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NURS 4440

Windshield Survey Tool

For Community Health Nurses to be able to knowledgeably plan services for a community, it is
essential to know a specific community, identify health-related resources that may be helpful to
members, and learn about gaps in services. A windshield survey is conducted from a car and
provides a visual overview of a community. Conditions and trends in the community that could
affect the health of the population are noted. This data provides background and context for
working in the community or for conducting a community assessment. The clinical instructor
will make specific assignments for the Survey. Information gathered from this survey is to be
incorporated in the group’s wiki for the Community Assessment Project.

Notes

Boundaries
Are the boundaries geographical, political, or
economic? How is this seen? Do
neighborhoods have names? Are there sub-
communities? How are these identified?
Boundaries
Geographical boundaries include I-77 and Lake
Norman. Economic boundaries include
Downtown Mill Area which appear to be older
homes with a lower-middle class status. The
rural areas of Mooresville contain a wide
variety of homes from old to new and lower to
higher appraised properties. Lake Norman, the
newer part of Mooresville, contains higher to
middle class homes.

Some neighborhoods have names and some are

stand alone. The older homes appear to be
more the stand alone type, where the newer
homes seem to be in developments.

Sub-communities of Mooresville include Lake

Norman. Lake Norman is identified by
billboards and signs when entering the
community.

Housing and Zoning Housing and Zoning

What is the age of the buildings? What are
the construction materials? Are the
residences single family or multifamily
dwellings? What is the size and condition of
the lots (repaired or damaged)?
The ages of the buildings in this region range
from early 1900’s to < 5 years old.
Construction materials include brick, wood,
vinyl siding, and manufactured homes. A
majority of homes in this area are single
family. There were some multifamily
dwellings that are mainly noted in the Lake
Norman area. The lots vary on the location of
the home. Inside city limits are smaller lots

Signs of Decay
Is the area well maintained or in disrepair? Is
there garbage strewn? Are there
trashed/abandoned cars, places for rodents or
other wildlife to hide, vacant lots?
Parks and Recreational Areas
Are there play areas for children and adults?
Are they safe and maintained? Who uses
them?
Common Areas
Where do people collect for social gatherings
of all sorts; where do they “hang out”? Are
they for particular groups or are they open to
all? Are there signs posted?
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(less than one acre). The lots in the historical
area are more developed with lots of shrubbery
that are not very well kept. In the rural area,
homes have more land that varies between
trees and fields. The newer developed areas
and Lake Norman have smaller lots but the lots
are very well kept and include landscaping.
Signs of Decay
Upper – middle class areas are very well
maintained. In the lower income housing
areas, there are piles of trash on the sides of the
road. We saw several mattresses on the side of
the road as well. A few homes had land filled
with trashed cars. No rodents notes.
Parks and Recreational Areas
There are 12 parks in this region. Some nicer
than others. All appeared to be kept in a safe,
playable manner. Youth sports team use these
parks, as well as children in play with their
parents.
Lazy 5 Ranch is a popular place for families to
go to see exotic animals. They have Lamas,
horses, giraffes, etc.
Charles Mack Citizen Center is a civic center
for numerous activities to include things such
as self defense courses.
Multiple Golf Courses – all open to public
Common Areas
The Prickly Pear is a mexican cuisine
restaurant that has live music events. This
place is open to the public.
Queens Landing includes boat rides, putt-putt,
piano bar, bumper boats and jet ski rentals.
This place is open to the public.
Other bars and restaurants all appear to be open
to the public.

Stores
What stores (grocery,
retail, drug, dry cleaning, etc.) are in the
area? How do residents travel to them?
Transportation
How do most people get around the area? Is
there public transportation? If so what kind
and does it appear to be used? Who uses it?
What is the condition of the streets, roads,
highways?
Communication
Is there evidence of local and national
newspapers to other media? Are there
informational posters on streets, busses,
billboards, etc.?
Service Centers
Where are the services for the community
located – health care, social services, schools,
employment offices etc.?
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Stores
Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Bottom Groceries,
and Walmart Super Center.
Rite-Aid, CVS, Walgreens, Medi-Cap
Residents travel to these sites via privately
owned vehicles.
There are many small privately owned
businesses such as coffee shops, restaurants
and consignment shops that are found in the
historical downtown district. Other areas have
franchises such as blockbuster, Applebees,
Walmart, etc.
Transportation
People get around by privately owned vehicles.
There is no public transportation at this time.
There are signs posted of upcoming public
transportation labeled ‘Park & Ride Transit
Station’. Newly developed areas and main
highways are well maintained. In the historic
district there are roads that need improvements.
In the rural areas there are some roads that are
not paved.
Communication
The local newspaper is called The Tribune.
There are billboards in the newer developed
areas and there are some posters on the sides of
the streets in the historic area to provide
advertisement.
Service Centers
There is one main hospital in the south-western
region of Mooresville. Lake Norman Regional
Medical Center is surrounded by several
medical buildings. There are a few family
practice offices noted in different areas of this
region. The county social services office is
located in Statesville, NC. The schools are
spread throughout Mooresville. There are 2
districts; Mooresville Graded School District
and Iredell Statesville School System. It
appears the employment offices are located
with Social Services for Iredell County.

People in the Community
Who is in the area during the day? How are
they dressed? Are there animals (pets) with
them or in the area? What evidence is there
of particular. “classes” of people – upper,
middle, working, lower?
Industries
What are the major industries? What
types of occupations are evident?
Protective Services
Where are fire and police stations located? Is
there evidence of police and fire protection in
the area? Is it more in one region than another?
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People in the Community
In the historic area we saw a woman opening
her shop by putting a sign out on the side walk.
We saw to older men sitting on a bench on
Main Street drinking coffee. There weren’t a
lot of people walking down the streets as the
main source of transportation is by car. The
few we did see walking appeared to be poorly
dressed and not very well groomed. By
looking at the people we saw in the historic
area we assume by the way they were dressed
that they were middle-lower class. Other
evidence we noted were the cars. Different
locations had different cars of values from low
to high.
Industries
The historic part of Mooresville is built around
an old shut down mill. There are other
factories and run down mills noted throughout
the area. NASCAR seems to play a large part
in the newer developing Mooresville. There
are many companies related to race car driving
found in the city. The top three companies
with the highest amount of employees are
Lowes Headquarters, Lake Norman Regional
Medical Center, and Walmart Super Center.
We did note there are quite a bit of auto
dealership and auto body shops. Also noted
there are numerous banks, gas stations and
shops.
Protective Services
There are 4 fire stations equally distributed
through the city. We saw one fire station, one
police station and did note police patrolling
throughout the city.
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Ethnicity Ethnicity
What is the predominant ethnic group? Are On observation, we mainly noted Caucasian
there residents from a variety of ethnic ethnicity. Census reports:
backgrounds or is the community mostly one
group? Which one? Are there stores, Population 18,823
restaurants, churches, schools, or languages White – 15, 129
that indicate a particular ethnic group(s)? Black – 2,653
Hispanic – 480
Asian 312
Other 249

There are no observed stores, restaurants or

languages that indicate a particular ethnic
group.

Religion
What churches and church-run schools are
in the area? Who apparently uses them and
when? How many are there?
Religion
Observed a lot of churches throughout this
region. Over 50 Christian churches varying of
different protestants. According to research
approximately 50% of Mooresville’s
population are a member of a religious sector.

Health and Morbidity Health and Morbidity

Is there evidence of any health problems Per county report, the top 3 health related
such as drug abuse, communicable issues in Iredell County are obesity, heart
diseases, chronic diseases, mental illnesses disease and lung cancer.
etc.?

Politics Politics
Is there evidence of any political activity? Are No evidence noted of current political
there any signs that indicate predominant activities. This region is predominately
political parties and political concerns? republican.

(Modified from Stanhope M., & Knollmueller, R. N. (1997). Public and community health
nurse’s consultant: A health promotion guide. St. Louis: Mosby.)