1 / 19

How healthy is Glace Bay? What kind of community are we leaving our children?

Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic Canada Indice de progrès véritable - Atlantique Glace Bay Community GPI Glace Bay, 16 May, 2002. How healthy is Glace Bay? What kind of community are we leaving our children?. What kind of world are we leaving our children?.

finola
Download Presentation

How healthy is Glace Bay? What kind of community are we leaving our children?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic CanadaIndice de progrès véritable - AtlantiqueGlace Bay Community GPIGlace Bay, 16 May, 2002

  2. How healthy is Glace Bay? What kind of community are we leaving our children?

  3. What kind of world are we leaving our children? Canada’s premier quality of life More possessions, longer lives But, if we define wellbeing more broadly, there are disturbing signs

  4. Warning Signals: Determinants of Wellbeing Higher stress rates, obesity, childhood asthma Insecurity, job loss in Glace Bay & CBRM Greater inequality and more child poverty Decline of volunteerism Natural resource depletion, species loss Global warming

  5. “The more the economy grows, the better off we are” - Sending the wrong message? • Crime, sickness, pollution, resource depletion make economy grow • GDP can grow even as poverty and inequality increase. • More work hours make economy grow; free time has no value. • GDP ignores work that contributes directly to community health (volunteers, work in home).

  6. We Need Better Indicators of Progress and Wellbeing. In the GPI: • Health, livelihood security, free time, unpaid work, natural resource, & education have value • Sickness, crime, disasters, pollution are costs • Reductions in crime, poverty, greenhouse gas, ecological footprint are progress • Growing equity signals progress

  7. Indicators are Powerful What we measure: • reflects what we value as a society; • determines what makes it onto the policy agenda; • influences behaviour (eg students)

  8. A good set of indicators can help communities: • foster common vision and purpose; • help us learn about ourselves; • identify strengths and weaknesses; • change public behavior; • hold leaders accountable at election time • initiate actions to promote wellbeing

  9. Glace Bay Community GPI Partnerships include: • East Cape Breton Community Health Board, Cape Breton Wellness Centre (UCCB), NS Citizens for Community Development Society, CB DHA, CBCEDA, CB regional police (Sgt Barry Gordon), Glace Bay Citizens Service League, UCCB (Dr. MacIntyre), Dalhousie University, SMU, ACEWH • Canadian Population Health Initiative, National Crime Prevention Centre, HRDC (Glace Bay), CEIP

  10. The Means: • 1,700 surveys - random, 15+, confidential • CI 95% +/- 3%; 2 cross-tabulations • Detailed: 2 hrs; Glace Bay: 82% response • Survey covers health, care-giving, time use, voluntary work, security, income employment, environmental issues • Data entry

  11. What’s in the Glace Bay Survey?1) Demographics & Employment • Age, sex, household, marital, education, income • Employment, unemployment, out of work • Job characteristics - types of jobs (p-t, f-t, etc), benefits, work from home, occupation • Work schedule, hours, shifts, job security, underemployment, job sharing - work reduction

  12. 2) Health and Community • Core values, caregiving, volunteer work, community service • Stress, mental health, social supports, children’s health • Weight, smoking, physical activity, screening (Pap, mammogram, blood pressure) • Pain, disability, disease, medications, health care use

  13. 3) Peace and Security • Victimization and costs of crime • Neighbourhood safety, fear, self-protection • Opinions about police, courts, prisons • Identify Glace Bay problems - drinking? bullying? domestic violence? drugs? Etc.

  14. 4) Time Use Diary • Work: Household work, paid work, voluntary work, caregiving, education • How we spend free time - TV, reading, socializing, spiritual practice, sport, exercise • Travel, personal activities, child care • Window on quality of life

  15. 5) Environment • Energy use • Transportation patterns • Water quality • Recycling and waste • Food consumption - food diary and nutrition

  16. Community Action • Community access to results - special software packages, news stories, etc. • Deliberative dialogue, work groups to discuss and analyze results, and identify policy priorities / actions • Community prioritizes indicators for annual benchmarks of progress • Community training - adaptations

  17. Emphasis on practical action eg: • Teenage smoking; overweight; exercise - e.g. promote school-based programs • Screening rates - mammography, pap smears -- notify health officials of needs • Identify counselling needs - employment, domestic violence, mental health • Education - nutrition, recycling, energy use

  18. New directions for the future: • Learn about ourselves, create new partnerships, experiment with new solutions • Measure our progress towards shared goals • Model for other communities - template for adaptation - learn from mistakes • Improve methodologies, survey tools - never a final product

  19. Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic CanadaIndice de progrès véritable - Atlantique www.gpiatlantic.org GPI Glace Bay: Town House gpiglace@istar.ca

More Related