According to an analysis of the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study, 71 per cent of Bayshore-Belltown residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Residents also make an average job income of $24,326. Bayshore-Belltown ranks fourth to last among all Ottawa neighbourhoods with data for both categories, according to the analysis.
Rockliffe Park has the highest median job income at $60,158 while Vars has more than 100 per cent of residents with two doses of the COVID-19 vaccination, likely due to an increased population of new residents in the neighbourhood since the last population estimate, according to the analysis.
Health promoters with the Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre and an Ottawa Public Health spokesperson say inequitable access and concerns with job security tell part of the story with lower vaccination rates and incomes.
“Being someone in a low-income bracket means that you don’t have the same flexibility to miss work for a vaccine appointment,” says Robynn Collins, a health promoter with the Pinecrest-Queensway centre.
Paid sick days are available for those with side effects from the vaccine, but whether low-income earners use those days is another dilemma, Collins says.
“It doesn’t mean that people are taking them just because they have the right,” she says. “If they don’t show up for their shift at the restaurant, their shift will get filled by someone else and they’re in a precarious position.”
Above: This interactive map shows average job income and COVID-19 vaccination data by neighbourhood. Open the side panel to see the legend; the shades of blue represent the income while the circle sizes represent vaccination percentages. Bayshore-Belltown is at the bend of the city limits next to the white terrain. Click on the neighbourhoods for exact data.
Lower incomes are still only one of many barriers affecting some residents across Bayshore-Belltown and the city.
The many barriers are connected and constantly in flux depending on the day, says Moniela von Conruhds, another health promoter with the centre.
Collins lists housing, healthy food, digital equity, transportation and adequate childcare as some other examples of barriers that make it difficult to book an appointment or access a vaccine clinic.
In an emailed response, Ottawa Public Health spokesperson Lisa Cross said there are also barriers with misinformation, lack of trust, inequitable access to information and mixed messaging.
“The vaccine is promising, and we’re seeing that more people are taking the vaccine,” Collins says. “However, the disparities still exist that threaten the health of these communities.”
Collins and Von Conruhds say the Bayshore-Belltown neighbourhood – which stretches from the Bayshore Shopping Centre to the Ottawa River by Andrew Haydon Park and the Britannia Woods area – consists of a diverse group of people.
“It’s one of the most densely populated areas within our city of new Canadians,” Collins says. She says there are 82 languages spoken within the Pinecrest-Queensway coverage area as well.
Collins also says there are many racialized residents and single-parent households with multiple responsibilities and in some cases, multiple jobs in the community.
In an effort to increase vaccinated residents, the Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre works in partnership with Ottawa Community Housing, the Boys and Girls Club, the Britannia Woods Community House, Ottawa Public Health, religious leaders and many more people to do community outreach and ease concerns about getting the vaccine.
Health promoters, translators and nurses go door-knocking to share information about the vaccine and to administer a dose if the residents consent to it as one part of community outreach, which has increased the vaccination rates. There are also Zoom sessions in different languages for people to ask questions, newsletters, social media engagement, and more.
“We do a whole bunch of things to let people know we’re in the community, what’s available, when it’s available, and they can get ahold of us at any time,” Von Conruhds said.
Collins says she feels in solidarity with everybody involved in battling the lengthy COVID-19 pandemic.
“It makes you feel part of this really historically magnificent moving machine,” Collins says. “Nobody really quite knows how to operate it because we’ve never had to run it before. So we’re inventing constantly as we go.”
For more information about the Pinecrest-Queensway Health Centre’s services and outreach, visit their website.