Alta Vista Ward Profile

What are the major public health issues in Alta Vista Ward?

Low birth weight and pre-term births: 8.5 per cent of live births in the Alta Vista Ward were of low birth weight compared with the City of Ottawa average (5.8 per cent). The preterm birth is also higher (9.4 per cent) while the City average is 8 per cent.

Food Safety: Close to a third (116) of Alta Vista Ward's food premises (423) prepare higher risk foods, which could, if not well monitored, lead to food borne illnesses. Legally, these premises should be inspected at least three times per year. Less than half of these premises were inspected according to this schedule in 2003.

Obesity: Almost half of Alta Vista Ward adults are overweight or obese and more than half of all adult residents are sedentary to the point of harming their health.

Road Safety: In 2003, there were close to 15,000 motor vehicle collisions on Ottawa roads. The vast majority of these were preventable. In all, there were 38 deaths and 178 serious injuries.

• Over 6 per cent of all collisions occurring in the City of Ottawa (2003) were in Alta Vista Ward, 921 collisions.

Respiratory Outbreaks: In the 2003/2004 influenza season, there was 1 respiratory outbreak in a long-term care facility in the Alta Vista Ward involving 40 confirmed cases.

What is Ottawa Public Health doing in Alta Vista Ward?

Promoting healthy pregnancy and child development:

• Through four program areas: Reproductive Health, Healthy Babies Healthy Children, the Early Years Health Program, and the Public Health Info Line. Strategies include assessment, teaching, counselling, referral and support through home visits, telephone contacts, group sessions, coalitions, workshops, support for pregnant women who smoke, etc.
• In the first six months of 2004, Public Health Nurses and Family Visitors in the Healthy Babies Healthy Children program:
• Responded to 306 referrals for home visiting support to families in Alta Vista Ward with young children. This program offers some services in nine different languages.
• Worked with the Ottawa Public Library to support early literacy through the 1,2,3, Read with Me Program.
• Public Health staff provided information on child development, injury prevention, and healthy eating at specific events such as the Welcome Wagon Baby Fair and the OPH booth at the Family Health Fair held at Billings Bridge Shopping Centre in June 2004, where 600 visited different OPH booths.

Providing telephone counselling for Alta Vista Ward residents: The Ottawa Public Health Information Line received 1031 calls from Alta Vista Ward residents in 2003. The top reasons for the calls were infant health and breastfeeding, prenatal classes and influenza and pnuemococcal immunization. Public health nurses provided counselling, referrals, and information to residents.

Keeping seniors healthy: Alta Vista Ward has the second highest percentage of seniors of any of the City wards. (18.2 per cent)

• The Seniors' Health and Caregiver Support Team provided three Falls Prevention presentations to seniors and provided two 'train the trainer' sessions to service providers and volunteers on fall prevention and Outreach to isolated seniors.
• The Winter Active/Winter Smart program, part of the citywide priority on physical activity, helps seniors to remain active during the winter months.
• The Seniors Health Promotion Committee, a partner group initiated by OPH, supports local groups to initiate projects that support healthy, active aging. Regional Heart Beat provides small amounts of seed funding.
• 40 per cent of the referrals to the Health and Social Crisis team are for seniors who live in unhealthy or unsafe living conditions.
• In 2003, Public Health Nurses and Inspectors made over 3000 contacts to health and social service agencies to support the City's most vulnerable to access the services they needed.
• Successful Aging Ottawa (SAO) is a collaborative partnership of many agencies that serve seniors in Ottawa. OPH has provided strong support since its inception in 2002. SAO surveyed over 1000 Ottawa seniors living in the community in May 2004. Focus groups are being planned for early in 2005 to involve specific groups that may not have been reached through the survey. The results will provide baseline data for long range planning for seniors' services.

Working With Youth:

• By reducing tobacco use: The nationally recognized exposé program is currently running in Canterbury High School, Ridgemont High School, St. Patrick's High School, Hillcrest High School, St. Patrick's Intermediate School and École secondaire catholique Franco-cité. The goal is to decrease the percentage of youth who smoke from the current rate of 21 per cent. The youth-to-youth campaign involves a mass media contest, curriculum and school activities; youth mobilization and leadership development; smoking cessation for youth; promotion and enforcement of Ontario's Tobacco Control Act; and evaluation.
• Promoting Health in Schools: Through partnerships with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, and the Conseil des écoles catholiques de langue française du centre est, staff serve 11 ward schools to increase physical activity through the 'Healthy, Active School' partnerships as well as improve nutrition and promote sexual health. These schools include: Riverview Alternative School, Alta Vista Public School, Ridgemont High School, Charles H. Hulse Public School, Featherstone Drive Public School, Canterbury High School, Hawthorne Public School, Vincent Massey Public School, Pleasant Park Public School, Arch Street Public School, and École Sainte Geneviève.

Addressing Obesity:

• By piloting a pedometer-lending program through which pedometers are available for loan through all city libraries and many workplaces.
• Through Active Ottawa Actif, a partnership of community organization, to increase the physical activity of Ottawa's citizens with a multidisciplinary, multi-strategy approach.
• By providing educational programs focussing on nutrition, physical activity, and injury prevention, tailored to specific ethno-cultural communities and seniors.
• Promoting healthy eating choices and healthy weights through: presentations, workshops, health fairs, Early Year Centre drop-ins, food security initiatives, EatSmart! Healthy Restaurant and School Cafeteria Programs in the following High Schools at Canterbury, St. Paul, Hillcrest and Ridgemont High Schools and St. Patrick's Intermediate School.
• Providing nutrition consultation to community members and other health professionals.

Respiratory Outbreak Management: Ottawa Public Health investigated and worked with the Long Term Care Facility to successfully contain the outbreak.

Sewage: OPH addresses this issue by developing information along with other stakeholders (TUPW) to assist homeowners in effective cleanup and avoidance of contact during the clean-up stage. This information is made available in print form, on the Web site and via the intake line.

What are the future health concerns for Alta Vista Ward?

Meeting the needs of special populations with specialized Public Health programming: Almost one in four Alta Vista Ward residents speak a Mother Tongue other than English and French.

• OPH chairs the Multicultural Health coalition, a partnership of ethno-cultural communities and service organizations dedicated to promoting health and improving newcomers' access to health information and opportunities for physical activity.
• The Somali Diabetes Initiative is currently underway; with video 'trailers' highlighting key health messages in English and Somali inserted into over 1000 videos available to Somali families through local Somali businesses. The Somali business community also promotes OPH diabetes prevention resources.
• Resources continue to be needed to train and maintain outreach workers to reach people who are isolated and may be disconnected from the services provided by the city.

Almost one in four Alta Vista Ward households are low income.

• OPH will continue to work at both the community and individual level to decrease the effects of poverty. For example, Healthy Babies, Healthy Children is a prevention/early intervention initiative that can provide great support to low income families with young children. Additional resources would be needed to develop specialized programming for low-income residents.

Ensuring ongoing City Council support for the Reproductive Health and Children's Agenda: To include access to preconception education, prenatal education and provision of support, information and skill building to parents for themselves, their babies and young children. This supports the recommendations of the Early Years Study and the goals of Success by 6.

Obesity: OPH will launch a citywide Healthy Weights Campaign in March 2005 targeted to elementary school children, their teachers and parents.

Ensuring Road Safety is on the City Agenda: Building on the road safety cornerstones of education, engineering and enforcement, Ottawa Public Health, Public Works & Services and the Ottawa Police Service will work together to reduce aggressive driving, complacency and inattentiveness (for example, Share the Road Campaign, Young Drivers Campaign, red-light cameras, Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving, Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP). This program is set to achieve a 30 per cent reduction in deaths and injuries by 2010.

Respiratory Outbreak Management: Pilot project will begin in January 2005, which will promote hand hygiene and prevent respiratory infections in selected elementary schools throughout the city.

Increasing food safety capacity: With current per-capita Public Health Inspectors, Alta Vista Ward food premises are not being inspected according to the Health Protection and Promotion Act and may be in non-compliance, possibly creating health risks for the public at large.

[ top ]