Running head: POPULATION ANALYSIS

The Community as Client

Arnold Velasquez
California State University, Stanislaus

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2
The Community as Client
Location Perspective

Boundary of Community
The community being assessed is the population within the 95351 zip code in Modesto,
California. When some of the information was not available for the 95351 zip code it was
obtained for Modesto, California, or United States.
Locations of Health Services
This community has various health services that are within the boundary and some
essential health services that fall outside of the boundaries. Some of the locations inside the
95351 zip code are the Health Services Agency, US Healthworks Modesto, Golden Valley Health
Center, Western Dental, and Ceres Urgent Care. All of the hospitals in the city of Modesto fall
outside of the 95351 zip code boundary. The two closest hospitals are Doctor's Medical Center
and Memorial Medical Center. Doctor's Medical Center is approximately 2.8 miles away from
the Parent Resource Center. Memorial Medical Center is approximately 3.4 miles away from the
same location stated before.
Geographic Features
In this community there are flood precautions due to the Tuolumne River which is a
major landform that falls within the set boundary. This community is set in a valley with a lot of
agriculture. This could affect people with asthma or allergies due to the quality of air. There were
no opportunities visible for healthful activities using geographic features in this community.
Climate
The temperature in Modesto, California is incredibly extreme. The coldest it has ever
been is 18 degrees Fahrenheit and the hottest it has ever been is 113 degrees Fahrenheit. The

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average temperature in January, the coldest month, is 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The average
temperature in July, the hottest moth, is 94 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat is a danger in the valley.
During the summer there are heat waves that increase chance of dehydration. If outside often it
increases the chance of getting skin cancer. The summers are so hot that people might stay
indoors and not exercise. The wettest month of the year is January. There is 2.6 inches of rain on
average. In July there is no rain at all (Weather Channel, 2014). The community does not seem to
be prepared to cope with climate emergencies when it comes to heat. Every year there is news of
someone dying of heat stroke. With the drought going on the cities are assigning certain homes
to water there grass only on certain days.
Flora and Fauna
According to Lisa McKendall, from the California Poison Control, there are many plants
and animals involved in poisonings that occurred in California. She stated that poinsettias,
oleander, and dandelions were some that had been reported. She also mentioned that spiders,
snakes, bees, hornets, bats, and scorpions were also reported being involved in a poisoning (L.
Mckendall, personal communication, March 8, 2014).
Human-Made Environment
During the Windshield Survey there were many things seen that showed how humans are
damaging the environment. Agriculture is one of the largest industries in and around the set
boundary. This affects the water due to the run off of farms out into rivers. Also pasteurizers and
pollen drop the quality of air which could be harmful to some individuals. While driving around
trash was seen in most of the neighborhoods in the 95351 zip code. Another thing that stood out
was the poor conditions of houses. One positive is that all of the health institutions are accessible
from public transportation if it was needed.

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4
Population Perspective

Size
Based on the 2010 Census the community in the 95351 zip code is considered a suburban
community, and the community has a population of 46,458 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014).
Density
According to the 2010 Census there are 5,456.5 people per square mile in the city of
Modesto. This is a very large number of people compare to the density of the state of California.
There are only 239.1 people per square mile in California (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014).
Composition
According to the 2010 Census the median age for this community is 28.1 years of age.
There is a population of 24,527 that are under the age of 30 and that is 52.7 percent of the
population. The number of people between the ages of 30-59 is 16,745 which is 36.1 percent of
the total population. The number of individuals who are 60 and over in this population is 5,186
and that comes out to be 11.1 percent of the total population. The female population in this
community is 23,017 and that consists of 49.5 percent of the total population. The male
population is 23,441 which is 50.5 percent of the population in this community. Out of the
12,348 households in this community 6,072 of them are married couples. This is 49.2 percent of
all of the households. 14,536 of the people in this community are employed in the labor force
which is 31.3 percent of the entire population of this community. This is broken down into
different occupation that the community is employed by. 12.6 percent work in management,
business, science, and arts. 24.9 percent work in production, transportation, and material moving
occupations, 20.1 percent work in natural resources, construction, and maintenance. 20.7 percent

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of the population work in sales and office occupations. Lastly 21.6 percent of the employed
community works in service occupations (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014).
Rate of Growth or Decline
From 2010 to 2012 there has been an estimated growth of 1.2 percent of the population in
the city of Modesto. This is smaller than the estimated 2.0 percent that California grew in the
same time span. With the continual growth of the population in Modesto there has to be a
continual growth of resources. If the resources stay the same then the population is exposed to
smaller proportion of resources (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014).
Cultural Differences
The 2010 Census shows that the Hispanic or Latino population is the greatest in this
community which is 66.6 percent. 20.7 percent of the community's population is White. 3.2
percent of the individuals is African American. Half of a percent of the population is American
Indian or Alaskan Native. 6.4 percent of the individuals in this community are Asian. Half of a
percent of the people are Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. 0.1 percent of the population
are races not included in the Census. 2.0 percent of the population are two or more races
combined. As stated before the Latino or Hispanic ethnic group is by far the largest. This group
is divided into sub-cultural groups. They consist of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans. There
are some other Latino or Hispanic races that were left off of the census. These sub-cultural
groups have a very low English literacy rate. To work with this issue health agencies need to
provide bilingual education, provide interpreters, and always be aware if the clients are
understanding what is being said. Theses sub-cultural groups definitely need to be included in the
health planning. Including them helps with including essential tools to fit their need like
interpreters and bilingual education (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014).

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Social Class
Setting boundaries for social classes has never been an easy thing to accomplish.
According to Community & Public Health Nursing, there is not an absolute agreements in what
solidifies a social class (Allender, Rector, &Warner, 2014). People may consider a the lower
class as any household who has an income of $24,999 or less. 39.0 percent of the population
would be considered lower class. People may consider households with an income between
$25,000- $99,999 as the middle class. 53.3 percent of the community would fall into the middle
class. The upper class may be associated with households that bring in an income that is
$100,000 or more. Only 7.6 percent of individuals in this community fall into this category.
According to the 2012 Census the median household income of this community is an estimated
$31,983. This would establish this community in the lower part of the middle class. The median
for the entire city of Modesto was $49,205 which is significantly higher than the community
being analyzed (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). According to Community & Public Health Nursing,
typically the low-income groups are the ones that mostly need health promotion and preventative
health services (Allender et al., 2014). This community has a huge portion of their population in
the lower side of the income scale, so as a community it is crucial that there is a lot of awareness
and services provided (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014).
Mobility
The text book gives a reminder that Americans are a very mobile population (Allender et
al., 2014). According to the 2012 Census Bureau in this community there were an estimated 15.8
percent of individuals that moved to a different home that was in Stanislaus County. Only 3.6
percent of the population moved to a different county (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014).
Poverty Level

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According to the 2010 Census it is estimated that 34.3 percent of the of the population in
the 95351 zip code is living under the poverty level. An estimated 44.8 percent of children in the
same community are receiving supplemental security system (SSI), cash public assistance
income, or food stamps (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014).
Education Level
The 2010 Census expresses that 43.6 percent of the population has less than a high school
education. According to the 2010 Census 33.7 percent of the population do not know English
"very well" (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). This could make it very difficult to for this group of
individuals to understand any medical education.
Unemployment Rate
According to the 2010 Census it is estimated that 4,748 of individuals are unemployed
which is 14.5 percent of the population that is over sixteen years of age (U.S. Census Bureau,
2014). According to the Stanislaus County Community Health Assessment the unemployment
rate in the city of Modesto has increased by 1.3 percent for the years 2004-2008 (Stanislaus
County Community Health Assessment, 2008).
Population by Age
The 2012 Census shows that the dependency ratio is 68.7 percent of the population. This
means 31,920 of the individuals in this community are dependent of someone or something. The
dependency ratio has decreased some since the 2000 Census. In 2000 the dependency ratio was
69.5 percent (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014).
Health Status
In Stanislaus county there is a current struggle with the population keeping a healthy
body weight. About 30 percent of individuals who responded to the Stanislaus County

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Community Health Assessment Survey had a normal Body Mass Index (BMI). 35 percent of
them were overweight, and 33 percent were obese. This shows that about 68 percent of the
population in Stanislaus county is at a weight that is not within a healthy limit (Stanislaus County

Community Health Assessment, 2008).

According to the Stanislaus County Community Health Assessment of 2008, 76 percent
of participants to the 2008 Stanislaus County Community Health Assessment Survey reported
not using tobacco of any kind. 8 percent of participants indicated that they occasionally use
tobacco products and 17 percent said that they were current tobacco users. 74 percent of
Stanislaus County Community Health Assessment Survey participants reported that they never
had five or more alcoholic drinks within a time period of two hours during the past 30 days. 8
percent reported having done so once, 6 percent twice, 3 percent three times, 4 percent four to
five times, and 5 percent six times or more during the last month (Stanislaus County Community
Health Assessment, 2008).
The immunization rate among adults in the United States varies from vaccine to vaccine
and age group to age group. In the age group of 19-49 years of age about 63.5 percent of the
individuals received the tetanus vaccine. In the age group of 19-64 years of age only 21.4 percent
of the population received the pneumococcal vaccination (Centers for Disease and Prevention,
2012).
An issue that communities deal with regardless of the geographic location is injury
(intentional and unintentional). Between the years 2001 and 2005, the unintentional injury rates
per 10,000 residents were higher in Stanislaus County than in California. In 2005, the rate of
unintentional injuries was 61 per 10,000 residents of Stanislaus County while it was 55 per
10,000 residents of California. Aside from injury, violence also causes big issues within a

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community. In 2007 there was an estimated 1,490 violent crimes in the city of Modesto which is
a 28.3 percent increase from 2001 (Stanislaus County Community Health Assessment, 2008).
According to the California Department of Public Health Stanislaus county has an
HIV/AIDS crude case rate of 4.6 between the years of 2009-2011. The crude case rate of
Chlamydia is 353.7 in the county, and the crudes case rate of gonorrhea is 62.6 in the same
county (Stanislaus County Community Health Assessment, 2008).
Environmental Health Status
In present day chronic diseases seem to be the biggest killer in the United States. The
rates of a few chronic diseases were recorded in the Stanislaus County Community Health
Assessment. In 2005 9.4 percent of the adult population in Stanislaus County is suffering with
diabetes. This is higher than the 7.0 percent of the entire state of California. The numbers are
much more similar between Stanislaus County and California when it comes to individuals that
have high blood pressure. In Stanislaus County 23.1 percent of the adult population has high
blood pressure. In California 24.8 percent of the adult population is struggling with high blood
pressure. Asthma also had similar numbers in the compared locations. In Stanislaus County 11.9
percent of adult people suffered from asthma. Asthma was a bit more prevalent in California as a
whole with 12.7 percent of the adult population (Stanislaus County Community Health
Assessment, 2008).
Diagnosis
During the process of completing the analysis of this population a couple of issues that
need to be addressed arose. One of the biggest issues is that 33.7 percent of the population have
trouble speaking English very well. This puts the population at a high risk for knowledge deficit.
The general public usually has a hard time understanding medical jargon, so this population

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would be at a huge disadvantage. This could be the reason for some of the other issues. For
example being a healthy weight according to BMI. Only 30 percent of the population in
Stanislaus County is within normal. The rest are either overweight or obese. Not being able to
understand what their health care provider is teaching them could be very detrimental to their
overall health.

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References

Allender, J.A., Rector, C. & Warner, K.D. (2014). Community & public health nursing. (8th ed.)
Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Centers for Disease and Prevention. (2012). Noninfluenza vaccination coverage among adults.
Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6305a4.htm
Stanislaus County community health assessment. (2008). Retrieved from
http://www.schsa.org/PublicHealth/pdf/dataPublications/communityHealthAssessment/2
008%20CHA%20Full%20Report.pdf
U. S. Census Bureau. (2014). Community facts. Retrieved from
http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml
Weather Channel. (2014). Monthly averages for Modesto. Retrieved from
http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USCA0714