While rural towns across Canada can be similar in many ways, they can also differ. Mikyla & Amelia compared the rural communities they live in and how the SEM compares. Mikyla is from the community of South Mountain ON, which is 1 hour south of Ottawa & 15 minutes west of Winchester. Amelia currently resides in Halifax, NS but grew up in Liscomb. Liscomb is 2.5 hours east of Halifax, and 15 minutes southwest of Sherbrooke. Both chose to discuss the small towns (South Mountain/Winchester, and Liscomb/Sherbrooke) which are in a 15-minute radius of each other. For this activity we will compare the institutional & community factors of each community.
Liscomb & Sherbrooke
Source: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Liscomb,+NS+B0J+2A0/@45.0235213,-62.0102408,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x4b5b656d3d458ce7:0x503801c2fa99d820!8m2!3d45.023507!4d-62.001486
Liscomb is a small lobster fishing village located on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia. It is located 15 minutes from Sherbrooke, 1 hour from Antigonish, and 2.5 hours from Halifax. Within Liscomb there is a seasonal resort owned by the province of NS, a local post office, and 2 churches.
Within Sherbrooke there is a hospital, an EMC base, RCMP branch, a nursing home, seniors housing, 2 convenience stores/gas stations, 4 restaurants, a bank, a drug store, a P-12 school, a small public library, a skating rink, and a municipality office/rec centre.
St.Mary's Memorial Hospital is a 6 (+1 emerge) bed hospital. It is serviced by 2 family physicians. It offers services such as:
Blood collection 5 days a week
X-ray 3 days a week
Physiotherapy 1X week
Physio assistant 3X weekly
Palliative care
Diabetic Clinic every 2 weeks (nurse and dietitian)
Foot care Clinic 1X weekly
High-Crest Nursing Home is a 39 bed facility, it has an Alzheimer secure unit, 24 hour registered nursing care which is served by the 2 family physicians at St. Mary's Memorial Hospital. The Recreation Coordinator organizes a variety of social and special events for the entertainment of the residents.
Maple Manor is a senior’s public housing property located in Sherbrooke that is maintained by the Eastern Mainland Housing Authority
St. Mary’s Education Centre and Academy houses approximately 300 students grade primary to 12 and in 2017 was one of the first schools in Nova Scotia to have a pre-primary program. There is also a public fitness center built into the school staffed/maintained by the municipality.
The Guysborough County Adult Learning Association is a volunteer organization committed to providing adult education opportunities throughout Guysborough County, which is based out of the local school.
St. Mary's Recreation provides many students a summer job as well as providing community programming throughout the year such as - after school physical activities, summer day camps, swim lessons, skating lessons, seniors programming such as walking groups, etc.
Besides the above services residents must travel at least 1 hour to Antigonish for other necessities such as Dental visits, any other routine or acute medical attention, grocery stores, health clinics, & any post-secondary education (STFX University is located here).
Institutional factors - The school in Sherbrooke is small so it is unable to offer a variety of courses in person. Many of the 'upper level' courses such as calculus, chemistry, physics, etc. are offered online only. Many of the students work with their families to fish lobster and take over the family business as they get older. The school has a O2 (options & opportunities) program that aims to bridge students to community colleges within Nova scotia (NSCC), often giving participants advanced acceptance.
Community factors - While there are not a significant amount of programming and resources within Liscomb and Sherbrooke the municipality's recreation department is extremely involved in the community, offering several activities throughout the weeks that many residents take advantage of. The RCMP are very involved within the school, they often come at lunch/recess to chat with the students & play sports in the gym, which aids to foster a great relationship and level of trust.
South Mountain & Winchester
South Mountain is a small farming village located 15 minutes west of Winchester and 1 hour south of Ottawa. Within South Mountain there is an ATM, a convenience store/gas station/liquor store, library, elementary school, fire station, 9-hole golf course, fair grounds, church, and parks.
15 minutes away from South Mountain there is the small town of Winchester. Winchester is a “full service” town in the sense that it has all necessary amenities. There is a community hospital, several physician’s offices, 2 dental offices, grocery and liquor stores, a community center, arena, outside heated swimming pool, banks, shops/restaurants, churches, a legion and The Eastern Ontario Health Unit (the local health unit branch). There are also day care centers and a nursing home.
Winchester District Memorial Hospital has an impressive number of services for a small community hospital: it has 52 inpatient beds: 25 medical/surgical 4 enhanced care (similar to an ICU step down unit) 12 complex continuing care (slow stream rehab and complex medical) and 8 post- partum and 4 labor/delivery beds. This hospital also offers the follow outpatient services: 15 bed emergency department (1 physician plus 1 extra physician on call for high volumes) 6 chair hemodialysis unit (Mon-Sat, 0630-1830) 5 chair chemotherapy unit (Mon-Fri, 0800-1630) Perioperative services: 3 OR theatres and day surgery unit (Mon-Fri 0730-1530, plus on-call) Ambulatory care unit: medical day, colposcopy, and cystoscopy (Mon-Fri, 0730-1530) Diabetes education (Mon-Fri, 0800-1600) COVID assessment center (Mon-Fri, 1030-1800) Diagnostic imaging: x-ray, CT, ultrasound, bone mineral density, mammography, and fluoroscopy (Mon-Fri, 0700-2300, plus on-call) Cardiac: echocardiograms, electrocardiogram, ambulatory monitoring (Holter monitoring), and stress tests (Mon-Fri, 0800-1600) Physiotherapy (Mon-Fri, 0800-1600) Telemedicine (OTN) (Mon-Fri, 0800-1600) Laboratory (7 days’ a week, at least 8 hour shifts, more on week days) Many physicians the ambulatory care clinic to offer gynecological and surgical consults/clinics.
Dundas Manor is a 98 bed long-term care home cared for by RNs, RPNs, and PSWs. Approx. 12 physicians see patients at this facility. Activities include: spiritual care, pet therapy, social clubs, reminiscence therapy, and more. Hair care is provided by two dedicated hairdressers.
Prenatal classes Quit smoking classes Nutrition classes Young adult center Watch me grow (drop-in center for parents and young children – educational topics include: parenting, safety, breastfeeding, nutrition, child development)
Travel vaccination clinic Health inspection etc.
Institutional factors: The local agricultural college closed a few years ago (located in Kemptville – 15 mins west of South Mountain). All other post-secondary opportunities are approx. 45 mins – 1 hour drive away. Many of our residents are farmers or farm hands, other manual labor, or work at the dairy plant. Many of our residents immigrated from the Netherlands (many individuals are still Dutch speaking only). Community norms and values revolve mainly around conservative Christian values. The main religion in this area is Dutch Christian Reform. It is common to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol.
Community factors: The local community hospital is very involved with the community and the community is very involved with the hospital as well. The community raises millions of dollars a year for the local hospital. Many family physicians in the community have a practice in Winchester and work at the hospital; this allows for a solid continuity of care. The hospital provides educational programs for the community such as: quit smoking classes, respiratory care classes (this community has very high rates of respiratory disease such as COPD), dietary classes, end of life planning, bereavement classes, and more.
There are community services such as Nor-Dun senior support (Carefor) which involves caregiver support, transportation services, meals on wheels, physical disability support, and a going home program. This program involves assistance with laundry, light meal prep, and some personal care for a period of 10 days. There is also LHIN homeware services.
At first glance, both communities appear to be very similar- each rely predominantly on manual labor to support their residents economically, both are within 15 minutes from a town with most necessary amenities, and both foster community engagement. Upon closer inspection using the SEM, it is clear that Liscomb/Sherbrooke is much more remote than South Mountain/Winchester. When compared, Liscomb/Sherbrooke residents have less access to health services such as dental care and medical care.
With limited local service, it is apparent that access to transportation is vital in these communities.
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