Moncton (NB) (NBHC) – The New Brunswick Health Council (NBHC) is launching 33 community profiles today entitled My Community at a Glance. The goal of this new tool is to empower individuals with information about their region that will stimulate interest in building healthier communities. The information in each profile gives a comprehensive view about the people who live, learn, work, and take part in community life in this area, including:
- Demographics, like population density, birth rate, and how many seniors and youth live in the community.
- Data about health behaviours, like healthy eating, physical activity, the use of alcohol and tobacco in the community.
- Data about social and economic factors, like the main industries in the community, the median revenue and the education level of the people living in the community.
- Data regarding health services, including their use, along with obstacles, screening, prevention and satisfaction with services.
The establishment of 33 profiles required a lot of work and partnership at the provincial and federal levels. These sources have provided the NBHC with a broad range of surveys, administrative databases and analyses.
“The information presented could support planning and strategies in the communities,” says Stéphane Robichaud, CEO of the NBHC. “My Community at a Glance can also highlight the diversity and uniqueness of each community in New Brunswick.”
Profiles are available online at: http://nbhc.ca/community-profiles
The NBHC has been established as an independent organization that measures, monitors and evaluates New Brunswick’s health care system performance and population health, and that engages citizens in the improvement of health service quality.
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Reactions in the community:
According to Paul Toner, Early Childhood, Middle Years and Youth Community Coordinator for United Way of Greater Moncton and Southeastern NB, the community profiles are very exciting tools, in particular for building strong communities. They will serve as a catalyst for community conversations, helping to bring the “big picture” vision to partners and organizations working on the ground for community impact. It’s a reliable source that will tell us whether the work we are doing together actually means communities and individuals are better off.”
Paul Toner : 506-858-8600
Scott MacAfee, Community Network Coordinator with the New Brunswick Economic and Social Inclusion Corporation, has the same opinion: “Providing these profiles to the communities of New Brunswick empowers all of us to ask better, more informed questions. The data provided will no doubt spark many conversations, and let us decide collectively if “good enough” is actually good enough. I look forward to the action that will come from having a common starting place and can only imagine what our province will look like after we get going.”
Scott MacAfee : 506-453-5947
An opinion shared by Frédérick Dion, CEO of the Association francophone des municipalités du N.-B. : “ The availability of evidence-based data is an essential condition for the elaboration of targeted and effective public policies. In this sense, and without trying to supply all the answers, the community profiles developed by the NBHC represent an innovative tool to better understand the socio-economic reality of all regions of the province. It is my opinion that this tool will fill a void and will be useful to various organisms including, without a doubt, municipal administrations. “
Frédérick Dion : 506-542-2622