Local quality of life declining

The Community Development Council of Quinte reports that the quality of life in Hastings and Prince Edward Counties is declining. Council chairperson Scott Henderson, co-chair of the Social Planning Network of Ontario, attributes the decline to the erosion of the economic and social conditions in the region. "Our findings clearly indicate that our communities have some very real issues that must be addressed if we want to maintain a high quality of life," Henderson said recently in a release. "The index reveals that the economic reality for our region is poor and that there is a strong relationship between the economy and the need for improved social programs. "The statistics indicate that there were fewer people working, and larger numbers of people who were unemployed in 1997 than in 1990. Likewise, there were greater numbers of people in receipt of social assistance at the end of 1997 than there were in 1990," he said.

The Community Development Council of Quinte has, for the past 18 months, been working in partnership with the Ontario Social Development Council, the Social Planning Network of Ontario, the Centre for Health Promotions at the University of Toronto, and the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition to establish a Quality of Life Index for use in Ontario communities. The index provides communities with a tool to measure the human and social development within communities across the province. In Hastings and Prince Edward Counties, local service providing organizations including the Children's Aid Society, Hastings County Department of Social Services, Prince Edward County Department of Social Services and others have provided the council with local statistics for inclusion in the project. Each of the 12 indicators representing health, economic, social and environmental sectors was assigned a base value of 8.3 in order to establish a base of 100 for 1990. Each indicators in the base year is considered of equal value in the QLI as no weighting factors were used at this time. Instead, populations growths were used to convert local data for each indicator into a rate per 10,000 people. Roni Summers-Wickens, executive director of The Community Development Council of Quinte reports that local information was applied to the index using the formulas that were established by the provincial working group. "The results identify the strengths and weaknesses within communities," Summers-Wickens says. "For example, while the Environmental indicators scored well on the index, low birth weight babies scored startlingly low." "While on the one hand, the fact that the environment scores well is good for community, information about the number of babies born weighing less than 2550 g. and high unemployment figures is very disturbing. "Does this tell us that our community has placed a greater emphasis on protecting the environment than we have on preventing the birth of babies who are at risk of illness and life-long health difficulties or creating jobs and income opportunities for the people that live here?" "This index clearly reinforces what we already know about the relationship between income, food, and health. It's also obvious to me, based on this report and the recent release of the United Way's Priority Setting social planning exercise, that the need for food security initiatives like the CDC's Good Food Box, Good Lunch Box and Collective Kitchens Programs is continuing to grow."

The CDC expects to release part two of their QLI report later this spring which compares Quinte's QLI score with that of other Ontario communities.

The following factors negatively impact our quality of life in Hastings and Prince Edward Counties:

• Fewer people are working in the two regions. More people are unemployed and in receipt of Employment Insurance or Social Assistance.
• 206.78 people per 10,000 are in receipt of social assistance in the region. This is an increase of 41.9 per centfrom 1990.
• The Children's Aid Society has experienced a change in the number of people in need of assistance by an increase of 58.1 per cent between 1990 and 1997.
• The number of low-birth weight babies born in 1997 experienced an increased change of 36.42 percent since 1990.

...but there are positive impacts, too

The following factors positively impact our quality of life in Hastings and Prince Edward Counties:

• The number of people on waiting lists for social housing has decreased since 1990, implying that the availability of social housing is growing closer to meeting the needs of people who require assist-ed housing in the region as only 22.45 people per 10,000 compared to 40.60 per 10,000 in 1990 are currently waiting for social housing.
• The number of deaths by suicide has decreased since 1990 and that this number remains relatively small compared to the whole population with just 1.19 people per 10,000 who died by suicide in 1997.
• he number of people on waiting lists for long-term care facilities has decreased. The most probable reason for this is a change in the way long-term care facility admissions are handled. (Placement Co-ordination Services which fall under the umbrella Community Care Access Centre was established in 1995 to respond to the need for a co-ordinated approach to long-term care facility admissions prior to 1995.
• The number of effluent discharges (or toxic spills) in the region decreased between 1990 and 1997.
• The number of metric tonnes diverted from landfill through recycling programs has increased with a change of 20.85 percent from 1990.