Poverty Interventions
Equal
Health Interventions
How does poverty impact your health?
We’ve known for decades that poverty has a negative effect on our mental, physical and social health. At its worst, these effects can be lethal. But our medical and social services do not have a platform to connect with one another.
Poverty Interventions Equal Health Interventions is changing that by building a platform that connects health and social services to effectively help the most vulnerable in South Georgian Bay. Once established, this program can roll out beyond this sub-region.
Show Your Local Love
Who does Poverty Interventions help?
People and Families Living in Low-Income
About Poverty Interventions
Nearly 12% of South Georgian Bay residents are living in low-income households. That’s almost 9,000 people who face the health ramifications of poverty every day. But for those 9,000 individuals, there is a disconnect between medical services and the social services they rely on. This disconnect leaves a glaring gap in someone’s life that can have devastating consequences.
Poverty also has a strong, two-way relationship with your health. For individuals living in low-income households, poverty is linked to 2x the risk of diabetes, an average life expectancy five years less than the average and a 1.5x higher risk of heart disease. The further into poverty you are pulled, the more it affects your physical and mental health. Unfortunately, there is a gap between social services that help people living in poverty and healthcare services.
The Poverty Interventions Equal Health Interventions project fills this gap by creating an integrated system that allows physicians to identify those impacted by poverty, and health and non-health organizations to securely share information, manage referrals, make appointments and provide long-term supports.
Ultimately, this will lead to a network that can respond to urgent, day-to-day needs with the goal of moving individuals and families living in poverty to a life of stability and self-sustainability.
Sub-Region: South Georgian Bay
Local Issues Addressed:
Access to Services
Food Security
Physical Health
Employment
Mental Health
Social Isolation
Partners: YMCA Simcoe Muskoka (Project Lead), Community Connection 211 Central East, Georgian Bay Family Health Team, South Georgian Bay Community Health Centre