Changing Patterns of Retirement in Northern BC – Implications for Health Policy and Planning

Healthcare systems around the world are under significant pressure to offer timely and effective services. Such pressure is even greater in publicly funded healthcare systems such as Canada, where access to care is guaranteed by legislation. The growing population on the one hand, and the expanding range of available medical care on the other, have significantly increased the demand for healthcare. However, the actual capacity to deliver various healthcare services has not kept up with the demand, leading to service shortfalls and prolonged wait times for medical care with negative consequences for both patients and the healthcare system.

 

The Northern Health (NH) is facing the challenging and complex issue of providing timely, equitable and effective healthcare for the vastly dispersed population in the northern half of the province of British Columbia. This challenge is intensified by the growing number of elderly populations who are understandably more frequent and intensive users of healthcare services. Access to timely medical care for the elderly population in the northern and remote areas of the province of British Columbia is more limited compared to urban centers in the lower mainland, in part due to recruitment and retention for clinical staff, including medical providers. And yet, it appears that there is a north-bound intra-provincial displacement of the retirees who are seeking more affordable places in the northern and rural communities as they cannot afford to live in the southern urban centers in the face of extremely high housing prices and rents. This only exacerbates the issue of timely and equitable access to care for the older population in the north, who often have less mobility and ability to seek healthcare services elsewhere.

 

The objectives of this internship project are to assist NH to

  1. establish a good understanding of the current and future demand by the older population for all kinds of medical and healthcare services including the demand for the whole continuum of care for the elderly population;
  2. provide the crucial evidence basis that informs effective policy formation and service planning; and
  3. optimize the available limited resources to meet the expected growing demand for a wide range of healthcare services.

 

Through the internship opportunity, the intern will learn a great deal about the realities of providing healthcare on an ongoing basis and managing diverse needs with limited resources. The intern will also gain a more fulsome understanding of health and healthcare through interactions with healthcare professionals and the mentors in a supportive environment. Familiarity with the data management system and potential access to administrative data will enable the intern to have a much better appreciation of reliable data and its role in informed decision making. Professional communication with a diverse group of professionals and mangers will undoubtedly improve interpersonal and communication skills of the interns. System thinking and problem-solving approaches are additional competencies that the intern will learn.

 

My PhD student has the research ability and analytical expertise to help NH with optimizing the use of available service capacity and forecasting future demand for a variety of healthcare services for the aged population residing in the northern and remote communities. She is well positioned to assist senior administrators and directors at NH to better understand the current situation of service delivery by this organization and help them with undertaking rigorous research that would eventually inform planning and policy making for the future needs of aged population in its vast service catchment area. Such research is not only promising for NH, it will also be of benefit to other jurisdictions with similar challenges.

 

My student will be included as part of a team, working closely with healthcare professionals, IT specialists, and administrative staff. This environment will encourage the sharing of ideas and foster a collaborative spirit, essential for the innovative projects at NH. The student will have the option to work remotely, utilizing digital communication for daily check-ins, project meetings, and collaborative work sessions. This ensures continuous engagement with team members and supervisors, facilitating a seamless integration into their operational workflow. When choosing to work on-site, NH will provide touch down office space and supplies. This includes a workstation, necessary office supplies, and access to shared spaces such as meeting rooms. NH will provide my student with access to necessary data and resources, adhering to strict data protection and privacy policies. This includes access to health data sets, IT support, and research databases, under the guidance of the data governance team.

Sharing knowledge to strengthen climate action and community health: connecting researchers, trainees, and health authorities

The Environment, Community Health Observatory (ECHO) Network is a five-year research program (2017-2022) bringing together over 130 researchers, trainees, knowledge exchange partners, and community members. ECHO Network members have developed and refined a suite of integrative tools and processes aimed at taking notice of, analyzing, and responding to the health impacts of resource extraction, with specific emphasis on rural, remote and Indigenous communities. Acknowledging the existing research to action gap, as well as the applicability of many of our tools to addressing the climate crisis (an identified area of focus in health authorities), we are interested in hosting a reciprocal learning and sharing event between health researchers (ECHO Network), research users (health authority personnel), and trainees. We aim to: 1) Foster direct and reciprocal knowledge exchange pathways between researchers and health authorities to share and extend the reach of climate change-related tools; 2) Adapt research outputs to increase applicability of tools for health authorities; and 3) Promote intersectoral knowledge exchange training and capacity building among trainees, researchers, and health authority personnel.


Team members: Margot Parkes (UNBC); Angel Kennedy (SFU); Tim Takaro (SFU); Dawn Hoogeveen (SFU and First Nations Health Authority); Jordan Brubacher (SFU); Dionne Sanderson (First Nations Health Authority); Cody Thomas (First Nations Health Authority); Maery Kaplan-Hallam (First Nations Health Authority); Maeve Leduc (SFU); Sandra Harris (UNBC); Sue Pollock (Interior Health); Sandra Allison (Island Health); Christiana Onabola (UNBC); Katie Bauder (First Nations Health Authority); Holly Clermont (First Nations Health Authority); Diana Kutzner (First Nations Health Authority); Vishal Jain (Fraser Health); Krisztina Vasarhelyi (Vancouver Coastal Health); Raina Fumerton (Northern Health); Lars Hallstrom (University of Lethbridge); Lindsay Galway (Lakehead University); Celine Surette (Universite de Moncton).

Building Capacity for Surveillance and Policy Development: Health Impact Assessments of Air Quality in Northern British Columbia

In Northern British Columbia, a region rich in natural resources, there has been a rapid expansion of resource extraction projects across the region in recent years. While generating economic growth for local communities, this has also led to concerns among health practitioners and community members about the potential health risks associated with declining air quality due to increased industrial emissions. In the BC Northwest, in particular, projections indicate that sulphur dioxide emissions will likely increase in the Kitimat airshed due to multiple new industrial projects and expansion of existing projects.Timely information about air quality and associated health risks is important for developing public health policies, to prevent potential negative health impacts, and for planning at both local and regional levels. The objectives of this project are to 1) conduct a health impact assessment of impacts of SO2 emissions on human health in the Kitimat region; 2) make recommendations for development of effective surveillance tools to assess air quality health impacts in the region; and 3) review how local and regional policy makers use environmental health impact information for decision-making.This project will directly support Northern Health's organizational impact goal of healthy people in healthy communities, through promoting and protecting healthy environments, and through helping to build regional capacity for conducting health impact assessments and surveillance.