Skip to content

Aging population and obesity concerns raised in survey

MY HEATH, MY COMMUNITY
Health survey
Marita Gully, regional epidemiologist with VCH presented some of the findings of the My Health, My Community survey at a forum on Oct. 16

Local politicians, health professionals and community leaders came to hear the latest health statistics and community feedback about them at the wrap-up My Health, My Community forum held Oct. 16 at the Sunshine Coast Golf and Country Club.

The wrap-up forum was the culmination of a series of dialogue sessions hosted by the Sunshine Coast Community Foundation (SCCF) that looked at the results of the Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) My Health, My Community survey and asked for feedback on what might be missing from the survey.

The sessions held in Gibsons, Sechelt and Pender Harbour also asked the public to identify key issues and suggest some ideas for action.

Last Thursday, guests heard both the My Health, My Community statistics and the public’s take on them.

“Clearly some of the issues that came up were concern about obesity. Concern about nutrition and the sedentary lifestyle. Also concern for home support, that perhaps we don’t have enough access to home support,” wrap-up session leader Betty Baxter said.

“And I think the other one I wanted to talk just a little bit about is everyone recognized both in the survey data, as well as in the population who came to talk about the survey data, our aging population.”

The aging population specifically relates to some chronic health problems identified in the survey, said Marita Gully, a regional epidemiologist with VCH, who presented the survey findings.

She said there are three chronic diseases that appear higher on the Coast than in other areas of VCH — heart disease, arthritis and high blood pressure.

“Those diseases do tend to be associated with older age groups, so it’s not surprising to see those reports as they do increase very significantly with age,” Gully said.

She highlighted the health of seniors living alone on the Coast as a particular area of concern.

“Seniors living alone as opposed to seniors overall had lower self rated health, lower mental health, reported having one or more chronic conditions, had lower access to a family doctor, were less prepared in terms of an emergency, had a lower sense of community belonging and then quite a significantly lower percentage scoring on the physical wellness score,” Gully said.

Another negative highlighted in the survey was the obesity rate on the Coast, which is 67 per cent compared to the 52 per cent reported in the rest of VCH.

Some positives in the survey statistics were the Coast’s smoking rate going from 25 per cent of the population in 1995 to just under nine per cent in 2014 and the rise in overall sense of community belonging on the Coast.

Gully said the survey results are still considered preliminary, saying Coasters can expect a final report in the form of a community profile in early 2015.

In the meantime the Coast’s preliminary statistics, which were the first to be analyzed by VCH, can be viewed on-line via PowerPoint at www.sccfoundation.com.