Low income, poor health

A young university graduate came into a local food bank this summer seeking sustenance. Employed as a substitute teacher into June, this individual had exhausted all available resources.

At the same time a decline in food donations, together with an increase in demand, forced Feed Nova Scotia last week to plead for more donations. Executive director Dianne Swinemar said food stocks haven't been this low in two years. She said food was below one week's supply.

"We try to maintain a comfort level of at least a minimum two weeks' supply of food in the warehouse at any given time," Swinemar told the media. Many families are facing tough times this summer and they're coming back to food banks more often, she said.

"The supply they would normally get that would last them a couple of weeks to a month, that's not lasting anymore," she said. "They're not getting enough food and they don't have enough money to buy what they would normally buy, so it's a double impact there."

Swinemar called on organizations and businesses to help by holding food drives to boost Feed Nova Scotia's stocks.

The group distributes food to approximately 150 food banks, shelters and soup kitchens across the province, including those in the Valley.

Hunger doesn’t take a holiday

Holding food drives in the summer months will be no easy feat given how dispersed people are during vacation time. Hunger doesn't take a holiday, though.

To make matters worse, the Fundy Interchurch Food Bank is still looking for a new home, along with the Treasure House Soup Kitchen. Both organizations got their marching orders from the New Minas Baptist Church some time ago.

It's hard to believe the food bank culture that was supposed to be temporary has existed for two decades in New Minas. Over 600 families were assisted last year and, in Wolfville, since the switch a year ago from vouchers to food bank, the numbers of visitors has doubled. The battle against poverty has no end in sight.

While hulling strawberries recently, I found myself glued to a CBC Radio Ideas series documentary called “Sick People or Sick Societies”. In it, journalist Jill Eisen took a look at why we are healthier than ever before and live longer, but improvements in health are not distributed evenly.

She asked why the rich outlive the middle classes, who outlive the poor. Swedes and Japanese live longer than Canadians, and Canadians longer than Americans. The answer has something to do with the politics behind the determinants of health.

Eisen interviewed Dr. Rick Glazier, a senior Ontario Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences scientist and a family physician in Toronto, about why poverty and immigration are key factors in developing type 2 diabetes. In a three-year comprehensive study of 140 Toronto neighbourhoods. Glazier's research determined that where you live affects your health. He said there has been a dramatic 69 per cent rise in diabetes over the last decade and obesity is contributing to the onset of the disease.

"Modern life is taking a toll on our health and we must change how we live," Glazier said. That’s why neighbourhoods matter and play a crucial role in the health of future generations.” No wonder he said, “obesity and its consequences, including diabetes, is the tobacco of the 21st century."

Links between health, socio-economic status

The bad news pointed out in the 2007 study is that diabetes rates are highest in areas that have lower income levels, higher unemployment rates and higher immigration rates. Yet areas with high rates of diabetes tend to be outside the downtown core, in suburban areas. In the suburbs, there is reduced access to healthy resources such as fruit and vegetable stores and there are fewer amenities within walking distance, poorer access to public transit and greater car dependency. Doesn't that sound like rural Nova Scotia?

One would expect posh Rosedale to have a low diabetes rate, but the surprise was the downtown was such a healthy place due to the residents' ability to walk to services. They have better access to healthy foods, recreational centres and public transit.

According to Dr. Clyde Hertzman of British Columbia, a leader in the field of population health, not only is early child development vital in determining long-term health and well-being, but there is a strong link between health and socio-economic status.

Poorer populations tend to have poorer health while those populations that are financially better off, do better. It's not as simple as telling a low or no income person to eat more fruit and vegetables; they can't afford them

The proportion of children who are 'vulnerable' in their development, he says, gradually increases from high to low socio-economic status. "There is a clear association with poor health and income," Hertzman states.

We cannot talk about improving people's health without taking a political stand. Drastically reduce poverty and you will slice significantly at the burgeoning cost of health care.

Meanwhile, when governments effectively ignore the poor like we do in Canada, food banks struggle.