Cookeville Windshield Survey
edited
For my windshield survey, I chose Cookeville, TN. Cookeville is located in Middle Tennessee. It is…
For my windshield survey, I chose Cookeville, TN. Cookeville is located in Middle Tennessee. It is part of the Cumberland plateau. There are many lakes around this community as well as state forests. The total population of Cookeville is 72,431; 22% are 18 years or younger while 15% are 65 years or older; 2% are African American, 1% is Asian, and 6% are Hispanic; 50% are female; and 40% of the community is rural. During my first windshield survey, which was on a Tuesday morning, I noticed there were several middle aged people walking; there were some young people running too. Most of the people were white females. The condition of the sidewalks they were walking/running on were good. I also noticed a lot of mowing crews starting their day. My other windshield survey was completed on a Friday night. During this survey, I experienced lots of traffic. Not as many people were out walking; those who I saw were mostly men walking their dogs. I did go over a railroad track. It seemed as though it hadn't been used in awhile but it was still in good condition. The weird thing about this railroad track is that it is right in the middle of town. The roads around the community were in good shape. There was some road construction going on but it didn't seem to affect the traffic. The community looks very nice and well put together. Almost all the restaurants are on the same street. There are not many factories but definitely a lot of businesses. After observing the community, I believe it is a moderately wealthy community. The houses, yards, cars, and cleanliness of the town give me this impression. There are a lot of pharmacies including Walgreens, CVS, and smaller local ones. There is a huge hospital in the middle of the community, two health departments, several dentistries, a water-birthing facility, a Tennessee heart, several clinics, and two fire departments. This community has four grocery stores, three discount stores, and two super stores. All the stores have comparable prices. I did not notice any evidence of vandalism or violence which is a great thing. There are two really big K-8 schools that both look like they are new; there are several elementary schools that are in good shape as well; the higschool is fenced in with good landscaping and the building is also in good condition. There are two parks within the community. They are small but very clean. When I was completing my survey on Friday night, I noticed there were not a lot of street lights on side roads. This concerns me because I did see people walking at night. The community offers taxi cabs and buses for its members. The cabs were not in the best of shape but the buses look brand new. Even though this community has a taxi service, it needs more newer cabs. This community ranks number four in morbidity and number eleven in mortality; number seven in health behaviors like adult smoking and adult obsesity; number thirty-two in clinical care; number eleven in socail and economic factors; and number thirty in physical environment. The three top issues this community has are many members have diabetes, most of the community has physical inactivity, and a lot of the members have high housing cost. As a nurse, I would hold workshops or seminars discussing diabetes. The seminar or workshop would teach people how to prevent diabetes, how to manage diabetes, and other helpful information about diabetes. To take care of the physical inability, I would give discounts to local gyms. I would also inform the members about the risks of being inactive such as obsesity and blood clots.
