2 A Windshield Survey of East Prairie, Missouri NU 320: Adaptive Nursing

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A Windshield Survey of East Prairie, Missouri

NU 320: Adaptive Nursing in the Community

July 12, 2024

A Windshield Survey of East Prairie, Missouri

East Prairie is a small farming community in rural Southeast Missouri. East Prairie is located in the eastern most county of the state, Mississippi County. East Prairie is isolated, ten miles to the west is interstate 55 and ten miles to the north is interstate 57, there are no major four lane roads that lead to or out of the town. East Prairie is located approximately eight miles from the Mississippi River. As of 2020, the population of the town is down to 2,943 (Census Bureau, 2023). Surrounding the town are vast amounts of open farmland and trees. The town is protected by a levee system with the primary levee 2 miles from the city limit sign. It is flat here and one can see the levee from the edge of town on a clear day.

Community Vitality

It is late June and there is a festival going on. The downtown is packed with people and vendors selling various food, clothing, fireworks, toys for the kids and odds and ends. A sign states this is the 50th anniversary of the Sweet Corn Festival and the 23rd anniversary of the charity bike ride called The Tour De Corn. The crowd at the festival is overwhelmingly Caucasian and middle aged. There appears to be a varied age range at this festival with people as young as a few months up to their 80’s and 90’s. There is a mixture of obese and thin appearing people. The people at the festival are smiling and appear to be having a good time. No alcoholic beverages are noted but there is a live band playing at the downtown gazebo. Most people have brought folding chairs from home. The older adults of the festival have gathered under the shade of the store front awnings downtown and the trees that are planted along Main Street. There are a lot of small children running around and playing. There is a stand set up that offers pig races for visitors to enjoy, there is a large crowd watching said races.

The downtown is one single row of brick buildings that stretch down the entire west side of main street. The local newspaper office is located downtown along with two pharmacies, an indoor batting practice facility, city hall, two flower shops, a clothing store and a museum at the end of the row of buildings. Standing at the north end of the main street, just behind the roundabout, is the tallest building in town. It is now a gun and ammo store on the ground floor and a banquet hall on the second floor. In between the businesses are vacant buildings. They are kept up but still vacant. On the east side of main street, right at the halfway point of the downtown buildings, sits the gazebo. Behind the gazebo is a large parking lot and beyond that is an empty lot separating downtown from the beginning of the neighborhoods. The houses are older, mostly old wooden siding. Yards are maintained with landscaping and trees surrounding the houses. Outside of the downtown housing area, you will find a mixed stock of houses that are in desperate need of renovation mixed in with newer, more well-kept houses. Driving down any street you are very likely to see new, well-kept houses next to empty lots and vacant, decaying houses. One thing that is noticed is that even the houses that are vacant and falling, the yards are mowed and not grown up.

Indicators of Social and Economic Conditions

Downtown has a large rectangular building that once made jeans for Levi’s.

The once hub of jobs is now a city gym and various offices for the city and private sector. There are no other factories noted but there are railroad tracks still buried on Main Street where the railroad use to cross. Driving away from the small downtown area, there are multiple houses in various stages of upkeep. There are large, nice homes that are well kept and have yards that are nicely manicured. There are a lot of kids and adults riding bicycles. There are also many people on golf carts and ATV’s since they are legal to ride on public streets here. There are multiple houses that are in despair and have condemned signs on the front. There are three different excavators that appear to be waiting to tear down the condemned dilapidated houses. There are two large agricultural businesses on the edges of town, one on the west end and the other on the east end. Both offer services for the large agricultural community in the area. There are several small, locally owned trucking companies located in an industrial park on the west side of town as well. Also, on the west side of the town, just outside of the city limits is a muffler factory that makes mufflers and muffler parts for farm machinery. As this is an election year, there are more campaign signs than there are people it appears. Outside of farming and trucking, there does not appear to be many other job opportunities here. The town has three schools, all appear to be new. There is the high school with the football field and track out behind it, the middle school located directly across the street from the high school and across town, the elementary school is tucked away in a residential neighborhood. There are no colleges or trade schools in the town, oddly enough, there were no daycare signs noted during the drive around the town.

Health Resources

There are no billboards located in town. There is one small health clinic called Saint Francis East Prairie Clinic. There is a new, larger clinic being built across the road from the current clinic that is promising more services such as urgent care and obstetrics and gynecology.

The new clinic has just broke ground and per the sign, plans to open in spring of 2026. There is one dentist office, but it is primarily for low income residents and there are income restrictions according to the sign that reads “income restrictions”. East Prairie also offers one nursing home along with a senior and disabled persons apartment complex directly across the road from the nursing home. There is also a public housing area behind the nursing home that is for seniors aged 65 and up. The senior housing area is connected via new appearing sidewalks, to the doctors and dentist office as well as the downtown and the only grocery store in town. The town has two pharmacies, both are also connected via sidewalks to the senior housing area. East Prairie has a local branch office of the Mississippi County Health Department that is also easily accessible via sidewalks. There is no public transportation, so the city has built new, wide sidewalks that are well light and handicapped accessible, these sidewalks connect to all crucial services.

Environmental Conditions Related to Health

As previously stated, there is one factory, and it is located just outside the city limits. The primary driver of the economy is agriculture. East Prairie sits just south of the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio River’s. Therefore, the drinking water is heavily influenced by the rivers and agricultural runoff. There are large swaths of wooded areas, but farmland easily dominates. Even as this survey was being conducted, there were three different airplanes spraying fields on all sides of the town. East Prairie appears to overall be on the lower income side. There are several areas of newer homes as well as areas of well-maintained older homes, but the majority of the housing stock is older and is not well maintained. Despite the conditions of the housing stock, the roads are very well maintained with little to no potholes noted. As stated earlier, the town has either completed or is nearing completion on new wide, well light, handicap accessible sidewalks that connect the senior housing and the senior/disabled persons apartments with essential services such as doctors and dentist offices, police and fire, the two pharmacies and the only grocery store in town. The sidewalks also connect to the public swimming pool and park. There is another public park with five baseball and softball fields connected to it but it has no sidewalk connectivity at this time. There are multiple locally owned restaurants and every one of them has a drive-through. Fast food appears to be the predominant source of restaurants in East Prairie. The healthiest option for eating out is Subway. As the windshield survey was being completed, a city truck was driving around spraying a mist in the air. The city worker states it is for the mosquitoes in the area. Nearly every street that was driven down had packs of kids riding bikes or hoverboards.

Social Functioning

There are multiple churches in the town representing several different denominations of Christianity. There are no Catholic churches or Jewish Synagogues. Downtown is packed with people/families enjoying the festival. Other than the kids riding bikes and hoverboards, the streets outside of the downtown festival appear mostly empty. There are no community watch signs noted but there are plenty of yard sale signs advertising the location and times of the upcoming yard sales. There are also signs in some yards letting everyone know that a high school football player or cheerleader lives at that residence. There are multiple signs for the upcoming Bible School sessions as well. Outside of the downtown festival, East Prairie appears quiet.

Attitude Toward Health and Healthcare

Outside of the one doctor’s office, dental office and local branch of the county health department, there are no other options for healthcare in the town. There are no shops that offer alternatives to traditional medicine or traditional medical providers. There isn’t a marijuana dispensary in the town nor is there a bar to purchase alcoholic beverages. There aren’t even any signs advertising any alternatives to traditional medicine. There is a local gym and two local parks but no other offerings for exercise specific businesses. The city is working to replace the sidewalks and has already replaced many of the outdated, narrow sidewalks with new, wider, well lighted and handicapped accessible sidewalks. These new sidewalks connect the senior housing/disable housing areas to the essential services such as fire, police, medical and groceries. There are a lot of signs urging people to get out and ride their bikes but that could be only for this weekend and the annual charity bike ride. There appears to be more interest in the upcoming yard sales and elections than healthcare in East Prairie.

Reflection

East Prairie appears to be a town that is past its prime. Driving around the town, it is easy to see that the town has probably seen better days. There are a few highlights and signs of new life. Things like the new schools that were advertised in the local newspaper and the new, larger medical clinic that is being built, outside of that, East Prairie appears to be a farming community with no real job opportunities outside of the farming or trucking industries talked about earlier.

Conclusion

East Prairie is isolated from its surrounding towns. There is no interstate, no Walmart, no public transportation and limited healthcare facilities. There are a few new houses being built outside of the city limits but inside the city, there is no new housing construction occurring. The town, overall, is clean but shows its age. There are vacant lots downtown where it can be concluded buildings use to stand. There is a ten-foot-long section of railroad track still embedded into the edge of Main Street where the railroad once ran. This ten-foot section of track is the only remaining part that shows there was ever a railroad that passed through the town. Outside of the bustle of this downtown festival, the streets are largely empty. There are no tourist attractions in the area and there is no bridge connecting the town to the neighboring states of Kentucky or Tennessee. To get to East Prairie, a person must be coming here on purpose, or someone would have to be lost to make it here. It appears to be quiet but old.

References:

Bureau, U. C. (2023b, June 29). The United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/search