B1. Community
I did my study for this assignment in Stokes County, North Carolina which is where I recently moved to from Iowa. Stokes County is made up of several small towns but King, which is where I live, is the largest town. Stokes County is in the middle northern part of the state near the Virginia border, a mountain chain, and a lot of wilderness. Some of the towns are incorporated and some are not and a few only claim to be villages. Using the Population Economic Status Assessment, I looked at the State & County Quick Facts last revised: Feb-2015 and found that the county population is at about 46,588. The Caucasian population makes up 93.8% of the population, African American 4.4%, Hispanic 2.7%, and the remainder is 1.1%. The
There is a Special Needs registry in Stokes County and some sites designated as emergency shelters in place should the need arise. There is also an American Red Cross office in Walnut Cove. According to the Stokes County disaster webpage, they have a goal for planning, preparing, and responding to public health emergencies; such as pandemic flu, food-based illness, natural disasters, hazardous release, or terrorism. The biggest threat I see is the risk of an outbreak of any of the very contagious diseases such as measles, stemming from the lack of education about vaccines and early medical care. In this community, I agree with their stated need to “strengthen the collaboration between medical and public health professionals, emergency management, law enforcement, and private organizations”. To identify any widespread safety issues in the county, I used the Neighborhood / Community Safety Inventory tool. Stokes County is not in an area of the country that has a lot of air or water pollution. The area is considered a bird sanctuary and many small ponds or lakes have been formed for birds to find safe haven; however, there is no identification of diseases that threaten these animals or the public around them. Hunters do occasionally leave the remains of the animals they shoot in wooded areas after they have been