Building a Healthy Community

Many of my columns have focused on the single aspect of housing for seniors, but as I have watched this current demand for a reduction of 350 million dollars from the governments healthcare budget, I have to wonder 1, will they actually achieve it and 2, if they do what will be the human cost of health care after it is done?  Stress is killer of everything in us and for elders, it is even more so.

With that thought in mind, yet again I go back to the 2008 COSCO conference report on “Social Determinants of Health.”  The council felt it was beyond the scope of the report to cover all the determinants of health individually, and therefore choose to focus on one issue, the interaction between health and income, which in the light of the pending cuts, I find very appropriate. 

They felt that the key factor within the income realm is inequality, a condition that:

•    Enforces social hierarchies causing stress for those at the bottom.
   
•    Erodes social bonds

•    Decreases social capital

•    Limits the amount of resources poorer individuals possess to deal with injury, disease,
and illness

•    Results in less investment in resources for promoting health among the poor

And obviously, COSCO believes this is of particular concern to seniors, many living on fixed income and experience the erosion of economic resources as they age. Recommendations have been made, which council feel are crucial, if they are to achieve a climate of fairness and equity for seniors:

•    Provide a guaranteed minimum income

•    Remove barriers to social and health services

•    Create policies that ensure affordable housing is accessible

•    Restore heath and social services spending to the average level of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations.

•    Require that provincial social assistance programs be funded at levels that assure health

The most interesting element of inequality is the issue of health.  If we really want to deal with the health care budget, we have to begin to deal with the real issues, with the belief that a healthier community is a more successful community.  And it is apparent, that within the current economic environment, we need to be spending, where we get the best return on investment and the best investment comes from us. 

If we look only at the issue of budget, we miss the value of the project.  To paraphrase our neighbours to the south “We, the people” are what this is all about.  There is an amazing similarity between all levels of our social community and their relationship with the government, from child care to senior care. 

Covenant House can recover a child from the street for $40,000.00, it costs $150,000.00 a year to incarcerate a child and seldom do we get them back from those institutions.  The government is still searching for a city to take another jail.  “We, the people” can do it better and we shouldn’t loose sight of that.  We don’t have too, get elected, “We” just have to do!

Most cities either have or are preparing a report on seniors health and community services, an example is the Seniors Service Society 2007 Task Force Report for New Westminster, Surrey has its Planning Table and much of the work is being done by seniors.  They know what is needed, how, where and when.  These reports clearly outline what has to be done and following the recommendation will make for less expensive seniors care over the long haul.

There are no quick fixes, it took a long time to create the current situation and we have to approach the solutions with a long range vision.  Fortunately the reports contain most of the answers; make the investment, it will be healthier for all us.
   
Live well and be involved,

David Hutchison