Suffern Community Assessment: Window Shield Survey

The driver pulls the car out of the driveway and onto Suffern’s paved roads. On the drive into Suffern’s Center, there is a lot of grass and tall trees. The driver passes by Walgreens, the Suffern Library, two office buildings (one is the dentist’s office), and Good Samaritan Hospital which are all located on Route 59, a road that goes straight through Rockland County and connects many of its villages. As the car turns onto Route 59 and heads into a more residential area, there are houses of all sizes, some with many miles between them. The driver stops the car behind a bus and watches two white children get off and walk into a small white house. As the driver continues, she notices a man jogging down the road – seems like he’s headed to the park. As the car reaches the park it is noticeably emptier than usual. There were no kids there, just two people and a dog. The car heads straight on Memorial Drive passing the Suffern pool which opens in June of every year. It is closed and no one is there now. The driver continues down Memorial Drive until she hits Route 202 which intersects with Orange Avenue. On Orange Avenue, there is a bus stop where many take the bus to New York City. There are two Hispanic men waiting at the bus stop now. The car makes a left turn onto Lafayette Avenue, the main street in Suffern.

Lafayette Avenue is filled with restaurants and bars suggesting Suffern has a lively nightlife. There are also a whole bunch of little shops and thrift stores. The car stops at the traffic light near the Suffern Supermarket, which is where many residents do their grocery shopping and also where people can buy lottery tickets and bus tickets to NYC. On the Avenue, there are some people walking on the sidewalk which is fairly clean. There is a Spanish couple with two kids but other than those kids Lafayette was mainly adults. There are a number of white men and one elderly black woman walking out of the Suffern deli.

On the drive, the car passes a few places of worship (a church and two synagogues) which implies there are a number of different types of religious people in Suffern. The driver passes by Suffern High School and one elementary school The village consists of mostly houses, however, some streets have apartment complexes as well.

Community Description and impressions

After examining Suffern in the windshield survey, doing some community research and speaking to key community informants, the author has come to the conclusion that Suffern is an overall safe and healthy village. Residents feel comfortable walking in the streets late at night –the biggest fear for many residents is running into a coyote or a bear.

The community in Suffern seems to be mostly middle-aged people, however, the driver got the impression there is a large number of elderly people too. The crowd was mostly white with many Hispanics too. The people appeared to be in good health although some of them looked overweight. There did not appear to be many gyms and – the only noticeable one was very small perhaps an implication that there are not many people who go to the gym.

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PLACE ORDER

One advantage to living in Suffern is the open space for children and to play and immerse themselves in nature. Many houses had large front and backyards. Kids can come home from school and play outside in the grass. The community also feels very safe and secure so children have more freedom. The open space is also good for animals, specifically dogs, because it gives them a lot of room to roam and play.

The main health concern would be related to immunizations, specifically the MMR vaccine. After speaking with key informant #2, it is evident that there are MMR low vaccination rates within the community and this leads to an increased risk of Measles, Mumps and Rubella.

Community Core and Supportive Data

History

Suffern was incorporated as a village into the town of Ramapo Rockland in 1796 by John Suffern, the first Rockland County Judge. Previously known as New Antrim before the American Revolution, Suffern was originally initiated by the Ramapough - a tribe of Munsee. It was a strategically important place during the war because of its close proximity to the Ramapo Pass – a great location for troops to camp out. On route to the siege of Yorktown which began the Revolutionary war, Comte de Rochambeau, a French Gene