Last month, McMaster University published the results of a research study that concluded that your postal code affected your ability to make healthy choices. That someone actually funded such a study is mind-boggling. Of course where we live affects our health. When we choose our home, we make choices; we trade off perhaps convenience for space, large gardens over proximity to theatres and museums, quiet over the bustle of city streets. The study’s lead author suggested that the results indicated that healthy choices might not be available in some residential areas, and seemed to remove some of the onus on the individual for their health when they live in communities that “may not support healthy decisions”. Heart and Stroke’s chief research officer concluded that inequities between urban and rural communities could be mitigated by public policy. What would that policy look like?
There are many aspects to health. Rural residents may have to travel further to purchase fresh off-season produce, but they may also breathe cleaner air, sleep better at night under dark, quiet skies and benefit from a host of other features of rural life that outweigh the benefits of readily available year round strawberries that don’t even taste real.
When we’re looking for ways to improve the health of Canadians, let’s not oversimplify or reduce our accountability for our own choices. Most of us have some influence over where we live and have selected our communities based on our own priorities which might not bear any resemblance to those policy makers might select on our behalf. Treat us like adults and leave us accountable for our decisions. Apply those real funding resources to real health care issues like nurse burnout, long-term-care bed shortages, hallway hospital care, and inadequate mental health care support. Those are front line health care issues that could use more attention. KG
