Windshield Survey of the Houston - Essay Example

Windshield survey of the Houston, Texas region Windshield survey of the Houston, Texas region Introduction Houston is the most populated city among those located in Texas. It is also the largest city among the cities in the Southern States in the U. S. As such, it is the fourth most populated city in the U.S. From the census estimates conducted in the year 2012, the city had a population of about 2.16 million people within a land area of approximately 599.6 square miles. The city of Houston is considered to be the seat of Harris County. It is thus the Metropolitan area that has more than 6 million people in the U.S hence the fifth most populated city in the U.S (Cotham, 2004). The city of Houston is situated on the Galveston bay in the eastern part of Texas. It is in close proximity to the Texas Gulf Coast and it takes about 2 hours to reach the border between Texas and Louisiana from the city. Unofficially, it is popularly known as the “Bayou city” since it has four bayous running through it. The official nickname of the city is “Space city”. This title is derived from the fact that it is home to Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center of NASA. This is place that contains the location of mission control. It has one of the busiest ports; the port of Houston. The place is additionally well known for its energy or oil or its many industries that deal with aeronautics. One of the most renowned medical centers is also located in Houston (Olien & Olien, 2002). Assessment of physical environment The region has many housings and zonings. These are found along the main road, where there are plenty of apartment complexes. These are built using modern ideas and are mainly gated. Although others houses appear to have been built in the 1980s, there are others that were recently constructed with most of them having the average length of about 3 to 4 levels. There is a mix of the old houses and the new houses that are located within each other. They come in a wide historical range from historical to modern with some of them being older and neglected while others are modern and sophisticated. Besides these, there are also numerous healthcare institutions. The area around Houston in Texas is largely an open space. However, it does not provide adequate fresh air since it is occupied by commercial buildings and residents. It is also surrounded by a number of parks. These include trailing parks, playgrounds, and basketball courts, which are open for use by the public as well as the dog owners. The bayou is surrounded by plenty of green grass and many trees. The neighborhood in this region has boundaries made of highways. The main mode of transport is by car though there were a few people seen walking to different places (Cotham, 2004). Analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the community. One of the components that strikes an individual most about this area is the high level of modernity. It is beneficial with regard to a broad range of areas that include the healthcare setting. This have been used to implement measures that are related to the need to prevent the occurrence of disease. As such, it reduces the number of people who can be said to be suffering from a particular disease condition at a certain time. Numerous forms of modern aspects have been applied in a number of aspects such as buildings. With this, there are less chances of disease spread as a result of poor conditions and In the Houston city an effort has been made to ensure that the residents live within a conducive environment. Most of the houses are modern and possess very minimal faults. Few have got broken windows or doors. Moreover, even the neglected houses had modern plumbing and forms of air conditioning. In addition, the houses that are abandoned also possess borded-up windows and doors as well as garbage in the backyard to ensure that waste products are not scattered all over the neighborhood thus presenting the risk to be infected by certain disease conditions. There is another strength within the community. It is related to the fact that most of the residents are usually engaged in sporting and exercising activities, which help them to keep fit. The strengths are contributed by the social nature of individuals within the neighborhood. They take part is similar activities that are performed in places like the parks, playgrounds, bars and lounges (Cotham, 2004). The region possesses some of the best healthcare facilities where most of the research that is conducted all over the world is centered. A large number of them are not for profit. They mainly aim at providing the patient with preventive care, education, research as well as the general well-being in relation to the local, national and international communities. Despite the fact that there is a presence of some strong characteristics exhibited by the community in Houston, there are also a few weaknesses. They include the continuous construction of buildings that are likely to take up most of the empty space in the area. It appears that the people are more focused on meeting the demand for people who are in need of houses than conserving the environment. It might in the long run lead to adverse healthcare effects on their lives (Coutinho, 2000). Identification of the healthcare priorities From the survey, it is clear that most of the residents in the region prefer to rent than to own their own homes. This indicates the general standard of living for most of the residents. They appear to belong to the middle class group. As such, owning individual insurance policies may be a problem. Therefore, one of the vital healthcare priorities among this group is the provision of healthcare help in the form of funds. The environment around Houston city has been maintained to ensure that the risk factors within the surrounding have been made as minimal as possible. For instance the houses are built in a way that they prevent the occurrence of accidents. Therefore, they possess safe living standards and a high rate of access. Owing to the high demand of people who are looking for houses to rent in the area, there is a resultant rise in the number of houses built to meet this need. Because of this, many houses have been constructed resulting in little space between the buildings hence congestion. Consequently, it increases the chances of contracting air borne disease conditions. One of the healthcare priorities would be to ensure that there is proper ventilation in the area. It is paramount to consider the amount of air circulating in the region (Coutinho, 2000). Healthy people 2020 has significant impact on clinical practice in the sense that it focuses on the life and well-being in relation to quality. They entail all domains of life thus the ability to develop wholesome assistance for individuals by increasing the physical, emotional, social and mental functions. It will thus impact the practical setting by bringing about a lot of improvements in the lives of individuals. It is likely to promote the quality of life, develop health and its behaviors across all the stages of life. Its main goals and objectives include the need to ensure that the nature of healthcare services provided all over the place is of high quality. With these, the above mentioned priorities are related to the Healthy people 2020 vision. Their identification will ensure that the proper measures to improve the quality of healthcare services provided to the people in the region are included. For instance, there should be more ventilation and aeration between the streets to prevent chances of air borne diseases. In addition, the diagnosis of various conditions will be easier since the presenting conditions will be related to the symptoms that are being observed. Subsequently, it will also be possible to provide the right treatment in the effort to eliminate and stop the spread of certain diseases. In this relation, more research will be conducted on the highlighted areas to determine how the quality of health care services provided currently can be improved. References Cotham, E. T. (2014). Sabine Pass: The Confederacys Thermopylae. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. Coutinho, J. (2010). "Brief history of Houston". The Daily Cougar. Web 11th Nov. 2014. http://archive.thedailycougar.com/vol66/13/news/news-index.html Olien, D. D. & Olien, R. M. (2012). Oil in Texas: The Gusher Age, 1895–1945. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. Read More