Community Assessment- Hillsborough County, FloridaKinisha Wes

Community Assessment- Hillsborough County, FloridaKinisha Wes

Community Assessment- Hillsborough County, Florida

Community assessment informs a community health nurse of the status of the community

that they serve through the identification of their strengths, what the community members need,

the challenged that they face and the various assets at their disposal (Smathers & Lobb, 2014). A

comprehensive assessment will enable a community health nurse to formulate plans that will

improve the wellbeing of the members of the communities from health to security. Some of the

specifics of an assessment include a peek into the local institutions such as religious groups,

politics and civic services, events involving talent display and health care facilities. While

looking into the institutions that make up the cultures of a given community intending to learn

about them, a community health nurse needs to understand that the community members should

be a priority when looking for information regarding that given community, the individual

contributions of each member of the community and the pillars of the community being the

resources at the community’s disposal such as social amenities and government services

(Smathers & Lobb, 2014).

A community assessment is only meaningful if it has clear cut goals and objectives. It

should be specific and with a well-founded plan. Without a plan, a community health nurse may

find themselves wandering away from the goals set for the community health assessment. In this

case, Hillsborough County in Florida state was considered for a community assessment. The

main objective was to learn as much as possible about the community in terms of the

demographics such as birthrate and population size as well as the major health concerns in the

community with respect to the healthy people 2020 document.

Community 

Hillsborough County is in Florida state and was created in 1834 by combining Alachua

and Monroe Counties. The county was named after the Earl of Hillsborough who was the

secretary of state for British colonies in the 1700s. Augustus Steele, an entrepreneur in Florida

and a legislator in the same state during the same period facilitated its foundation and

establishment. As recorded in the US Census Bureau, the county covers and areas of 1266 square

miles which is about 1020 square mile of land and the remaining being water as shown on the

map in appendix I. of the area covered by water, 158 miles is the shoreline on Tampa bay. This

county is known for some of the remarkable landmarks in the country including the Lithia

springs which is the largest natural spring in Florida, Alafia River State Park, Hillsborough River

State Park which has the Sandhill cranes and CW Bill Young Regional Reservoir.

Population demographics

The Census curried out in 2010 showed that the county is made up of 71.3% of whites

which accounts for Germans, Irish, English, Italian, French, Polish, Scots, Dutch, Russians,

French, Canadians, Norwegians, Hungarians, and Greeks. Blacks make up about 16% of the total

population including the West Indian or Afro-Caribbean Americans, Jamaicans, Haitians, and

Sub-Saharan Africans (United States Census Bureau, 2019). The rest of the population is made

up of Hispanics or Latinos, Asians, American Indians, and Pacific Islanders. Hillsborough

County is a marvel of cultures and traditions which contribute a great deal to their blended way

of life and issues affecting them in various avenues such as health, politics, economics, and

social aspects. In this regard, the 2010 census established that only 6% of the population of this

county considered themselves as having an American ancestry.

Of the over 526,000 households, 29% had children who were below the age of 18 years

living with the, 44% were happily married couples living together, 15% did not have husbands