Island Health and Our Cowichan Communities Health Network have launched a health and wellness survey in the Cowichan Valley asking people in the community about their physical and mental health, and how healthcare programs can be enhanced.
Medical Health Officer with Island Health, Dr. Shannon Waters says the COVID-19 pandemic, the toxic illicit drug crisis, anxiety over climate change, housing affordability, and the aging population of the region are all having an impact.
Dr. Waters says they want to see how people are doing “after the time of intervention,” when there was a need for things like social distancing and other restrictions.
She says some people were able to get back into the swing of things, but others were “impacted in terms of terms of things such as anxiety” and she adds that anxiety and mood disorders are more prevalent in the community than before the pandemic.
Dr. Waters says climate-change anxiety is also a concern as the island is currently facing by a drought, which is “affecting the places we might go for recreation, or cultural practices, and it’s affecting some peoples’ livelihoods; all of our lives are connected to water.”
The current housing crisis is another focus of the survey, something she says “very much affects peoples’ health as well,” and the survey is seeking information on the availability and affordability of housing.
She says there are a lot of things in and around our communities that affect our health and service providers will benefit from a greater understanding of the local health and wellness needs and priorities.
Dr. Waters says the survey will help them apply for grants and determine how they can build programs and services needed in the community.
They hope to get responses from about 4,500 community members who are 18 and older, and the survey can be found at Our Health Our Community.
