighborhood Safety Assessment

According to the neighborhood /safety assessment tool, Sentinel city is a clean with few environmental pollutions. The industries get rid of the waste products through the laid underground pipes along the roads. There were cases of drugs and substance abuse noted in the city. Individuals were seen smoking along the streets of the town. The most probable crime that could occur in the Sentinel city is mugging and kidnapping that could be organized by street gangs. This type of assessment tool was used to collect information that would help in fighting crimes caused by drug abusers and common thugs. It can also help in fighting environmental pollution (Keeley,2015).          

Scavenger Hunt

In the scavenger hunt tool, it described the presence of the parks and recreation centers which were available in the Sentinel city. The parks were for holding some of the dangerous wild animals in the town and the recreation facilities used for different purposes. There were health care system-Elderly services for the people who aged 65 years and above. The town had several hotels for the ordinary people. At the outskirt of the city center, were some affordable lots size and rental houses. The information from this assessment tool would help in uplifting the recreation centers, proper care, and management of parks in the city. The recreational centers encouraged more visitors to tour the town, and this increased the household income of the people in the area. 

Windshield Survey

In the community assessment, windshield survey of the Sentinel city proved that most of the buildings in the town were modern.  The older buildings were very few but located at the outskirt of the area. Many of the buildings at the city center were permanent buildings. The houses of Sentinel city were all related in model, structure and architectural design. There were short streets that connected the main avenues and served buildings of the same architecture. There were well-tended yards along the neighbourhoods. Fans for air conditioning were on the walls of the buildings in the city. People used cars and buses as the primary means of transport. The buses belonged to companies which served their employees. There were significant shops, stores, and supermarkets in the town. The people in the city were of different races and thus different cultures. This windshield survey tool determined relationships and interactions of the people living in the Sentinel city. The windshield survey tool helped in improving health services delivery to the people (Smith, &Wallace,2016).

Income Levels

Interpretation of Data Analysis

The population of Sentinel city is 663,862 people. The population growth rate increased by 9.6% from 600,024 of the last two years. From the data, persons below five years make a percentage of 7.4 .Persons under 18 years made 21.7%. Persons of 65 years and over made the 10%. The births and death rates were as follows. 134 babies born in the Sentinel city makes up the 1,43% of the total births and were from the people who aged 10 to 17 years old. From the age of between 18 and 19 years, 283 babies were born making up of 3.02%.  The people aged between 20 to 29 years gave birth to 3674 babies who are about 39.2%. People who are over 30 years gave birth to 5270 babies who are 56.2% of the total births in the city. 402 babies were born to mothers who have been smoking during the pregnancy period, and this is 4.2%. 2036 babies born are from unmarried women who are 21.2%

The total number of deaths was 4401. The number of infants' deaths are 51 babies who are 0.54% while the neonatal deaths are 42 babies who are 0.44%. The total number of people who died due to crude death was 693.9. The reported deaths due to cardiovascular complications are 1238 of which crude death rate are 195.1. People who die due to heart disease are 916  which is 144.4 of the total crude deaths rates. Malignant Neoplasms killed 881 people, and the crude death rate is 138.9. Lung cancer resulted in deaths of 161 people whereby 25.3 were the natural deaths. Results from diabetic deaths are 115, and the crude death rates were 18.1. The people who committed suicide are 94. where the crude death rate is 14.8. Motor vehicle accidents resulted in 65 deaths while the crude death rate is 10.2.

The state of health in the sentinel city looks critical. That is evident by high death rates due to disease in the city as compared to the natural deaths. According to the data collected, diseases killing most of the people in the Sentinel results from nutrition, stress and substance abuse (Jordan, & Andersen,2017). 

People of Sentinel city have mixed lifestyle. There is lack of proper morals and insufficient health information in the town which is evident by the high number of babies born from smoking pregnant mothers and cases of unmarried women. Some of the health problems like heart disease, diabetes, and lung cancer require a specialist. They contribute to a significant number of deaths in the city. Deaths due to suicide are associated with issues like disagreements, poverty and increased unemployed among the youths. Drugs and substance abuse also may lead to people committing suicide. There are few cases of road accidents in the town which means the presence of better infrastructure. (Edelman et al. 2017)

Uninsured Residents

Sentinel City Health Concerns

Healthy people, 2020 principal goal is to ensure a population that is mentally and physically fit free from diseases and sicknesses. The objective is to improve the health of the people through ameliorating the available health facilities and providing a good healthy environment everywhere for all people. Just like most of the cities around the world, sentinel city has the challenge of drug and substance abuse as well, especially among the young people. The increasing population and high rate of unemployment among the large population of the youths has given the dope peddlers the opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Majority of the jobless youth meet themselves selling or even using harmful drugs as they look for a way to sustain their lives (Bowling,2014).

Sentinel city is also experiencing a lot of gang violence, and the rate of crime is increasing daily. The young people who are jobless have ganged up in small groups that are responsible for the mane crime cases reported around the city. It is healthy people 2020 objective to make sure that all people are healthy and free from any injuries.  The victims of the increasing crimes in the city have found themselves severely injured and some even lose essential parts of their body in the process (Abuse,2017).

Lack of enough recreation and sports facilities in sentinel city is one of the most significant problems. For one to be physically fit, good physical exercise is a crucial requirement. Many of the diseases affecting a considerable population of sentinel are avoidable through enough body exercise. In fact, cardiovascular diseases are responsible for the highest number of deaths in the city. This problem can be solved if recreation facilities are increased to match the population of people in the town (Ehnert et al. 2015).       

Discussion of Community Resources

Sentinel community resources are so scarce to meet the needs of the entire population. The city has excellent houses, good clinics and even recreation facilities that are up to standards. However, these resources can only solve the problems of a few people leaving others without help. The housing projects are good but can only be afforded by the few rich. Many of the jobless youths are forced to look for shelter far away from where they can afford. The city has better health clinics, but lack of enough and specialized staff to handle some cases like heart attack and other cardiovascular diseases is a significant challenge to the healthy people 2020 goal. Any health population must have enough and good recreation resources. Lacking enough of these resources is a challenge to sentinel city since they have insufficient recreation facilities compared to its significant population.

Health Concerns

Primary Prevention Topic

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014), cardiovascular diseases are responsible for the most significant number of death in sentinel city.one of the Healthy People 2020 goal is to enhance the cardiovascular health of people by preventing, detecting and treating the risk factors of heart attack and all other cardiovascular problems. Although these diseases account for the highest number of deaths in the city, cardiovascular and heart diseases can be prevented if the physical exercise and diet across sentinel city population is improved. The people should be educated on the importance of both a balanced, healthy eating and physical exercise to their cardiovascular system. The balanced diet and physical activity will help substantially reduce the diseases.

The first assessment strategy to apply is identifying and engaging stakeholders in the community. Establishing good relationship encourages the community to participate and create strong ability pivot ownership. The plan might reflect on approaching persons at the individual level and implicate family advisors and the patients within the community. That will bring the significant city view of hospital operations and programs. Hence, the perspective will increase community's enthusiasm about ameliorating health concerns within the society (Wise et al. 2017 

First understanding the area can achieve the next assessment strategy. Having the excellent knowledge of the individuals in the community is vital since they play a crucial role in determining the depth and the outcome of assessment strategy. The members of the city, patients, and predefined hospital services area determines the extent of every result to particular interventions. That means defining the field cannot be avoided in assessment strategy (Rivera et al. 2017)

Data collection and analysis. Collecting both secondary and primary data will assist to prioritize health concerns in the community. The data will allow members of the community to give their perspectives in complementing quantitative results via interviews, surveys and community meetings (Pope, & Stanistreet,2017).

 Then choose a vital health concern in the community. The strategy will involve collecting and analyzing the data collected through qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The quantitative piece of information will illuminate the extent to which the health concern might have affected the community. Community stakeholders and health organizations will then investigate the agency of that particular concern and the assessment strategy will as well put into place different families and patients in prioritizing the health concerns. Therefore, making them feel part of establishing and solving the health problems (Green, & Thorogood,2018)

Challenges in Sentinel City

 Documenting and communicating the assessment strategy draft with community stakeholders. That will give them excellent opportunity to provide feedback on the implementation of the assessment strategy can. Health organizations and hospitals involved in coming up with the assessment strategy to act as ambassadors in sharing the need of assessment strategy with the community. Planning on how to improve the assessment strategy would be very important. The plan will ensure the families, patients and population are involved in developing the community throughout. The three parties will also be vital in providing the feedback on the effectiveness of every intervention.

Implementing the set goals. The primary objective of this is to engage the community stakeholders to customize the established interventions. That will help to create a sense of utterly legal control and share the responsibilities. The goal can stimulate dialogue among the health organization and the community they are serving. The city can also discuss the duties to be carried out by the patients and members of the community (Scott?Fordsmand et al. 2017)

Lastly, evaluating the implementation progress. The members of the community can determine the outcome and provide the feedback on the implementation progress. After looking into the development, it's necessary to strategise with the patients and members of the community on what was well done and what was not. By doing this, they can focus on the areas that need improvement. 

References

Bowling, A. (2014). Research methods in health: investigating health and health services. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2014). Smoking Rates- United States,    October 2014. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports.     Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5912a2.htm

Ehnert, K., Lamielle, G., Scott, T., Beeler, E., Tack, D., & Fielding, J. (2015). The Healthy Pets Healthy Families initiative as an example of one health in action. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 247(2), 143-147.

Keeley, P. (2015). Science Formative Assessment, Volume 1: 75 Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning. Corwin Press.

Bhopal, R. S. (2016). Concepts of epidemiology: integrating the ideas, theories, principles, and methods of epidemiology. Oxford University Press.

Smith, K. C., & Wallace, D. P. (2016). Improving the sleep of children’s hospital employees through an email-based sleep wellness program. Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology, 4(3), 291.

Abuse, S. (2017). Mental Health Services Administration. Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States: Results From the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Rockville, MD: Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Edelman, C. L., Mandle, C. L., & Kudzma, E. C. (2017). Health Promotion Throughout the Life Span-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Jordan, C. J., & Andersen, S. L. (2017). Sensitive periods of substance abuse: early risk for the transition to dependence. Developmental cognitive neuroscience, 25, 29-44.

Pope, D., & Stanistreet, D. (2017). Quantitative methods for health research: a practical interactive guide to epidemiology and statistics. John Wiley & Sons.

WISE, D., KROOPNICK, M., Mislevy, R., FREZZO, D., & BEHRENS, J. T. (2017). Structural, functional, and semiotic symmetries in simulation-based games and assessments. In Assessment of problem solving using simulations (pp. 69-90). Routledge.

Rivera, P., Restrepo, G. D., & Ramíre, M. É. H. (2017). ASSESSMENT STRATEGY BY COMPET.

Scott?Fordsmand, J. J., Peijnenburg, W. J., Semenzin, E., Nowack, B., Hunt, N., Hristozov, D., ... & Tran, L. (2017). Environmental risk assessment strategy for nanomaterials. International journal of environmental research and public health, 14(10), 1251.

Green, J., & Thorogood, N. (2018). Qualitative methods for health research. Sage