Community Assessment Project: Voting District 0706 Bismarck, ND

Community Assessment Project: Voting District 0706 Bismarck, ND

Group Project

University of Mary: NUR 446

Professor Betsy Kanz

26 March 2023
Community Assessment Project: Voting District 0706 Bismarck, ND

A windshield survey is a quick drive through examination to determine a community's

condition to establish needs that can be addressed by the public health nurse. We used a

windshield survey sample from Elsevier to guide our assessment (Cassells, 2019). The voting

district we surveyed was Bismarck voting district 0706. The neighborhood is in upper northwest

Bismarck and consisted mostly of Misty Waters, a wealthy area with expensive housing

developments. The area is slightly remote, as it borders the Missouri river, has a golf course, and

a handful of churches, aside from its residential buildings. Due to this there is incredibly low

vehicle and foot traffic in the community creating an ideal environment for young kids.

According to the Oregon Explorer Natural Resources Digital Library, community vitality

is defined as, “The ability of a community to sustain itself into the future as well as provide

opportunities for its residents to pursue their own life goals and the ability of residents to

experience positive life outcomes” (Crandall & Etuk, 2008). Through looking at the given voting

district, there were not many people present. Throughout the whole drive there was one man

outside walking to his truck outside of his house, one man in a bobcat snowplowing, and then a

numerous number of cars driving past. With the numerous cars driving by, each license plate was

from North Dakota, inferring that there were no visitors/tourists that were seen. The age range

for this area is small children to adults; this voting district is predominately a family area. There

were many ‘slow, children at play’ signs throughout the various neighborhoods. As the survey

continued there was no indication of knowing what race was predominate or not for the area.

From further research, it is determined that Bismarck, North Dakota is 86.7% white according to

the Census Bureau of 2021 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2021). With this information, the race can be

guessed upon, but cannot be a 100% positive answer. The general appearance of the houses were

well built without wheelchair accessible ramps, there were playgrounds in the backs of houses,

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Community Assessment Project: Voting District 0706 Bismarck, ND

and the area seemed to be well-kept. With these factors, it can be determined that this area

appears to be a healthy voting district with no influence of drugs or alcohol abuse in the voting

area. Through these indications of community vitality, the determination is that this community

area is a healthier part of the Bismarck.

Social and economic factors play a larger impact on how well and long a community can

thrive together. Through looking at the voting district 0706, it is determined that the conditions

of the home and the developed area are mostly all new builds. These multi-family and single-

family homes have different playsets in the back, and American flags in the front. These new

builds exemplify that these neighborhoods are up and coming with a lot of future potential.

While having a lot of potential, there are no sidewalks to be seen in most of the voting

district, from what the group observed. Streetlights, stop signs, and signs that say children are at

play are the only form of safety implications for the children and adults in the community area.

There are no public bus stops or any forms of a park with benches for any of the people.

Transportation is limited to cars, biking, and walking.

Throughout the voting district there were a few places of employment. These were

Duck’s Unlimited Recreation Office, different farming establishments, Papa’s Pumpkin Patch,

gas station in a marina, Hawktree golf course, J.E. Homes Business, a general contractor, Dakota

Conference of Seventh Day Adventists church, Lutheran Holy Cross Church, Capital Electric

Co-op (electric utility company and general contractor), and a storage center. These businesses

were all spread out throughout the voting district. Through the gas station at the marina, there are

a lot of boats that are covered that are used in the summertime in the river. Near the river to the

left is a more rural area that consists of houses that aren’t cookie cutter or right next to each

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Community Assessment Project: Voting District 0706 Bismarck, ND

other. As you drive further into the marina, most houses are brand new and very modern

looking, each house right next to the other.

There are many powerlines that are large going through various parts of the district.

These are providing power to the more rural areas outside of Bismarck. There were many

different power grids, plumbing stations, and water stations that were next to the main roads.

This is a determinate of a flourishing community with a lot of growth potential.

During this windshield survey health resources were assessed. Examples of health

resources include hospitals, clinics, doctors’ office, dentists’ office, nursing homes, rehabilitation

centers, mental health facilities, alcohol treatment center, drug treatment center, homeless or

abused shelter, wellness clinic, health department, urgent care facilities, urgent care facilities,

mobile health vehicles, blood donation center, and a pharmacy. This given voting district has no

health resources present.

Since there are no health resources, nearest health resources were measured from the

intersection of Northwest Highway 1804 and Burnt Creek Drive. The closest hospital is CHI St.

Alexius Hospital and is 6.7 miles away. The nearest urgent care center is CHI St. Alexius Urgent

Care in Mandan that is 3.7 miles away. The closest clinic is CHI St. Alexius – Pinehurst Clinic

and it is 4.5 miles away. 3.8 miles away is Prairie Rose Family Dentists. The nearest nursing

home is Missouri Slope Lutheran Care Center – North Campus which is 4 miles away.

Unfortunately, the closest homeless shelter, United Way Emergency Homeless Shelter, is 7.6

miles away. The North Dakota Department of Health is 5.7. miles away. Blood donation services

such as BioLife Plasma Services is 4.3 miles away. Finally, the nearest pharmacy is located in the

Mandan Walmart that is 4.3 miles away.

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Community Assessment Project: Voting District 0706 Bismarck, ND

Upon observation of voting precinct 0706 many factors considering environmental

conditions related to health were considered such as pollution, housing, roads, and facilities.

There is no evidence of ground, water, or air pollutants. Housing in this precinct varied

depending on which neighborhood was being assessed. In the southern portion this precinct had

houses that could be repaired, but they were far apart. In the Misty Waters Marina neighborhood,

the houses are new and still developing. They have large yards and access to the river. The more

northern neighborhoods such as Hawktree are also nice and newly developed with large yards.

Other neighborhoods in between are middle class, not needing repair, and with smaller lawns

than the newer neighborhoods. Spaces not filled with neighborhoods are being utilized as

farmland to grow corn and feed cows and horses.

The roads in this precinct need improvement. Since this survey was completed in the

winter, snow and ice greatly impacted the conditions of these roads. Snow removal of residential

areas was not thorough enough and left snow drifts and icy conditions. Curbs roads were covered

by snow. There were no sidewalks or crosswalks observed on these residential roads and

landscaping did not suggest that there was a sidewalk or cross walk underneath the snow.

There are a few major roads in this precinct that had more adequate snow removal with

proper visualization of curbs such as North Washington Street, 43rd Avenue Northeast, Northwest

Highway 1804, Highway 83, 84th Avenue Northeast, and 57th Avenue Northwest. There is only

one traffic light at the intersection of Highway 83 and 57th Avenue Northwest. There are some

streetlights but overall lacking on both residential and major streets. River Road is windy, has

potholes, is narrow, and has evidence of previous land slide. This road is the most hazardous in

this precinct and needs repair to make it safer.

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Community Assessment Project: Voting District 0706 Bismarck, ND

This voting precinct does not contain any community or recreational facility. It does

contain one playground and one golf course, Hawktree Golf Club, but these are both not in use

due to the snow. There was no evidence of any daycare or preschool, and while no children were

observed there were a handful of “slow children playing” signs posted in neighborhoods. There

are no restaurants or public places to sit, but there is a gas station at the Misty Waters Marina.

This gas station could also provide the public with somewhere to use the restroom. There is no

evidence of nuisances such as insects or rodents. The only animals observed were cows, horses,

and deer.

During the windshield survey we did not observe any families in the neighborhoods.

However, we did conclude that there are families that live in the district based off the

surrounding structures such as playgrounds and basketball hoops on the properties. We were not

able to determine who cared for the children, what kind of supervision that they had, or if there

were multiple generations present in the houses.

One subgroup that we could observe during the survey was that there were some houses

that were large and well maintained, and some houses that were trailers and not maintained.

Generally, the houses that were large and well maintained were all grouped together, and the

smaller houses were scattered around the district. We also noticed that there was a subgroup of

farmers in the area. This included crop farmers and cattle farmers as we observed that there were

cows in a pasture and cornfields in this district.

The one thing that we observed that demonstrated neighborliness was that there was a

person in a bobcat that looked like he may have been plowing people’s driveways in the

neighborhood that this person lived in. In the community, we observed that there were

community watches that were posted in some neighborhoods. We also noticed that in the district

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Community Assessment Project: Voting District 0706 Bismarck, ND

there were signs that mapped out the neighborhood. We also noticed that there was an effort to

make sure people did not drive recklessly as there was a “slow children playing” sign. We did not

notice any neighborhood meeting signs as we went through the district.

We observed two different churches during our time during the survey. One was the

Lutheran Holy Cross Church, and the other was the Dakota Conference of Seventh Day

Adventists. As far as we could tell, there were no signs of juvenile delinquency, gang activity

drug or alcohol use, or adolescent pregnancy. There were no signs of vandalism or any evidence

in the district of drug use such as drug needles on the ground.

There was no evidence of folk medicine, herbal medicine shops, or alternative medicine

practices in the district. There were also not any health resources that were observable. There

were not any wellness or preventative centers in the district. The main efforts that we observed

were that many people in the district had planted new trees. This is good for the environment,

and it can also serve as a natural barrier for property. There were no specific advertisements for

health fairs or health-related events that we could observe.

As previously mentioned, we did not come across many people in the community to

allow us to get an idea of the overall health of the individuals. This is due to the winter season

keeping more people indoors or limiting time spent outside. However, speaking to the existing

facilities in the neighborhood, everything was well maintained, including people's homes, the

roads, and the public utilities. There was no evidence of crime or vandalism, and there were

nearby places of worship for people to utilize. With all that said, it was an extremely healthy

community from the outside.

Strengths for the community revolve around its distance from the action of Bismarck

proper. Because it is farther away from the city, there is less pollution, and traffic, meaning that it

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Community Assessment Project: Voting District 0706 Bismarck, ND

is a more pleasant neighborhood to walk, and spend time outside. More time outside in daily

exercise leads to a healthier community and a reduction in cardiovascular illness and obesity.

There are several problems that need to be addressed that have been previously identified,

however. The entire district we surveyed is composed entirely of residential neighborhoods, short

of a gas station and a handful of private businesses, none of which were grocery stores or health

clinics. Most of the community was still within twenty minutes of the hospital, but this would be

a problem if the population continues to increase in the area. The lack of groceries in the area

could also lead to a miniature food desert, forcing residents to eat processed foods from the gas

station out of necessity.

There are two leading health indicators that I believe need to be addressed within the

community we observed that come from the healthy people 2030 guidelines. One is “Increasing

the proportion of adults who do enough aerobic and muscle strengthening activity” (Office of

Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, n.d.). As we were driving through the community, we

noticed that there were very few people out doing aerobics due to the weather. Being in a

community such as Bismarck in snowy North Dakota, this is the case for most of the winter. To

encourage the community to increase their cardiovascular fitness in the winter months we would

arrange a program with a local school with an indoor gymnasium that has a running track. This

primary prevention program would be at no cost to the attendees and help promote

cardiovascular health through walking in the winter months of the year.

The second leading health indicator that needs to be addressed in the community we

observed is “Increase control of high blood pressure in adults” (Office of Disease Prevention and

Health Promotion, n.d.). This indicator is important because there are no healthcare facilities

within the voting district, as well as the lack of grocery stores within the area to purchase

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Community Assessment Project: Voting District 0706 Bismarck, ND

unprocessed foods. To address this indicator, we would set up a blood pressure screening booth

in the local places of worship on Sundays. Ideally there would be some gathering area for

fellowship that we could have a table at that would not be in the way. The reason for choosing

the local churches is because they are some of the few nonresidential buildings located in the

voting district and would catch individuals who might not be seen otherwise. This is an example

of secondary prevention because it seeks out individuals who are at risk early on so that

treatment can be more effective and less expensive.

Bismarck’s voting district 0706 was observed as a healthy, clean, and safe place to live.

We were not able to observe a lot of people, but the surrounding structures and environment told

us how the people in the community live in the district. The district borders a river, with hills and

fields throughout the community. The district demonstrates an awareness of neighborhood safety

and child safety with signage throughout the district promoting it. It also seemed clean, with no

obvious air pollution or garbage. What this district could improve is having health facilities,

restaurants, and places where the community can gather together. It would also be improved on

having public transportation, as this district is pretty removed from the main part of the city of

Bismarck. If a new family or person were considering living in district 0706, it would make a

great home for them to live in.

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Community Assessment Project: Voting District 0706 Bismarck, ND

References

Cassells, H. (2019). Community assessment. In M. Nies, & M. McEwen, Community/public

health nursing: promoting the health of populations (pp. 92-106). Elsevier.

Crandall, M., & Etuk, L. (2008). What is community vitality? Oregon Explorer.

https://oregonexplorer.info/content/what-community-vitality?

topic=173&ptopic=140#:~:text=Broadly%20speaking%2C%20we%20define

%20Community,to%20experience%20positive%20life%20outcomes.

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Increase control of high blood

pressure in adults – HDS-05. Healthy People 2030.

https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/heart-disease-

and-stroke/increase-control-high-blood-pressure-adults-hds-05

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Increase the proportion of adults who

do enough aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity – PA-05. Healthy People 2030.

https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/physical-

activity/increase-proportion-adults-who-do-enough-aerobic-and-muscle-strengthening-

activity-pa-05

U.S. Census Bureau. (2021, July 1). U.S. census bureau quick facts: Bismarck City, North Dakota;

United States. HYPERLINK

"https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/bismarckcitynorthdakota,US/

PST045221"https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/

bismarckcitynorthdakota,US/PST045221

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